Utilizing the Force Button

The “Force” button may be used when editing the Object Permissions, Tab Visibility, User Permissions, and Custom Permissions on Profiles and Permission Sets. By selecting this button, the SnapShot user will change the value on an Object to “No Access” for the selected Profile or Permission Set. For Tab Visibility, the force button will change the value of the Tab to “Hidden.” For User Permissions, and Custom Permissions the selected value will be changed to “Disabled.”

The Force button is designed to “force” the asset, and the value now associated with it, into the XML to be executed in a push. For example, If a snapshot is taken that includes an Object Permission, Tab, User Permission, or Custom Permission with the respective value of “No Access,” “Hidden,” or “Disabled,” the XML captured will not display the asset. This limit of the Salesforce metadata API could create a problem during a profile push into a destination org. If the destination org has the same tab, and has a default setting for that tab as “Visible,” for example, the profile could possibly inherit that value during the push. This is corrected with the Force button, which ensures that the XML is packaged correctly so the asset, and its value for the Profile, and or, Permission Set are pushed into the destination org.

In the snapshot below, the selected profile does not have visibility to the Airplanes Tab. A limit of the Salesforce metadata API omits the entire tab from the snapshot and does not reference it as “hidden.”

By editing the profile, the SnapShot user may select to edit tab visibility for the Airplanes tab. Clicking “Force” will force the value to “Hidden,” as shown below.

Both the tab, and the selected value of “Hidden,” are now visible in the XML as shown below, and will ensure that it is pushed into the destination org.