Salesforce now requires a passkey to log in if you have administrator-level access (users with Modify All Data, View All Data, Customize Application, or Author Apex permissions). A passkey replaces the code you used to type in. Instead, you just confirm it is you with your fingerprint, face, PIN or password manager of choice. This guide specifically covers Google Password Manager.
It takes about three minutes, and you only do it once.
Before you start
- Use Google Chrome, signed in to your Google account.
- Be logged in to Salesforce on that same computer.
- Keep your email open. Salesforce sends you a code partway through.
- Have a six-digit number in mind. Google may ask you to set a recovery PIN at the end.
Part 1: For your administrator
Do this once for the whole company. If someone has already done it, skip to Part 2. In AscendixRE this is already switched on.
Click the gear icon at the top right of Salesforce and choose Setup.
In the Quick Find box on the left, type Identity Verification and click it.
Tick the box for the built-in authenticator (passkey). If anyone uses a physical security key such as a YubiKey, tick that one too.
Scroll down and click Save.
Part 2: Set up your own passkey
Everyone does this themselves.
Step 1 Open your settings
Click your profile picture at the top right, then click Settings.
Step 2 Open Advanced User Details
In the menu down the left-hand side, click Advanced User Details.
Step 3 Find Security Key and click Register
Scroll about two-thirds of the way down the page. Look for the row labelled Security Key (U2F or WebAuthn) and click Register next to it.
Don’t let the wording put you off
It says "Security Key", but this is the right link Salesforce has not renamed the label yet.
Step 4 Type in the emailed code
Salesforce emails you a six-digit code. Type it in and click Verify.
Step 5 Click Create Passkey
Step 6 Let Chrome save it to Google Password Manager
Chrome asks whether to create a passkey for your Salesforce address. It is already set to save to Google Password Manager, so just click Create.
Leave this one alone
There is a "Save another way" button. Ignore it. Google Password Manager is what makes your passkey follow you to any computer where you are signed in to Chrome. Other options typically only work on the machine you currently setup the passkey on unless you use a password manager.
Step 7 Create a recovery PIN
Google may ask you to make up a six-digit PIN, then click Confirm.
Write this PIN down
This is not your Windows PIN and not your Salesforce password. It is a new number you are choosing right now.
You will be asked for it the first time you sign in on a new computer or phone. Keep it somewhere safe.
Step 8 Done
You get a "Passkey saved and PIN created" message. Salesforce also emails you to confirm a new method was added. That is expected, no action needed.
Checking or removing it later
Your registered passkeys live under Settings ▸ Passkeys. You do not need to visit this page to set anything up. It is only for reviewing or deleting what you already have.
Logging in from now on
Go to Salesforce as you always do.
You will click on the pop up with your Passkey to verify when prompted.
Confirm with a click.
No codes to type in and no phone to dig out.
If something goes wrong
I don’t see a Google Password Manager option.
You are probably not signed in to Chrome. Click your picture at the top right of Chrome, sign in with your work Google account, then start again at Step 1.
I’m on a different computer and it won’t let me in.
Sign in to Chrome with the same Google account first. Your passkey comes with you.
The code never arrived.
Check your junk folder, then click Resend Code.
It’s asking for a recovery PIN and I don’t know it.
That is the six-digit number you made up in Step 7, not your Windows PIN or your Salesforce password. If you have lost it, you can set up a new passkey on a computer where you are already signed in.
I’m locked out completely.
Contact your Salesforce administrator. They can clear your verification methods so you can register again.
Salesforce’s own documentation
Search these titles in Salesforce Help, or use the links in the original announcement email.