I’ve been spending a lot of time lately looking at the Salesforce Winter ’26 release notes, and let’s be honest, it is a lot to take in. We are seeing a massive push toward AI and more sophisticated automation, which means our jobs as admins are changing faster than ever.
But don’t worry. I’ve broken down the parts that actually matter for your day-to-day work so you don’t have to read all 500 pages of the notes. Here is what you need to know to keep your org running without any surprises.
Agentforce and AI in Salesforce Winter ’26
Look, AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore. With the latest updates, Employee Agents can now close cases on their own. This is a big shift from just suggesting text to actually taking action. I’ve seen teams get overwhelmed by simple, repetitive tickets, and this should finally take that off their plate.
We are also getting better tools to manage these agents. There are new pre-deployment checks and session tracing features. If you are just starting out with this stuff, you might want to check out these 8 practical Agentforce use cases to see how other people are actually using it in the real world.
One thing that trips people up is the “verification” step. Make sure you update your agents to use the new Service Customer Verification topic, or you might find your old actions stop working when you least expect it.
Flow Updates in Salesforce Winter ’26
Flow is still the heart of the platform, and Salesforce Winter ’26 brings some features we’ve been asking for. We finally have nested loops in beta. I know, we’ve been told for years to avoid loops inside loops, but sometimes you just need them for complex data structures. Just be careful with your limits.
The new “Create Records” element now outputs the record resource immediately. No more searching for IDs right after a create step. It’s a small change, but it saves so much time. If you want to make sure your new automations are up to spec, take a look at these Salesforce Flow best practices to keep things clean.
User and Security Changes
Here’s the thing: security updates usually break stuff if you aren’t paying attention. This release enforces email verification and changes how “secure roles” behave. I’ve worked with many orgs where these little “Release Updates” in Setup get ignored until the weekend they go live. Don’t be that person. Check your “Release Updates” tab today.
Another win for admins? Field history for the User object is finally in beta. We’ve been able to track changes on Accounts and Contacts forever, but the User object was always a black box. Now you can see exactly who changed a user’s profile or department and when it happened.
Reporting and UI Tweaks
So what does this mean for your users? They’ll notice some nice quality-of-life changes. We now have multi-column sort on list views. It sounds simple, but users have been asking for this for a decade. Also, reference lines in dashboards are going to make it much easier for sales managers to see if they’re hitting their targets at a glance.
If you’re already looking ahead to what’s next, you might find some interesting comparisons in the Salesforce Spring ’26 Flow preview. It’s always good to stay one step ahead of the release cycle.
Key Takeaways
- Test your agents: Agentforce is moving fast, so use the new session tracing to see where your agents are getting stuck.
- Audit your Flows: With the new nested loops and AI decision elements, it’s time to rethink some of your older, clunkier automations.
- Watch the security updates: Email verification and flow run restrictions are the big ones that could block your users if not handled.
- User Object Tracking: Enable the field history beta for Users to help with your next security audit.
Now, the best thing you can do right now is get into a pre-release org. Don’t wait for your sandbox to refresh. Try out the new resource picker in Flow and see how the multi-column sort feels. It’s much better to find a bug now than on the Monday morning after the release goes live.
Stay on top of your maintenance calendar and start moving those “Release Updates” to your to-do list. Your future self will thank you.