This article will help you discover how to add and edit Salesforce metadata. descriptions, understand syncing behaviour of descriptions from Salesforce to Elements, and harness the benefits of longer, more informative metadata descriptions.
Prerequisites
Registered and verified Elements account
Sync'd Salesforce Org Model, with editor permissions
Syncing Metadata Descriptions from Salesforce to Elements
This feature ensures that metadata descriptions in Salesforce, such as those for fields, objects, validation rules, and more, are automatically synced to their respective fields in Elements during the next sync cycle.
How It Works:
During a metadata sync, Elements pulls the description field for supported metadata types from Salesforce.
The retrieved description is displayed in the connected Elements org model.
This ensures the latest descriptions from Salesforce are accurately reflected in Elements.
Editing Metadata Descriptions in Elements
To edit metadata descriptions in Elements, simply locate the specific metadata item, click on it to open the details, and select the "Pencil" icon to edit as needed and click on the 'POST' button to push the changes to Salesforce.
Here is the list of the supported metadata types where we support the update to Salesforce:
Apex Class
Apex Trigger
Big Object
Field
Flow
Objects (Custom)
Permission Set
Permission Set Group
Profile
Record type
Validation rule
Benefits of Longer and Enhanced Descriptions
By adding longer and enhanced descriptions to your metadata items in Elements, you can enjoy the following benefits:
Enhanced documentation coverage for your Org, facilitating easier maintenance and collaboration.
Better understanding of your Org's structure and functionality.
Significantly improved recommendations for changes to your Org using ElementsGPT.
Limitations and Exceptions
Please note the following limitations and exceptions regarding metadata descriptions in Elements:
The limit of characters that can be added to metadata is 1000 characters. This is the same as the limit in salesforce.
When description on a metadata is empty in salesforce but not empty in Elements we will not overwrite the description in Elements with the empty description in Salesforce with subsequent sync.
Two way sync is not supported for following metadata because of the absence of a corresponding, editable description field in Salesforce that can be updated.
Apex Class
Apex Trigger
Big Object
Updating Flow description is for the flow and not the flow's version description
Metadata that we do not support two way sync because of limitation in Salesforce are below;
Field (standard)
Object (standard)
Profile (standard)
Permission set (standard)
Permission set group (standard)
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at success@elements.cloud and we will be happy to help.
Remember, by leveraging metadata descriptions in Elements, you can enhance your Org documentation, gain valuable insights, and fully leverage Elements as a Change Intelligence platform for your Salesforce Org.