How to Create a Sandbox

A Note on User Access

Because a sandbox is an exact copy of your account at the moment it's created, that includes your user accounts too. If a user was added to your account after a sandbox was created, that user won't exist in the sandbox — and won't be able to log into it.

Newly created users cannot access sandboxes that were created before their account existed. To give a new user access to a sandbox, you'll need to create a new sandbox after the user has been added to your account.

How App Admins access a sandbox (and what that means for "current user" filters)

Unlike Super Admins, App Admins log into a sandbox as themselves — using their own TrackVia login — and then select a Role to apply. That selected Role determines what the App Admin can see and do in the sandbox (mirroring the permissions a real user in that Role would have), but it's applied on top of the API calls made during that session, not in place of the App Admin's own identity.

In other words, the App Admin is still logged in as themselves the whole time — the Role selection changes what they're permitted to see and do, not who they are.

Because of this, views filtered by current user or current user group work exactly as they would outside a sandbox: they resolve against the App Admin's own user account, not the selected Role. If you're testing how a specific Role experiences a "current user" filtered view, keep in mind that the filter will reflect the App Admin's own identity, not a generic member of that Role.

App Admins can launch sandboxes for testing and development, but they cannot create or delete sandboxes. When launching a sandbox, an App Admin sees the applications where they are an App Admin in your production account, then chooses a Role from the full list of Limited User and App Admin roles. This is also a useful way to see exactly what a Limited User role sees.

How Limited Users access a sandbox

If your account has this feature enabled, Limited Users see an option to go to the account's sandboxes from their User dropdown. If there is more than one sandbox, they choose which one to log into. Limited Users always see a sandbox from the perspective of the role their user is assigned to in that sandbox, regardless of their role in production, so you can assign a user to a new role in the sandbox to test it. Limited Users cannot impersonate other users in a sandbox.

Limited Users can access any sandbox that has been created; this cannot be blocked. Because Limited Users can only update record data, not app structure, this doesn't affect your ability to track and promote changes to production.

For Super Admin and App Admin, we’ve added the ability to quickly access a sandbox from the User dropdown, as well. All functionality for creating, editing, and promoting sandboxes is now available under the “Manage Sandboxes” link. 

To Create a Sandbox: