Know why sandbox email doesn’t send — and when it would
“Sandboxes don’t email customers” is a setting, not a law. silobase turns the deliverability rules into a pass/fail checklist your admins re-run and sign off after every refresh.
Why it fails · This sandbox is on "All email" — every workflow, flow, and Apex sender can reach real addresses.
Fix · Setup → Email → Deliverability → set access level to "System email only" until UAT sends are whitelisted.
Three access levels, one false sense of safety
Salesforce ships three email access levels — No access, System email only, and All email. Only the first two protect customers, and nothing stops a sandbox from sitting on All email for months. The checklist reads the real setting from metadata, not from what the team remembers.
How the detector reads settingsEmail access level
What each setting actually allows
No access
Nothing leaves the org. Safest — and rarest in practice.
System email only
Password resets and system mail only. The sensible default after a refresh.
All email
Every workflow, flow, and Apex sender delivers to whatever address the record holds.
Every refresh can quietly re-arm your sandbox
A refresh copies production data — real contact addresses included — and resets configuration you fixed last time. silobase watches refresh dates per sandbox and reopens the checklist the moment a copy lands, so the re-check happens before the first test run, not after the first complaint.
See the proof packet shapeRefresh watch
Checklist state per sandbox copy
UAT
Partial Copy · refreshed 2026-06-14
qa-regression
Developer Pro · refreshed 2026-06-21
FullCopy-2026
Full · refreshed 2026-05-30
hotfix-jul
Developer · refreshed 2026-06-27
Make “safe to test” someone’s signature
When every row passes, an admin signs the checklist and the ledger stores who, when, and against which refresh. UAT starts with a named go-ahead — and the next incident review starts with evidence instead of archaeology.
See a signed checklistChecklist sign-off
hotfix-jul · refresh of 2026-06-27
Pat Rivera
Signed · 2026-06-28
Jordan Blake
Reviewed · 2026-06-28
Refresh day stops being the risky day
- 2 of 5
- tracked sandboxes were on “All email” at last scan
- 14
- risky paths found sitting behind “All email” in one org
- 100%
- of refreshes reopen the checklist automatically
Make “it won’t send” a fact, not a hope.
Run the checklist against your own sandbox metadata — the first findings are free.