1. What is Workbench for Salesforce?
Workbench for Salesforce is a free to use, feature rich, online tool used by Developers and Admins to interact with Salesforce.
2. How can you access Workbench for Salesforce?
Steps to access Workbench:
Step 1. Workbench Login URL: https://workbench.developerforce.com/login.php
Step 2. Select Environment (For developer org please select production)
Step 3. Select API Version (recommended leave it to the default value shown on screen)
Step 4. Agree to the terms of service
Step 5. Click on Login with Salesforce button
Step 6. Salesforce Login Screen will be displayed. Please enter Username and Password and click on Log In button
Step 7. If you logging in for the first time you will have to Allow Workbench to access your Salesforce Org
Step 8. On successful log in Workbench Home screen will be displayed.
3. What are the key features of Workbench for Salesforce?
You can categorize Workbench features into 6 broad categories:
- Setup – Update Workbench Settings
- Info – Information about Standard/Custom Objects, Metadata and Session
- Queries – SOQL and SOSL Queries
- Data – Insert/Update/Delete Data
- Migration – Deploy, Retrieve Metadata
- Utilities – Rest Explorer, Password Management
3.1 Setup – Update Workbench Settings
3.2 Info – Information about Standard/Custom Objects, Metadata and Session
You can access information about Standard/Custom Objects, Metadata and Session from the info option from the menu.
3.3 Queries – SOQL and SOSL Queries
You can write SOQL and SOSL queries from the queries option in the menu. The query results can be viewed as a List, Matrix, Bulk CSV or Bulk XML. You can also choose to exclude or include deleted and archived records from query results.
3.4 Data – Insert/Update/Delete Data
You can use the data option in the menu to Insert/Update/Delete records from a Salesforce Org.
3.5 Migration – Deploy, Retrieve Metadata
You can deploy and retrieve metadata as a zip file to/from a Salesforce org via the Migration option in the menu.
3.6 Utilities – Rest Explorer, Password Management
You can use the Utilities option in menu to REST operations or manage passwords.
4. Key Considerations for using Workbench for Salesforce
- You can use Workbench for free but it is not an official salesforce.com product.
- It has not been officially tested or documented. salesforce.com support is not available for Workbench.
- Data from your Salesforce Org may be stored for sometime on Workbench Servers
How frequently do you use Workbench and, what is your favourite feature? Please let us know in comments!
