How to create OR refresh a sandbox in salesforce

To create or refresh a sandbox:
1. Click Your Name -> Setup -> Data Management -> Sandbox.

2. Do one of the following:

Click New Sandbox. For information on different kinds of sandboxes, see Sandbox Overview.
Salesforce deactivates the New Sandbox button when an organization reaches its sandbox limit. If necessary, contact salesforce.com to order more sandboxes for your organization.

Note that Salesforce deactivates all refresh links if you have exceeded your sandbox limit.
Click Refresh to replace an existing sandbox with a new copy. Salesforce only displays the Refresh link for sandboxes that are eligible for refreshing. For full-copy sandboxes, this is any time after 30 days from the previous creation or refresh of that sandbox. For configuration-only sandboxes (including developer sandboxes), you can refresh once per day. Your existing copy of this sandbox remains available while you wait for the refresh to complete. The refreshed copy is inactive until you activate it.

3. Enter a name and description for the sandbox. You can only change the name when you create or refresh a sandbox.
Note: – I recommend that you choose a name that:
Reflects the purpose of this sandbox, such as “QA.” Has few characters because Salesforce automatically appends the sandbox name to usernames and email addresses on user records in the sandbox environment. Names with fewer characters make sandbox logins easier to type

4. Select the type of sandbox:

Configuration Only: Configuration-only sandboxes copy all of your production organization\’s reports, dashboards, price books, products, apps, and customizations under Your Name -> Setup, but exclude all of your organization\’s standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments. Creating a configuration-only sandbox can decrease the time it takes to create or refresh a sandbox from several hours to just a few minutes, but it can only include up to 500 MB of data. You can refresh a configuration-only sandbox once per day.

Developer: Developer sandboxes are special configuration-only sandboxes intended for coding and testing by a single developer. They provide an environment in which changes under active development can be isolated until they are ready to be shared. Just like configuration-only sandboxes, developer sandboxes copy all application and configuration information to the sandbox. Developer sandboxes are limited to 10 MB of test or sample data, which is enough for many development and testing tasks. You can refresh a developer sandbox once per day.

Full: Full sandboxes copy your entire production organization and all its data, including standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments. You can refresh a full-copy sandbox every 29 days.

If you have reduced the number of sandboxes you purchased, but you still have more sandboxes of a specific type than allowed, you will be required to match your sandboxes to the number of sandboxes that you purchased. For example, if you have two full sandboxes but purchased only one, you cannot refresh your full sandbox as a full sandbox. Instead, you must choose one full sandbox to convert to a smaller sandbox, such as configuration-only or developer sandbox, depending on which type of sandbox you have available.

Note:- Configuration-only and developer sandboxes copy all of your production organization\’s reports, dashboards, price books, products, apps, and customizations under Your Name -> Setup, but exclude all of your organization\’s standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments. Because they copy much less data, creating these sandbox types can substantially decrease the time it takes to create or refresh a sandbox.

If you are refreshing an existing sandbox, the radio button usually preselects the sandbox type corresponding to the sandbox you are refreshing. For example, if you refresh a configuration-only sandbox, the radio button preselects Configuration Only.

Whether refreshing an existing sandbox or creating a new one, some radio buttons may be disabled if you have already created the number of sandboxes of that sandbox type allowed for your organization.

5. For a full sandbox, choose how much object history and case history to copy, and whether or not to copy Chatter data. Object history is the field history tracking of custom and most standard objects, and case history serves the same purpose for cases. You can copy from 0 to 180 days of object and case history, in 30–day increments. The default value is 30 days. Chatter data includes feeds, messages, and discovery topics. Decreasing the amount of data you copy can significantly speed up sandbox copy time.

6.Click Start Copy.

7.You will receive a notification email when your newly created or refreshed sandbox has completed copying. If you are creating a new sandbox, the newly created sandbox is now ready for use.
If you are refreshing an existing sandbox, an additional step is required to complete the sandbox copy process. The new sandbox must be activated. To delete your existing sandbox and activate the new one:
Return to the sandbox list by logging into your production organization and navigating to
Your Name -> Setup -> Data Management -> Sandbox.
Click the Activate link next to the sandbox you wish to activate.
This will take you to a page warning of removal of your existing sandbox.
Read the warning carefully and if you agree to the removal, enter the acknowledgment text at the prompt and click the Activate button.
When the activation process is complete, you will receive a notification email.
Note: – You should try to limit changes in your production organization while the sandbox copy proceeds.

8. Once your new sandbox is complete, or your refreshed sandbox is activated, you can click the link in the notification email to access your sandbox.
You can log into the sandbox at test.salesforce.com/login.jsp by appending .sandbox_name to your Salesforce username. For example, if your username for your production organization is [email protected], then your username for a sandbox named “test” is [email protected]. For more information, see Username and Email Address Modification.

Cheers!!!