Before You Dive Into the Salesforce Release Summer ’26

Every Salesforce release brings a wave of new features, and Summer ’26 is no exception. Agentforce continues to expand across the platform, AI capabilities are becoming more embedded in everyday workflows, and Salesforce is making it easier to automate processes and gain insights from your data.

The exciting new features seem to keep rolling out, faster than ever before – that’s great!  There are a few important items that you must know amidst all of the excitement. 

Before you start testing new features, make sure these items are on your radar.

First, Check Your Email Domains

Salesforce is strengthening email verification requirements. Organizations that send emails on behalf of users must now verify both their domains and user email addresses.

If your company hasn’t completed domain verification, you’ll need to verify the domain, configure authorized sending domains, or provide alternative email addresses for users associated with unverified domains.

This update directly affects outbound communications sent through Salesforce, including automated notifications, workflow emails, and customer-facing messages.

Potential Impact on Customer Communications

If your email domains aren’t properly verified, emails may not be delivered as expected. Taking the time to complete these updates now can help ensure your communications continue reaching customers, prospects, and partners without interruption.

Next, Review Authentication Settings and Connected Apps

Salesforce is continuing its move toward stronger authentication standards, which means some legacy configurations are approaching retirement.

Organizations using the original single-configuration SAML framework should begin planning their migration to the multiple-configuration framework. At the same time, connected applications that still rely on the OAuth 2.0 username-password flow will need to transition to supported alternatives, such as web-server or client credentials flows.

For many organizations, these integrations have been in place for years and may not have been reviewed recently.

Don’t Wait for a Login Failure

Authentication issues often remain hidden until something stops working. Delaying these updates could lead to broken single sign-on experiences, failed integrations, or unexpected access issues. A proactive review now can help prevent disruptions later and ensure your integrations remain secure.

Finally, Prepare for More Frequent Certificate Renewals

An industry-wide compliance change is reducing the maximum lifespan and domain validation reuse period for new Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates to 200 days.

Organizations should review where certificates are used across Salesforce integrations and connected systems, perform Domain Control Validation (DCV) more frequently, and establish a process for more regular certificate rotations.

While this change extends beyond Salesforce, it will affect many organizations that rely on certificates for secure access and integrations.

A Proactive Approach Pays Off

Expired certificates can cause service interruptions, integration failures, and access issues that impact both employees and customers. Reviewing your certificate inventory and renewal process now can help ensure your organization stays compliant while avoiding preventable disruptions.

The Most Important Summer ’26 Updates Aren’t Necessarily New Features

The Summer ’26 release introduces exciting advancements in Agentforce, automation, analytics, and AI-powered productivity. Those enhancements will help organizations unlock new efficiencies and deliver better customer experiences.

But before focusing on what’s new, it’s worth taking a moment to review the updates that keep your Salesforce environment secure, connected, and operational. By prioritizing email verification, authentication updates, and certificate management, administrators can reduce risk today and ensure they’re ready to take advantage of everything the Summer ’26 release has to offer.

In the coming weeks, we’ll take a closer look at some of the most impactful Summer ’26 features and enhancements, helping you understand what they mean for your users and how to get the most value from the release.