New Email Threading Behavior

 **Dec. 19, 2022 UPDATE**

Hello Trailblazers!

I'm writing to let you know of a brand new webinar that our team recorded, walking you through all the great new email threading updates we have coming in the Spring '23 release!

In this webinar, we review the upcoming Lightning Threading Token (a secure replacement for RefID), how it works with Header-Based threading to provide the most versatility over the use cases you've expressed here, and we even go through a demo of the new features!

The webinar can be viewed here: https://sfdc.co/LightningThreadingTokenWebinar

Thank you all for continuously sharing your input, questions, and concerns here. We hope you enjoy this content we produced for you, and please continue to post questions here as they arise.

cc: @Jacinta Burke @Lochlainn O'Shea

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**Sept. 15, 2022 UPDATE**

Hello!  Again, I’d like to thank you for your patience on this topic. Since my last update, I have been working tirelessly with the Security team on this topic, and my engineering team to intake the feedback we’re receiving and deliver features our customers are asking for. We’re excited to share that we’ve agreed with the Security team to suspend enforcement of the new threading behavior, meaning Salesforce will no longer force customers to switch to the new email threading behavior by the Summer ’23 release.  

How does this decision impact the Disable Ref ID and Transition to New Email Threading Behavior (Release Update)? 

The only change is the removal of the Summer ‘23 enforcement date. If you have not yet enabled the release update, you can still enable it in your Orgs. If you have already enabled the release update, nothing will change in your experience. If you have not yet enabled the release update, you have the opportunity to enable it in the same manner you would prior to this change. We still encourage customers to enable this release update and provide feedback.  

What does this mean for RefID moving forward? 

We have been transparent that we want all of our customers to adopt our newer, more secure threading model. RefID does not meet the level of security that Salesforce aims to offer our customers, and we will continue improving email threading. While you are no longer required to move to the new email threading behavior by the previously communicated Summer ’23 release, please expect support for RefID to be removed at a later date - TBD.   

What are we doing to make Header-Based threading better? 

We have made a number of improvements to our threading model in the Winter ’23:

• Added an Outlook-specific Thread-Index identifier, which Microsoft Outlook supplies, to aid in threading
• Added support for Apex emails to leverage header-based threading
• Improved header-based threading support for Email Alerts across all Orgs, ensuring a smoother transition for customers

*Safe Harbor* Additionally, we plan to introduce a new Email Thread Token which will be available in Spring ‘23. Email Thread Token is intended to provide the same benefits and functionality as RefID, but will be a securely generated identifier that meets the requirements of our Security team. More information on the Email Thread Token will be available closer to its release this Spring, and we will plan on running a webinar to highlight this new functionality.   

Over the coming weeks, we will update our customer-facing documentation to reflect this change and will remove the Summer ’23 enforcement from Orgs. Please bear with us during this time as these changes will not be reflected instantly.   

Thank you for all of the feedback! While I’m not responding to every single post, please know that I have heard your messages, and am working to deliver a product we can all be happy with. 

cc: @Jacinta Burke @Lochlainn O'Shea

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Feb. 8 2022 UPDATE:

We have worked with the Security team to confirm a new enforcement date for Disable RefID and Transition to New Email Threading Behavior, which has now been postponed to Summer '23 (June 2023)!

We have updated our help documents below to reflect this new date. 

Thank you so much for your patience as we continue to get this solution to where it needs to be 🙏🏾

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Greetings! I’m Jared Long, the new PM for Service Email (Email-to-Case). First of all, I’d like to thank you for your patience and provide an update on the ‘Disable Ref ID and Transition to New Email Threading Behavior’ release update:    

As you probably already know, the enforcement date for Disable Ref ID and Transition to New Email Threading Behavior release update has been postponed to Summer '23.   

With the immense customer feedback and widespread impact of changes to the RefID, we fully intend to seek an additional enforcement extension from our security team; however, we’re awaiting that confirmation. Our primary goal is to ensure our customers have a smooth transition to this updated feature, and we simply have not been able to devote the time necessary to address the items our community has raised due to other high-impact priorities that have taken precedence over the last 3 releases.   

Our plan remains the same - making email threading more robust by incorporating the feedback we have received to date. Here’s what we’ve done so far and what we’re working on:

• Enforcement of ‘Disable Ref ID and Transition to New Email Threading Behavior’ Release Update postponed until Summer ‘23. 
• Your feedback has been extremely helpful as we focus on solutions for:
  • Threading strategy for notification, bounce emails and auto responses.
  • Use of process builder with new threading mechanism for inbound and outbound emails
  • Support of the new email threading behavior via Apex

We are working to update the knowledge article and accompanying FAQ with the various questions you’ve been posting over the past several months. 

NOTE: The option to opt-out of the new threading behavior until Summer '23 is only available to customers who already have Email-to-Case enabled before the Winter '21 release. If you created a new org, OR enabled Email-to-Case in an existing org after Winter '21, the new threading behavior will be the default behavior.    Please continue to post your feedback to this thread and @mention Jared Long.