It’s that time of year again! The Salesforce Winter ’26 Release has officially dropped, and users are now able to capitalize on some great new features.
This article will focus on the some of the cool user-facing upgrades that will streamline your daily workflow and improve your experience.
Accessibility: Better Visibility at High Magnification
Salesforce is continuing its commitment to universal design by improving platform accessibility. In an effort to align with the new WCAG 2.2 guidelines for Resize and Reflow, they’ve started with crucial enhancements to Page Headers and Modal Windows when browser zoom is greater than 200%.
The Value: This update provides better content visibility for users who need significant screen magnification.
- The Issue: Without this enabled, page headers could block content and significantly decrease the scrolling area. In modal windows, content and buttons might display outside the viewport, potentially making the windows unusable.
- The Improvement: With this enhancement, the page header will scroll with the rest of the page content, maximizing the viewing space and ensuring you don’t miss any critical information.
How to Enable This Feature
This is a critical update set to be enforced with the Summer ’26 Release, but we recommend enabling it now!
- Navigate to Setup and type “Release Updates” in the Quick Find box.
- Select Release Updates and find “Enable Accessibility Enhancements for Page Headers and Modal Windows When Zoom Is Greater Than 200%.”
- Click Get Started and follow the instructions.
Lightning Reports and Dashboards: Powerful New Visualization Tools
We have two exciting and highly requested features to help you visualize your data and track performance goals directly within your dashboards.
1. Reference Lines on Dashboard Charts (with Custom Colors!)
First, Reference Lines can now be added directly to Dashboard chart widgets. Previously, this was a feature exclusive to charts in a source report.
What’s more, the reference line color can be easily customized! This flexibility allows you to visually anchor your performance metrics (KPIs) and instantly see how your current data compares against a target or threshold.
- When you add or edit a chart widget, look for the “Show Reference Line” checkbox below the Y-Axis field.
- Check it, set your numerical value, and then click the colored box to select a custom color for clarity.
2. Dashboard Tables Retain Report Settings (Beta)
Second, when adding a table to a dashboard, you now have the option to use the existing table settings from the report. This means you no longer have to manually reconfigure your display; your dashboard tables can automatically inherit structures like:
- Groupings
- Custom Formulas
- Bucketing (Beta)
How to Enable This Feature:
- Go to the Reports and Dashboard Settings in Setup and select Apply report settings to dashboard tables (Beta) to turn it on.
- Then, when adding a Lightning table to the dashboard, select the Use table setting from report (Beta) option.
List Views: Efficiency Upgrades for Daily Tasks
Day-to-day data management just got a lot smoother with two key quality-of-life updates for List Views.
1. Multi-Column Sorting is Now Generally Available (GA)
We previewed multi-column sorting when it was in Beta for the Winter ‘25 release, and now it has reached General Availability in Winter ‘26!
This highly-anticipated feature allows you to sort a list by up to 5 columns and specify the ascending or descending order for each one, providing granular control over your view.
- While on a list view, click the up/down arrows between the refresh and edit buttons to access and manage your sorting options.
- To return to single-column sorting, click a column header not used in the multi-sorting, or use the gear icon to Reset Column Sorting.
2. Selecting Fields to Display Gets a Search Upgrade
Say goodbye to endless scrolling!
Now, when you are searching for fields to add to your list view, you can use the keyboard to quickly find what you need. When you click into Available Fields (or Visible Fields) and type the first letter of a field name, the highlight will automatically jump to the first matching field. It’s a small change, but a massive time-saver.
Summary and Next Steps
The Salesforce Winter ’26 release is packed with practical, high-impact features designed to put more power directly into the hands of the end-user. From customizing dashboards to streamlining list views, these updates make your daily tasks more efficient.
The best part? You can start using most of these right away!
- List View updates (multi-column sorting and field search) are available automatically.
- Reference Lines are ready to configure in any dashboard chart you own.
- Accessibility and Dashboard Table features require a simple one-time enablement in Setup by your Administrator.
Got Quick Questions? Book a Time with Our Experts!
If you need a quick pointer on enabling one of these features or have a fast question about configuration, take advantage of our free Office Hours sessions—your direct line to our Salesforce experts. Use this link to book a time that works for you.
Ready for Bigger Changes?
While these features are straightforward to adopt, the Winter ’26 release includes dozens of other updates involving complex Flows, Permissions, Integrations, and Security that require careful configuration and testing.
At Port & Starboard, we focus on managing the technical complexity so you don’t have to. We help organizations implement the big-picture functionality that truly drives business transformation.
Ready to move beyond the basics? Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your overall Winter ‘26 readiness and how we can handle the more complex updates for your team! Click “Get Support Now” below to get started.
Resources
“Beta Services” means SFDC services or functionality that may be made available to Customer to try at its option at no additional charge which is clearly designated as beta, pilot, limited release, developer preview, non-production, evaluation, or by a similar description.
