Salesforce is undergoing significant transformations in 2025, with a focus on AI-first strategies, feature retirements, and the introduction of new tools. These updates, including those in the upcoming Winter ’26 release, aim to enhance the platform and streamline user experience.

Feature Retirements

Several features are being retired throughout 2025:

• Spring ’25:
  • Classic Knowledge and Enhanced Email Experience: Support for Enhanced Email Experience in Account Engagement and the Classic Knowledge data model will end in Summer ’25. Users should migrate to Lightning Knowledge and use either Classic Email Builder or Marketing Cloud Builder.
  • Einstein Automated Contacts: Retired in February 2025. Organizations must transition to Automatic Contact Creation in Einstein Activity Capture.
  • Pipeline Inspection Close Date Predictions: No longer available. Einstein Opportunity Scoring should be used for forecasting insights.
  • Salesforce Functions (Elastic Services): Deprecated in January 2025. Alternative solutions like running on Heroku, AWS Lambda, or other serverless services should be deployed.
  • Lightning Adoption Apps: Removed from AppExchange and officially retired in January 2025. These tools, including Lightning Experience Transition Assistant, Lightning Experience Configuration Converter, and Lightning Experience Readiness Check, are generally no longer needed.
• Summer ’25:
  • Document Generation 1.0: Salesforce will sunset Document Generation 1.0 on July 31, 2025. Users in Industries Communications, Media, Energy & Utilities (CME), Insurance (INS), Vlocity Government (PS), or Omnistudio managed packages should upgrade to Spring ’25 managed package versions.
  • API Versions 21.0 to 30.0: These versions will no longer be supported or available starting in Summer ’25. Integrations and custom code using them will break, so upgrading to newer supported versions is strongly recommended for improved security and performance.
  • ICU Locale Formatting: Salesforce is enforcing the use of ICU formatting, moving away from Oracle’s Java Development Kit (JDK) locale formats.

Upcoming Retirements and Important Changes

Organizations need to plan for these significant changes:

• Legacy Chat (Live Agent, Salesforce Chat, Embedded Chat, and Service Chat): Salesforce’s original real-time chat solution will be retired by Valentine’s Day 2026. Organizations should migrate to Messaging for In-App and Web or Einstein Bots + Agentforce.
• Salesforce for Outlook: Set for full retirement in December 2027 and is no longer being enhanced. Migration to Outlook Integration with Einstein Activity Capture is advised.
• Standard-Volume Platform Events: While deprecated in Spring ’19, official end-of-life and retirement is set for June 2027. A migration tool to High-Volume events will be available by Summer ’26, but replacing standard-volume events with high-volume events is recommended if waiting is not an option.
• Instance-Based Domain Retirement: Old integration code referencing instance-based domains (e.g., na1.salesforce.com) must be updated to use My Domain URLs. This service stops in August 2025 for sandboxes and Spring ’26 for production orgs.
• Permissions on Profiles: Salesforce is shifting towards Permission Sets and Permission Set Groups as the primary method for access controls. While Profiles still exist, admins should prepare for a permission set-based model.
• Workflow Rules and Process Builder: Salesforce stopped building new automation in Workflow Rules and Process Builder last year and will no longer support them by December 31, 2025. All automation must be migrated to Flow by this deadline.

New Products, Rebrands, and Name Changes

Salesforce’s product strategy is evolving with new platforms and name changes:

• Marketing Cloud Next: Unveiled at Connections 2025, this new AI-powered platform integrates various marketing needs with agentic offerings through Agentforce, simplifying tasks across campaign planning, execution, and analysis.
• Tableau Next: Salesforce’s analytics platform is now part of the broader agentic transformation, powered by Hyperforce and integrated with Data Cloud. It introduces AI-powered features beyond dashboards, including Data Pro, Concierge, and Inspector as out-of-the-box analytics skills.
• Trailhead Academy: Effective July 21, 2025, all Salesforce and Tableau certifications will transition from WebAssessor to Trailhead Academy, unifying registration and prep materials on one platform. Existing credentials and exam history will transfer seamlessly.
• Certification Name Changes: Alongside the move to Trailhead Academy, Salesforce certifications are being renamed to better reflect role relevance and modern terminology. Examples include “Salesforce Certified Associate” becoming “Salesforce Certified Platform Foundations” and “Administrator” becoming “Platform Administrator”.