Set up your store again after a sandbox refresh

A Salesforce sandbox refresh replaces the sandbox org with a fresh copy of production and gives it a new Salesforce Org ID. Your StoreConnect store does not come across with it. Use this process to set the store up again in the refreshed org, whether it runs on the free 90-day trial or on a paid sandbox license.

To set up a store in a sandbox for the first time, see get a StoreConnect sandbox instead.

:::note Two different things are called a sandbox here. The Salesforce sandbox is the org you refresh. The StoreConnect sandbox store is the web app that runs against it. Refreshing the first does not carry the second across. :::

What a refresh does to your store

Four things follow from the new Org ID:

• Your existing sandbox store stops receiving changes, because it is still connected to the old Org ID. It keeps running, and it keeps hold of any custom domain.
• The StoreConnect setup configuration, the Web Domain records, and the Store Domain Name on each Store record are copied from production. Until you run Get sandbox, the refreshed sandbox points at your production store’s website and media.
• A paid sandbox license stays attached to the old Org ID. It does not move by itself.
• Anything built in the sandbox since its last refresh is gone.

Running Get sandbox provisions a new store app against the new Org ID. It does not reconnect the old one.

Choose your path

Which path you follow depends on the license the sandbox store runs on:

• Free 90-day trial. No license work is needed. Refresh, then run Get sandbox. The refreshed sandbox gets a new 90-day trial.
• Paid sandbox license. Send the new Org ID to StoreConnect support and wait for their go-ahead before you run Get sandbox. Support moves the license to the new org so the store is provisioned against it rather than as a new trial.

Before you start

Confirm all of the following:

• You are a Salesforce System Administrator and hold the StoreConnect Administrator permission set in the sandbox.
• Your sandbox template includes every StoreConnect object (the s_c__ objects), if you are refreshing a Partial Copy sandbox. Without them the refreshed sandbox has no store data to set up from. See get a StoreConnect sandbox.
• You have moved any sandbox work you want to keep. See move data from sandbox to production.
• You know which Web Domain record and DNS record the store uses, if it has a custom domain. See connect a domain to StoreConnect.

Before you refresh

:::tip Already refreshed? Skip to set the store up again. The only step you cannot recover is lowering the DNS TTL, which means a domain change later takes as long as your existing TTL. Everything else still works, as long as you have not run Get sandbox yet. :::

1. Open Setup > Sandboxes in your production org and confirm which sandbox you are refreshing and whether it is a Developer, Partial Copy, or Full Copy sandbox.
2. Lower the TTL on the DNS record to 60 seconds, if the store uses a custom domain such as uat.shop.example.com. The DNS change after the refresh then takes effect within minutes rather than hours.
3. Open a case with StoreConnect support naming the sandbox, if the store runs on a paid sandbox license. You add the new Org ID to this case after the refresh.
4. Start the refresh.

Set the store up again

1. Log in to the refreshed sandbox and note its Org ID from Setup > Company Information.
2. Check Setup > Storage Usage. A sandbox has far less storage than production, and setup can stop part way through if the sandbox is at its limit.
3. Empty the Recycle Bin. Deleted records still count against storage.
4. Set up per-record sync opt-in to reduce what the initial sync pulls in.
5. Add the new Org ID to your support case and wait for the go-ahead, if the store runs on a paid sandbox license. On the free trial, go straight to the next step.
6. Open the StoreConnect Console, select Setup in the header, then under Tools select Get sandbox. Complete the setup steps, including permissions and choosing the sync user. The full walkthrough is in get a StoreConnect sandbox.
7. Open the store URL shown in the StoreConnect Console and confirm the storefront loads. Media re-imports in the background, so images can take a while to appear.

:::note Leave the Web Domain records copied from production alone until setup has finished. The setup wizard also always says the sandbox is free for 90 days, which is the standard message. Where support has moved a paid sandbox license to the new Org ID first, the store runs on that license. :::

A store on a trial or sandbox license is always in test mode, so you do not need to select Enable Test Mode on the Store record. See use test mode for transaction testing.

Reconnect a custom domain (optional)

Follow these steps if the sandbox store had a custom domain before the refresh. Do this after setup has finished.

1. Go to the Web Domains list and select New.
2. Enter the domain in Domain Name, for example uat.shop.example.com, with no https:// and no trailing /. Leave Active clear and save.
3. Copy the value from the Target field on the saved record.
4. At your DNS provider, update the CNAME record for the domain to point at that Target value.
5. Open the Web Domain record, select Active, and save.
6. Wait at least 10 minutes, then refresh the record and check Status.

Wait for Status to read Success. If it reads Failed, check the Message field, correct the DNS record, and select Active again to retry. A failed record does not retry on its own.

Once Status reads Success:

1. Open the Store record, set Store Domain Name to the domain, and save. The refresh copied your production domain onto this record.
2. (Optional) Set the Site Base URL StoreConnect Setting to https://uat.shop.example.com if you use the Preview on Site links on Product, Page, and Article records. See set your store domain and go live.

If saving the Web Domain record fails with a message that the domain already exists, your pre-refresh store is still holding it. Contact StoreConnect support to release the domain, then try again.

The sandbox store now runs on the refreshed org: the store URL in the StoreConnect Console loads, a change you make in the sandbox appears on it, and if you reconnected a domain, the storefront loads at that domain with a valid certificate.