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Gary SansomeGary Sansome 

Copy Production to Sandbox for testing

I would like to know how to copy my production environment to sandbox? If there is some kind of step by step article that would be great. Thanks in advance.
SandeepSandeep
Hello Gary, 

Here are the steps for the requirement. 

1) Log in to the production environment
2) In the setup menu search for sandboxes
3) Follow that link and find sandbox (if it is already there) otherwise create one for yourself, by clicking on new. 
4) Assuming that you have already a sandbox, click on the refresh button.
5) Check Autoactivate checkbox for making your sandbox automatically active after creating. 
6) In the recent releases, Salesforce introduced the feature called cloning sandbox from other sandboxes (check it out, it is very useful). 

Note: Dev sandboxes copy only metadata, if you need data also you have to opt for the fullcopy sandbox.

Here are some useful inks

https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=data_sandbox_refresh.htm&type=5
https://help.connexys.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003182865-How-to-refresh-a-Sandbox-

Please let me know if further help is needed. 
Thanks,
Sandeep.




 
Raj VakatiRaj Vakati
From Setup, enter Sandboxes in the Quick Find box, then select Sandboxes.
A list of your sandboxes displays. Sandboxes that you can refresh have a Refresh link next to their name.
Next to the name, click Refresh.
Review the Name, Description, and Create From values, and edit these values if needed.
Select the type of sandbox environment you want.
A table shows the number and type of sandbox licenses available in your org. You can select a different sandbox type to refresh.
If the sandbox you’re refreshing is a clone, this option isn’t available. A cloned sandbox refreshes from its source org and retains the source org’s sandbox license type. If a sandbox’s source org has been deleted, the clone refreshes from your production org.
Select the data you want to copy.
For a Partial Copy sandbox, click Next, and then select a template to specify the data for your sandbox. If you have not created a template for this Partial Copy sandbox, see Create or Edit Sandbox Templates.
For a Full sandbox, click Next, and then decide how much object data to include.
To include template-based data in a Full sandbox, select an existing sandbox template. For more information, see Create or Edit Sandbox Templates.
To include all object data in a Full sandbox, choose whether and how much field tracking history to include, and whether to copy Chatter data. You can copy from 0 to 180 days of history, in 30-day increments. The default is 0 days. Chatter data includes feeds, messages, and discovery topics. Decreasing the amount of data you copy can speed sandbox copy time.
If you want to activate your sandbox immediately after you refresh it, select Auto Activate. In this case, you don’t receive an activation email.
Click Create.
Refreshing your sandbox can move it to a different Salesforce instance. For example, the sandbox can move from CS40 to CS50. If you’re subscribed to Trust Notifications, check your subscription settings to ensure that you continue to receive updates about unforeseen incidents and planned maintenance that affect your sandbox.
Salesforce starts copying data to the sandbox.
If you didn’t select Auto Activate while refreshing your sandbox, Salesforce sends you an email when your sandbox is ready to activate.
Gary SansomeGary Sansome
Hi: Thank you for the response. I created the sanbox last night, went smooth. However when I logged into the Sanbox environment there was no customer data present. Do I have to import that in manually, it was under the impression that the production environment was being copied over? Thanks in advance. [Description: Description: cid:storage_emulated_0_Download_40th_alt3_png_1459532944484] Gary Sansome Store Systems Manager/Systems Engineer Centinela Feed, Inc 2727 Maricopa St - Torrance, CA 90503 310-212-1015 Office 310-344-0997 Cell
SandeepSandeep
Hello Gary, 

As I mentioned in the previous post, only full copy sandboxes will get all the data from production. Developer sandboxes will not get data, Only metadata(all the configuration will be copied) will get copied.  Please refer to below link for further details. 

https://help.connexys.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003182865-How-to-refresh-a-Sandbox-

Imagine you have excel sheet with both the data and columns - for the developer sandbox only columns will get copied , but for full copy both columns and data will be copied. 

And yes you have to import manually data through data loader or any other tools like dataloader.io etc



Please mark it as best answer if you are able to get complete picture. 
Please let me know if further help is needed. 
Thanks,
Sandeep.