A letter from the scariest day of the year – Halloween to Awesome Admins
Bwahahahahahaha…………. Oh no! That’s the laughter of the Storage Ghoul. It comes to life whenever the Salesforce storage has been full. My, My! Hadn’t you noticed it getting accumulated? You are in big trouble. This is no harmless ghoul that can be driven away by trick or treating’. Some serious amount of work has to be done to keep it stay away from your Salesforce storage. This letter is to that Salesforce Admin who is petrified by the activation of the Storage Ghoul. Ghostly Greetings!! Hey, Salesforce #AwesomeAdmins Q. Did you come across the worst nightmare of having your Salesforce file storage complete? Did the Storage Ghoul come to life again? Fret no more. We are here for you. This time we are not going to delete or erase random files that were being done until last year. We are going to retain it and put an end to the Storage Ghoul forever. No witchcraft has come up with a spell that can bring this Ghoul back to life. No spiders are going to surf your web and nest inside your storage. You do not need to roam around your broomstick looking for a solution. This time we are going to creep the ghoul back. We all know that during Halloween, being normal is vastly overrated. Hence our costume this year to wipe out all the Storage Ghouls is XfilesPro (drumroll please!). There is no appearance for the Storage Ghoul to be in the sequel because XfilesPro will kill it hard. Dive in to know deeply about the advantages of the same. External Storage Integration: Did you think that the Storage Ghoul was ghosting you when you never heard of him in a while? No, you were wrong. It was waiting for your Salesforce storage to be full. Now that it is full, it is back in full swing. XfilesPro integrates your Salesforce app with the external cloud storage of your choice. The 3rd-party cloud platforms that are supported by XfilesPro are Google Drive, SharePoint, AWS S3, One Drive, and also on-premises storage systems (SFTP, Network Drive, SMB). Folder Management: We have observed that sometimes you get traumatized and feel like you are in a cauldron burning when asked to locate a particular file. This is because the files are scattered like bats and are difficult to catch and hold off. XfilesPro helps in the proper folder hierarchy that helps in the fetching of files in no time. Auto File Export: Exporting a large volume of files in Salesforce is not that you say Hocus Pocus and they are gone. It is a very tedious task. But nothing seems impossible with XfilesPro. Files are automatically archived alongside setting the future file migration process optimized. File View: Counting the candies you got from Halloween bowl to bowl is very time-consuming. But not in the case of Salesforce files stored externally with XfilesPro. Once the files are migrated from Salesforce to external storage, XfilesPro has made it easier to have you access or view the files from either of the storage. File Collaboration: To cope with the file management system and productivity, this feature comes into the picture. File collaboration helps in accessing centralized files with the internal and external teams. The powers of XfikesPro are getting stronger and stronger with each feature right? Isn’t this the spooktacular inspiration that you needed to drive your Storage Ghoul away? Everything\’s better with a little magic in it. We present to you XfilesPro which is full of magic and wonder. At times, to stand against some unstoppable forces we need to revitalize our resources and look for a savior in town. Thank the good spirits!! You have XfilesPro. Still, feeling eerie about the situation? Take up a call with our product experts who will use their magic wand to vanish all your doubts. Signing off! Warm Bugs and Hisses Costume Team XfilesPro E: [email protected] W: xfilespro.com AMARLAL
Salesforce File Storage Limit Exceeded? Some Use Cases & Tips to Prevent Hitting Storage Limits
Last Updated: February 28, 2025 In today’s world where businesses are becoming multifarious, customers are demanding personalized services. To consistently meet evolving customer demands & stay ahead of competitors, technology adoption at an early stage is elemental. Salesforce, being the #1 CRM in the world has been embraced by thousands of businesses around the globe to drive forth innovation & digital transformation. However since it is a multi-tenant environment, there are certain restrictions in place to maintain the speed & performance of the platform. Though maintaining separate files & accounts for each customer is beneficial for delivering personalized experiences, it results in a large volume of files accumulating within Salesforce, which takes up a lot of storage space. Most businesses experience Salesforce storage limits exceeding within the first two years. Managing large volumes of files in Salesforce is a daunting task that brings a lot of related challenges. We will highlight a few common industry use cases where businesses found it difficult to manage a sheer number of files in Salesforce. We will also discuss the strategies they implemented to optimize their Salesforce file storage to prevent hitting their storage limits. Before discussing the Salesforce file storage challenges & solutions, let’s have a look at how much file storage space you get in Salesforce. Also Read: Top 3 Ways To Prevent Hitting The Salesforce Storage Limit In Your Org What are Different Types of Storage in Salesforce? Salesforce classifies storage into three key categories: Data Storage, File Storage, and Big Objects – each playing a crucial role in managing business data efficiently. Data Storage: This is where Salesforce stores records from standard and custom objects like Accounts, Contacts, Leads, and Cases. As businesses scale, the increasing volume of records can quickly consume available storage. File Storage: This category is dedicated to attachments, Salesforce Files, Chatter files, and documents. While essential for document management, Salesforce’s storage limits can make handling large volumes of files a challenge. Big Objects: Designed for massive datasets, Big Objects enable businesses to store and manage billions of records without affecting CRM performance. They are ideal for archiving historical data, system logs, and large-scale records that need long-term retention. Handling data and file storage in Salesforce are completely different. In this blog let’s understand Salesforce file storage, what contributes to Salesforce file storage, and the key factors to consider when managing it. The Salesforce Files (Formerly Chatter Files) Before Salesforce Files there were the Chatter Files. Chatter is majorly focused on enabling users to collaborate seamlessly and enable easier cooperation through a social enterprise environment. Files are an intrinsic part of document collaboration, hence, Salesforce files integrate Chatter with Salesforce CRM Content and allow users to access and share the files stored there. Using the Salesforce files, individuals can upload files privately until they have decided upon sharing them. They can also subscribe to files and get notified when a file has been updated. The process of sharing can be done in the following ways: Sharing with an individual Sharing with the existing groups of people inside Salesforce Sharing with link By indirectly, attaching a Salesforce file to the Chatter feed of a record, as mentioned previously The Salesforce documentation is true that you also have control over the access permissions. Files in Chatter can be: Completely private – No access at all Shared with viewer permissions – Viewer permission to access Editable by collaborators – Collaborator Fully shared – With the owner Salesforce CRM Content This option is often used to store marketing materials or support-related documents. It allows you to store templates, standard marketing collaterals, and corporate files that sales or support teams can use when interacting with customers. Team members can easily customize these templates and use them per their requirements. Additionally, you can be part of multiple libraries and access them through the Libraries tab. This is not it, you can also see them under the Salesforce Files tab. Users can also attach a file stored in a Library, directly to the Chatter Feed of a record. One drawback that can be registered here, is that you cannot have nested folders. Each Library will be like a flat folder in which you are not allowed to have sub-folders. The Salesforce Attachments One more traditional way of storing Salesforce files is Salesforce Attachment which allows you to attach files and documents to individual records. This works well when short sales cycles are generated, with a small number of files per record. The file size is also limited to 25 MB per file. Posting a file in the Chatter feed will automatically show it in the notes and attachment section of that specific record. The Documents This is where you can store web resources like logos, HTML banners, and also Visualforce materials. These are generally such resources, which you plan on using for email campaigns and also for any images that are to be used in a template. How Did Your Salesforce File Storage Limit Exceed? Let’s have a look at how companies generate files and what consequences they face once they accumulate a large volume of files in their Salesforce org. With a huge volume of old or unused files If you have been using Salesforce for a long time, you must find a large chunk of obsolete files. These files might be related to old customers, closed cases, lost accounts, old email attachments, etc. Though your sales or service team does not require these files, they reside within the app and occupy storage. This results in storage shortages over time. File generation from multiple sources If you have a huge Salesforce standard user base (sales & service) and they upload a large number of files daily, you might run out of allocated file storage space faster than usual. This might happen to specific industry customers such as healthcare, financial, logistics, legal, and insurance who deal with more documents. All these industries also deal with files that are larger in size. Files getting uploaded
Why Must Salesforce Admins Monitor Their Salesforce File Storage?
As businesses become diversified & technological advancements are made, customers demand personalized services, prompting companies to maintain separate accounts & files for each customer. Because of this, it becomes nearly impossible to manage the documents using manual methodologies which results in more automated alternatives being adopted for file management. This is where Salesforce enters the scene, helping companies provide more personalized experiences to customers. But one of the most critical aspects of running a business using Salesforce is managing the massive volume of records, data, files, & documents that are created, moved, modified, & deleted on a regular basis within the very limited storage space. Since companies deal with thousands of customers regularly, there is a constant need to keep track of the primary storage space allotted by Salesforce, when the licenses are purchased. Salesforce Storage: A Brief Introduction Primarily the Salesforce storage is classified into three categories – Salesforce file storage, Salesforce data storage, and Salesforce Big Objects. As the name suggests, file storage is the space allocated for storing important Salesforce files like files & attachments, Salesforce CRM Content, Files home, Documents tab, Chatter files (including user photos), custom File field on Knowledge articles, & assets regarding Site.com. In the same manner, data storage is allocated space used for storing Salesforce records like Cases, Accounts, Notes, Events, Quotes, Leads, Opportunities, Tasks, and much more. And, Big Objects is the space that stores and manages your massive amounts of data on the Salesforce platform. When it comes to storage limits, the Contact Manager, Group, Professional, Enterprise, Performance & Unlimited editions are allocated 10 GB for data storage, plus 20 MB additional data storage per user, and 10 GB for file storage. Only the Salesforce Essentials edition has 1 GB of primary file storage. Salesforce Orgs also offers additional file storage, decided by the number of standard user licenses: The Enterprise, Performance & Unlimited editions receive an extra 2 GB of file storage per standard user license. While the Contact Manager, Group & Professional editions receive an additional 612 MB of file storage per standard user license. Also read: Top 3 Ways to Prevent Hitting the Salesforce Storage Limit in Your Org Monitoring Salesforce File Storage: How & Why Now that you are aware of the fact that Salesforce file storage limits your Salesforce Org, it’s important to always keep a watchful eye on the primary file storage. To check the enterprise’s storage usage, users can simply navigate to Setup & click Storage Usage to view the Limit, Amount Used, Percentage Used, and usage breakdowns of each storage type. Through this, users can also learn about the Top Users of each storage type. In case your Salesforce Org’s file storage limit is exceeded due to any reason, in most cases, Salesforce allows some buffer storage above 100% usage, usually up to 125-150% of the original storage. After even that grace storage is exhausted, new files & attachments will simply not be updated in the storage. This issue has the potential to result in the malfunctioning of critical CRM processes and the consequent disruption of vital business operations. In more severe instances, if the problem with file storage is not promptly resolved, it could put the continuity, growth, and productivity of the enterprise at risk. In most cases when enterprises run out of their allocated Salesforce file storage, the admin receives a warning email from Salesforce instructing them to either clean up the Salesforce instance by deleting not frequently used files or purchase more file storage space from Salesforce. Deleting files might not be feasible for the enterprise because of various internal policies & external guidelines governing regulatory compliance & retention. And additional file storage may be out of the question owing to the hefty, recurrent costs associated with it. Also, Read: 5 Effective Strategies for Organizing and Managing Files in Salesforce XfilesPro: A Savior in Salesforce File Storage Issues The limitations of the Salesforce file storage, the need to purchase additional storage, & the struggle to migrate important files from the third-party storage (being used before implementing Salesforce) can easily be resolved by integrating the Salesforce system with an external storage platform. This is where XfilesPro, an advanced file management & external collaboration application, emerges as a much-needed savior. XfilesPro can easily help Salesforce users migrate their Salesforce files/attachments to any external Cloud of their choice, thereby freeing up space in the primary file storage. The files/attachments can be seamlessly stored in cloud platforms like SharePoint, AWS S3, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Not only does the application move files to external storage cutting down expenses, but it also gives you the ability to organize the files with a smart folder structure for easy accessibility thereby saving time and enhancing productivity. We also offer secure sharing, community file management, seamless internal and external collaboration, a user-friendly interface, and other features that simplify document management for Salesforce users. What’s more is that XfilesPro future-proofs the file storage by optimizing it, brings down the file storage costs, & offers a more seamless file management experience in Salesforce. Now XfilesPro offers document generation, which means that you can now generate documents and store them all using one platform. To know more about how XfilesPro DocuPrime can further simplify document management visit our website. Admins, you can now stop worrying about those dreaded emails notifying you that Salesforce file storage is exceeding its limits. With XfilesPro you can effortlessly manage and optimize storage without compromising access to important files. Say goodbye to storage stress and hello to smooth, hassle-free file management! Schedule a quick personalized demo to see the application in action. AMARLAL
Salesforce costing you too much? XfilesPro can become your Storage Saving Account
In order to boost business productivity, most enterprises choose to implement a customer relation management (CRM) solution so as to automate critical business processes. But when it comes to selecting the right CRM platform for your business, it can prove to be quite a daunting task and is often the most difficult decision an owner makes. With a range of different options available, it is important to properly evaluate each one of them & critically judge each factor before settling for a platform. One such critical factor that needs the most consideration is the cost of the CRM platform. Upon purchasing the CRM solution, many customers have later discovered that in addition to the license price, additional costs also need to be made to diligently utilize the CRM software. These often include costs for either customizing the platform, integrating other solutions with it or for simply accessing the data from a mobile device. Therefore one needs to carefully examine these hidden costs as well while making the choice. Though most CRM vendors advertise their ability to build a powerful view of the customer through sophisticated use of their solution, their pricing can be anything but clear & often entails hidden fees that rack up over time. As a result, users may end up paying almost twice as much as the cost that was initially intended. In this article, we will discuss the hidden costs associated with CRM solutions like Salesforce. The Hidden Costs in Salesforce If you have not been living under a rock, you would be well aware of Salesforce, the #1 CRM solution in the market. This cloud-based CRM platform helps enterprises focus on their customer service, analytics, marketing automation, & application development, while letting them stay connected with their customers, partners, prospects & much more. Now even though Salesforce has one of the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) among all enterprise CRM platforms due to various reasons, its licensing costs are just the tip of the iceberg. As the CRM solution has numerous hidden features available, in order to properly customize it as per your business requirement involves certain hidden fees or expenses. Several types of Salesforce hidden costs have been detailed below: Salesforce Data & File Storage Limits Perhaps the most crucial yet potentially expensive aspect of Salesforce hidden costs is the data & file storage in the Salesforce system. When it comes to storage limits, there are different allocations for different Salesforce editions like Contact Manager, Group, Professional, Enterprise, Performance & Unlimited. All Salesforce editions are all allocated 10 GB for data storage plus 20 MB additional data storage per user. The primary file storage for all editions except Essentials is capped at 10 GB, with the Essentials edition getting only 1 GB of primary file storage. The Enterprise, Performance & Unlimited editions receive an additional 2 GB of file storage per standard user license. The Contact Manager, Group & Professional editions receive an additional 612 MB of file storage per standard user license. Over time as the enterprise begins to reach its storage capacity, they are left with options to either purge data & files or archive redundant data & files from the system or simply purchase additional storage space from Salesforce. For an additional 500 MB data storage, enterprises need to shell out a whopping $125/month while this cost is at $5/month for 1 GB additional file storage. Considering this is not a one-time investment, enterprises may end up paying more than their annual license cost in additional storage costs. Also read: Why Must Salesforce Admins Monitor Their Salesforce File Storage? Salesforce Service & Support Costs In order to effectively utilize the Salesforce CRM platform, it needs to be properly set up, properly configured, periodically cleansed & handled by trained users. As part of its subscription plan, Salesforce offers a basic support option, the ‘Standard Success Plan’, which includes access to online case submission, 12/5 support via phone, & two-business day response time. But if customers require more advanced service, a paid Premier Success Plan also exists where Salesforce offers 24/7 assistance, faster 1-hour responses, & access to an expanded Salesforce training course. Naturally this package is costly because to avail it, enterprises need to pay an additional 20% of their license list price in case of Professional & Enterprise editions. Salesforce CRM Access via Mobile Devices The Salesforce CRM can also be accessed through a free mobile service called Mobile Lite, allowing users to access critical information from anywhere. But this solution has very restricted functionality & doesn’t even include some essential features like access to custom objects, configuration customization, and much more. Therefore most users choose to upgrade this solution. Salesforce users can choose to avail the complete & upgraded version of Salesforce Mobile, which though is free for customers of the Salesforce Unlimited edition, but comes at a price of additional $50 per user per month for the users of Professional & Enterprise editions. API Calls Limits Put simply, the API call limits determine the number of times the CRM system can transact with external information sources, that is, can either send or receive information. They come in handy when a big data project has to be planned or integrations with different marketing solutions have to be made. In both the cases, the API calls can burn through rapidly. Though users are advised to exercise due diligence when using their API calls, in case they still go over their daily API call limit (15,000+ per organization per day), they are left with only two options: either purchase additional user licenses or upgrade all existing users to the most expensive Salesforce Performance edition. Offline Access Another important factor behind Salesforce CRM’s popularity is its offline accessibility. All key customer relationship management information can still be easily accessed even when there is no internet connection or the Salesforce system is offline. A Salesforce native service called ‘briefcase’ offers both online and offline versions of the CRM services though it still has a number of limitations like lack of cases, forecast & reports. For Salesforce customers
Top 3 Ways to Prevent Hitting the Salesforce Storage Limit in your Org
In order to keep up with the changing industry trends and evolving customer demands, businesses have to rapidly keep on upgrading & reinventing themselves. They need to offer top-notch services and deliver exceptional experiences to their customers so as to always maintain an edge over their competitors. One of the smartest ways to do this is by investing in tools & technologies that guarantee accelerated growth and higher profit, all the while keeping the expenses in check. Salesforce is one of the best technology platforms that offers a powerful CRM system to transform sales, marketing, and customer service departments across industries. This powers enterprises to drive innovation, customer success, and revenue. Being a multi-tenant platform, Salesforce always focuses on maintaining top-gear performances of its applications, and in order to achieve this, it has imposed certain limitations. One such limitation is ‘storage’. Know Your Salesforce Storage Being a leading CRM, Salesforce offers some storage space within its applications/org. Customer’s data & files that are being generated while using the Salesforce app get stored in the allocated Salesforce storage space. Salesforce offers three different categories of storage in every org. Let’s have a look at those. Data Storage: Salesforce data storage is the home for various data records such as accounts, cases, leads, campaigns, contacts, opportunities, email messages, events, orders, tasks, etc. stored in standard and custom objects. File Storage: Salesforce file storage keeps files from notes & attachments, files home, CRM content, Chatter (including user photos), documents, and site.com assets. Big Objects: Salesforce Big Objects is the big data-based storage option that is designed to easily hold voluminous amounts of business data. How Much Storage Space Do You Get in Salesforce? Data Storage Space: If you are using Unlimited, Performance, Enterprise, or Professional editions of Salesforce, you will get 10 GB of default data storage space in the org along with 20 MB of additional data storage for each user license. For example, a Professional edition org with 20 users, will receive 10 GB of data storage, plus 20 MB per user which is 400 MB for 20 users. This makes the total data storage 10.4 GB for the company. File Storage Space: Similarly all the above Salesforce editions receive 10 GB of file storage space and an additional 20 MB of storage per user license. Salesforce Essentials edition gets 1 GB of file storage space per org. Only the Professional edition has an additional 612 MB (100 MB per user license + 512 MB per license for the Salesforce Content feature license). Big Objects: When it comes to Big Objects storage, all the Salesforce editions have allocated storage for 1 million Big Object records per Salesforce Org. Is the Allocated Storage Sufficient in Salesforce? Though it largely depends on the usage, in today’s world of data-driven business where enterprises extensively leverage data, the sources of data or file generation have increased. Along with this, the speed of data/file generation has also grown. Considering this, 10 GB of storage is very little for any company. This becomes challenging for businesses that deal with a large number of files, large-size files, more email attachments, and data records. As per industry trends, companies often run out of their allocated Salesforce data and file storage within a span of 2-3 years even with moderate data/file generation. This could be even lower for businesses that generate more data. What Happens When Your Salesforce Storage Starts Filling Fast? When your Salesforce storage starts filling fast, there are several consequences. A few common challenges are: The CRM will become bulky. This will impact the app’s performance, user experience & efficiency. Meeting regulatory compliance & other data policies becomes tough as storing all the business data within limited storage gets complicated. File visibility and accessibility are significantly impacted when seamless collaboration among the users becomes nearly impossible. Storage upgrades in Salesforce are incredibly expensive. Both additional data and file storage space come at a higher cost which might impact the overall budget. How to Increase Your Salesforce Storage Space? After working with multiple Salesforce customers from diverse industries over a decade, we understood what type of methods most enterprises adopt to better manage their Salesforce storage spaces. Here we have made a consolidated list of the means through which the above-mentioned challenges can be combated and the Salesforce storages can be optimized to a greater potential. Option 1: Cleaning up Unused Data Manually or Automatically One of the easiest ways to prevent exceeding the Salesforce storage limits is by purging unnecessary files and data records, either manually or automatically. There are a lot of tools available for these purposes: Salesforce’s Mass Delete Wizard: Salesforce’s web-based native mass deletion wizard allows users to delete record types such as cases, solutions, accounts, contacts, leads, products, and activities. Currently, the complete Mass Delete is limited to around 250 records at once and is also limited to the above-named objects. Extract Transform Loading (ETL) Tools: Certain ETL tools are used for both data migration and data removal. Popular ETL tools like Salesforce Data Loader can be used to delete both data records and files from the system. Other popular ETL tools include Dataloader.io, Informatica, JitterBit, Integrate.io, etc. Most of these tools are paid for and will always require significant investment and evaluation to ensure they meet the requirements. Automatic Deletion: If you don’t want to spend a lot of time and money on removing redundant files and data, several third-party AppExchange applications can be used to automate these tasks. Such applications can easily delete unnecessary files and data from the system, saving both time & manual effort. Option 2: Purchasing Additional Storage from Salesforce If your enterprise is not at the liberty of deleting files, attachments, and data records because of long-term retention guidelines, then you can always opt for purchasing additional file or data storage space from Salesforce. But the thing to keep in mind before going for this option is that additional storage, both file & data, is extremely expensive and can essentially
