Here are my highlights from Summer ‘24 - especially selected for nonprofits - though none are specific to nonprofits or NPSP (see NPC items at the end). Salesforce adds useful features with each major release and you may miss out if you don’t know what’s possible! For this release’s highlights, I collaborated with the Cloud Consulting team at Ability Central. See the official Release Notes for many more items and details on all of the following items. https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_general_enhancements.htm&language=en_us&type=5&release=250

Please see  my post on LinkedIn, which includes all the links for the items below  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dodi-friedenbergs-summer-24-release-highlights-dodi-friedenberg-uyrwe/?trackingId=z8zaR1FYS1ar%2Bkzjzv0SXw%3D%3D:

Maybe the most important 2 items from this release for admins:

• If you haven’t done so already: Create and Verify Your Default No-Reply Organization-Wide Email Address to Send Email. To comply with increased email security standards, orgs are required to create and verify a Default No-reply address in Organization-Wide Email Address settings. (Lightning &  Classic, all editions except Database.com). Introduced with Summer ’24 and scheduled to be enforced in Winter ’25. https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_general_verify_return_email_address.htm&release=250&type=5
• Control who gets certificate expiration email notifications: By popular demand on the IdeaExchange. Assign the new Receive Certificate Expiration Notifications user permission only to the admins who should receive them. Also, notification emails now include more details about how to update certificates before they expire. https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_security_pe_limit_cert_expire_emails.htm&release=250&type=5

Make your users’ experiences better:

• Leave a blank space in Dynamic Forms so you can line up the fields in columns more nicely 
• Make a tab conditionally visible within a Dynamic Form
• Improve search for your users - IdeaExchange request delivered (Setup ---> Einstein ---> Einstein Search ---> Search Manager)
• Intelligence View, which was introduced in Winter ‘24, now has more options for taking action. Toggle between Intelligence View and List Views on the Accounts, Contacts, and Leads tabs. Take action in Intelligence Views, including: sending an email to a list of contacts; changing ownership for multiple leads; adding a label to a group of accounts, selecting up to 200 records and updating them in bulk.

Accessibility:

• A larger, darker line around in-focus components makes it easier to visualize which button you are hovering on: This change is on by default, and there’s no option to turn it off. 

The following 4 items are listed here: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_customization_general_list_view_accessibility.htm&language=en_us&type=5&release=250

• Keyboard users can navigate related lists with the Ctrl+Alt+arrow key (Windows) or Cmd+Option+arrow key (macOS)
• Screen readers announce the text in the new chart window in a more logical order. Additionally, screen readers clearly announce the start of table data when reading the contents of an existing chart.
• The pin list button always includes the name of the list view for screen readers, whether the list is pinned or not.
• The chart and filter buttons now display tooltips when they have focus.

The following eight items are listed here: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_customization_general_list_view_accessbility.htm&release=248&type=5

• The Pin List View button has a more visible keyboard focus indicator when selected.
• A user can use a keyboard to select a List View header link in a small region on a Lightning page.
• In the list view Charts panel, the button to close the panel has a clearer assistive label, which now reads “Close charts” instead of “Hide charts.” Additionally, a descriptive tooltip appears when a user moves the keyboard focus to the Close Charts button in the Charts panel, or they move it to the Close Filters button in the Filters panel.
• To provide more information to assistive technology users, the Benefits list view on the Related tab of the Benefit Type record page has an accessible label that provides the table name.
• In a list view without any items, keyboard focus follows a more logical pattern. Previously, keyboard focus sometimes moved to hidden elements.
• The records list in split view has a new infobubble that clarifies how to navigate between individual records and select them with the keyboard.
• Screen readers announce the details of errors that occur when a user saves inline edits. Additionally, the inline error window has clearer assistive text.
• A record preview icon is now present for items in related lists. With this change, keyboard users can navigate to the preview icon via the Tab key and launch the record preview.

Other Items for Admins:

•  Customize rich text on your Lightning pages by giving it style values such as Heading 1, Heading 2 using the new dropdown menu in the Rich Text component editor. Assigning these values also makes that text accessible for users viewing with a screen reader.
• When creating a new field, you are asked which Dynamic Form-enabled record page(s) to add it to 
• While designing/modifying Lightning Record Page, Compact vs. Comfy density setting is now respected in preview on Dynamic Forms-enabled pages.
• Get a Summary of a User’s Permissions and Access - Go to their User record and choose “View Summary” 
• See where a Public Group is used, including Sharing Rules, Report Folders, and List Views 
• Permission Set Group - Summary button - see which permission sets are included and which user/object/field/custom permissions are included
• New “Freeze user” and “Monitor logins” permissions - no longer require Manage Users permission 
• “Your Account” App: Updated interface for an improved experience. (e.g., in the Product Catalog tab you can view and purchase Salesforce products or buy additional licenses). 

Flow Automation:

• Google Maps in screen Flow: Include an Address field powered by Google Maps in a screen Flow. When user selects an address in the search field, the flow populates the address fields. An IdeaExchange Idea delivered!
• Make an Address field required in a screen Flow 
• Add an Action button in a screen Flow to run an autolaunched Flow 
• Improved screen reader experience: Screen readers announce the label of Long Text Area, Picklist, and Datatable components in a screen Flow when focusing on them. (Previously, screen readers didn’t announce these labels.)
• Configure Conditions More Easily with the new IsBlank for text value and IsEmpty for collection variables
• Prevent duplicates in Create Records element in Flow 
• View and monitor your flows in the Automation Lightning App with Home Tab. New list views show your most recently modified flows and flow definitions that include errors. Search for flows using a keyword in the flow label. Filter or sort flows by type, progress status, last modified date, last modifying user, and associated record fields.
• Organize Your Flows Based on Categories and Subcategories That You Define: In the Automation Lightning app, click a Flow Label to open the Details page for a flow. Edit the Category or Subcategory field. For example, set the Category field to Service. (Maintain a list of the values that you create). 

Nonprofit Cloud (NPC):

The new Nonprofit Cloud was introduced in 2023 and is a different offering from NPSP. For those who have an NPC org or are interested in new developments in NPC, here are some highlights: 

• Gift acknowledgments and receipts
• New Home Page for Program Delivery
• Remove Participants from Upcoming Scheduled Sessions
• Group Program Participants into Cohorts

If these highlights are helpful, or if there are other key items you would add, please comment!