
Salesforce samples data starting with the parent object selected and will only guarantee that you’ll get related records if their relationship to the object is required (master-detail or required lookup relationship). You may assume that for any object you select to be copied, you’ll get every record that’s connected to it, and every record that that record is connected to, and so on and so on (confusing, right?). If you are an NPSP or HEDA admin, you should be aware of how the Partial Copy Sandbox process actually works, as it may impact your Sandbox environment. Partial Copy Sandboxes can be refreshed every 5 days. You select which objects you want to copy, and Salesforce will sample up to 10,000 records from each of those objects, as well as related records up to a total of 5GB of data. Unlike a Full Sandbox, which copies all of your data and is a complete clone of your production organization, a Partial Copy Sandbox only copies a selection of your data. A Partial Copy Sandbox copies your configuration and some (not all) of your data, so you can test new configurations with your own real data. You may not be familiar with Partial Copy Sandboxes, since, until now, they were only available to customers who had purchased them.

One of the most exciting benefits for nonprofits with the introduction of the new Salesforce Lightning Editions is the bundling of a Partial Copy Sandbox and 25 Developer Sandboxes with the 10 free subscriptions that eligible nonprofits are already entitled to through the Power of Us Program.
