Manual sharing of individual records
Key Takeaway
Manual sharing is for one-off access exceptions on a single record.
Manual sharing lets a user give specific users, public groups, or roles access to one individual record. The user chooses who gets access and at which access level. A record's parent account and a change of record owner can both affect that access.
When to use manual sharing
Use manual sharing for one-off access exceptions, when sharing rules or other features can't grant the intended access.
For example, imagine an owner who needs a coworker's help on one opportunity. The owner doesn't want to share any other opportunities that the owner or the owner's role own. Manual sharing fits here because it shares that single record.
Requirements that point to manual sharing include:
- Collaborating on one record
- Sharing records for special projects
- Covering for coworkers while they are away
For a single record, a manual share is easier and more secure than a sharing rule. However, manual sharing doesn't scale well. To prevent performance issues, Salesforce recommends that one user receive no more than 10,000 manual account shares. If a user needs access to a very large number of accounts, consider a sharing rule instead.