Salesforce in Offline Mode

One of the common issues we face is not having a stable network connection or running out of the internet data. What if we can access Salesforce without internet connection? Yes. Salesforce provides a cool feature called Force.com Connect Offline which does the magic for you.

Introduction :

One of the common issues we face is not having a stable network connection or running out of the internet data. What if we can access Salesforce without internet connection? Yes. Salesforce provides a cool feature called Force.com Connect Offline which does the magic for you. Let’s look at the overview of what the Force.com Connect Offline does.

What is Connect Offline? 

Connect Offline is an application for Client that allows you to access (create / update) records in Salesforce while you’re offline. We can give access to a particular subset of records termed as the briefcase which can be accessed through Connect Offline. One of its major highlights is admins can provide access to various offline users to match their needs for different profiles by creating multiple briefcase configurations.

Requirements 

  1.  Operating Systems – Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
  2. Browser – Microsoft, Internet Explorer version 6, 7, or 8

User permission 

  1. To view records in Connect Offline –  “Read” permission should be given on the appropriate type of record.
  2. To update records in Connect Offline –  “Create”, “Edit” or “Delete” permission should be given on the appropriate type of record.

Before installing Connect Offline, the Admin should give permission to the users to access Connect Offline. Admins can give access by clicking Setup–>Manage user –> User. In user record enable Offline User checkbox to allow the user to use Force.com Connect Offline.

Steps to Install Connect Offline 

1.Go to Personal settings –> Desktop add-Ons –> Force.com Connect Offline.

2.Click Install Now.

3.Follow the steps on Setup wizard to complete the installation.

Steps to setup Briefcase  

1.Go to Setup –> Desktop Administration –> Offline Briefcase Configurations

2.Click on New Offline Briefcase Configuration.

3.Provide the appropriate name and check the Active checkbox to make this configuration active.

4.Select the user and profile who will use the Briefcase configuration.

5.Click Save.

6.After saving, click the Edit button in the Data Sets section.

salesforce offline mode

7.In Data Sets page, click the Add button to add the objects and fill the necessary fields

8.To remove the object from user view, select the object and click Remove button.

salesforce offline mode

Steps to Log into Connect Offline 

1.On your computer, double-click the Connect Offline desktop icon.

salesforce offline mode

2. Enter your Salesforce Name and Password appended with Security token.

Note: You must have the internet connection when, you are logging in for the first time.

  1. Select update tab names to see the changes in name of the field or object or tab from Salesforce which were modified recently and select Synchronize my data to synchronize your data from your Offline briefcase to Salesforce.
  2. Click login.

After logging into Connect Offline

Create or edit the records.

salesforce offline mode
  1. Click on Synchronize Briefcase on top right corner of the page when you are plugged in with internet.
  2. On clicking Synchronize Briefcase, all data which were created offline are synced with Salesforce.

Advantages 

  1. Deploying connect offline system-wide.
  2. Salesforce provides periodical updates on connect offline.

Disadvantages

  1. Automatically generated fields such as formula fields and auto-number fields are not available in Connect Offline
  2. Related lists in Connect Offline do not display lookup fields.

Conclusion 

Thus, this amazing feature Connect Offline gives us remote offline access to the subset of records from Salesforce without relying on the Internet.

Reference link:   

https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/204/latest/en-us/sfdc/pdf/salesforce_offline_cheatsheet.pdf

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