How long does Salesforce keep field history, and why does depth matter?

How long does Salesforce keep field history?

Standard field history tracking keeps changes for a limited window. Companies that added Field Audit Trail, or that exported field history on a schedule, can hold much longer change records. Exact limits, field counts and add-on terms change with edition and release, so confirm them in current Salesforce help for the org in front of you before you quote any number to a client.

For a CRM consultant, the practical point is simple: the depth of an org's change history is a property of its setup, not of how old the org is. A ten-year-old org with default tracking may hold only a short trail of who changed what, while a younger org with Field Audit Trail and a disciplined export routine may hold more.

What is the difference between current values and change history?

Current field values tell you where a deal or case ended up. Change history tells you how it got there, and that sequence is what makes CRM records useful for training and evaluating AI systems that handle multi-step work.

Why does this matter before you suggest an introduction?

Because CRM depth separates a company with a few years of pipeline from one with a real record of how deals progress. A deal that moved from qualification to proposal to negotiation, with stage dates, owner changes and a closed-won or closed-lost outcome, is a labeled workflow. A flat export of closed deals is far thinner.

Run the depth check before you raise licensing. It takes a short call with the Salesforce admin.

• Which objects have field history tracking turned on, and since when?
• Does the org hold Field Audit Trail, and for which objects?
• Are there scheduled exports, a warehouse copy or a backup tool holding older history?
• Which fields are tracked: stage, amount, owner, status, or only a few?
• Are cases, opportunities, leads and custom objects tracked consistently?
• Does anyone own the exports, and can they run one on request?

What is the 3-question depth test?

Use it in a first conversation with an admin or revenue operations lead.

1. How far back can you show me a deal's stage changes, not just its current stage?
2. Where does that history live if it is not in the org itself?
3. If we retired this org tomorrow, what could you still export?

How do exports and migrations change the picture?

Migrations are where change history is most often lost. A consultant moving an org to a new instance, or from another CRM, should ask early whether field history is part of scope; some migrations bring current values and leave history behind. If history matters to the client, plan for table-level exports of history objects and keep a data dictionary alongside them.

Related migration lessons from other systems apply. Merge request history can be dropped or kept depending on method, as in the guide on migrating GitLab to GitHub without losing merge request history, and sales call data needs its own plan; see RingCentral call logs, recordings and message history. Files attached to records often live elsewhere, as covered in the guide on Box enterprise content and retention policies. For a contrast with another CRM, read what a long Zoho CRM and Zoho One history signals.

What does this mean for a referral partner?

The introduction itself carries only fit facts about the client. The consultant does not pull, upload or characterize any CRM records; the company and SourceX handle inventory, price, terms and redaction rules directly. The data inventory builder lets a client list systems and years of history at metadata level.

Fit still starts with the baseline in who qualifies: 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), several years of documented operations, rights to license the data and an authorized sponsor. Customer personal data in CRM records is a rights question the company must resolve; it is not something you evaluate.

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. No reward is guaranteed.

When is Salesforce history not enough?

Skip or wait when change history is minimal and nothing is exported, when the org holds mostly consumer personal data with no licensing basis, or when the sponsor will not consider an exclusive license. A shallow CRM does not rule a company out; support, finance and engineering systems may be deeper. See the page on referral opportunities for CRM consultants for the wider role.

Next step

Ask one client admin the three depth questions this week. If the answers show years of connected history, register as a partner and introduce the company, or point the sponsor to sourcex.si/apply.