Compare Salesforce Profiles in Bulk (Complete Guide + Fastest Method)

Sep 03 2023

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Comparing Salesforce profiles manually is one of the most time-consuming and error-prone tasks for admins—especially when dealing with multiple profiles or working across different orgs.

Whether you’re performing a security audit, validating a deployment, or troubleshooting access issues, identifying differences between profiles is critical. However, Salesforce does not provide a simple way to compare profiles side-by-side.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • How to compare Salesforce profiles manually
  • The key challenges with native methods
  • The fastest way to compare profiles in bulk

Why You Need to Compare Salesforce Profiles

Salesforce profile comparison plays a crucial role in maintaining security and consistency across your org.

Here are the most common use cases:

  • Security Audits – Ensure users have the correct permissions
  • Org Migrations – Validate profiles between Sandbox and Production
  • Troubleshooting Access Issues – Identify permission mismatches
  • Compliance Requirements – Maintain proper access control
  • Profile Optimization – Reduce redundancy and standardize configurations

Without proper comparison, you risk security gaps, inconsistent permissions, and operational inefficiencies.

How to Compare Salesforce Profiles Manually

Method 1: Using Salesforce Setup

  1. Go to Setup
  2. Navigate to Profiles
  3. Open the first profile
  4. Review object permissions, field access, and settings
  5. Open another profile in a new tab
  6. Manually compare both profiles

Method 2: Manual Permission Review

To perform a deeper comparison:

  • Check Object Permissions (Read, Create, Edit, Delete)
  • Review Field-Level Security
  • Analyze Apex Class Access
  • Verify Visualforce Page Access
  • Track differences manually in a spreadsheet

What is the Easiest Way to Compare Salesforce Profiles?

The easiest way to compare Salesforce profiles is by using a bulk comparison tool that allows you to analyze multiple profiles side-by-side and export the differences instantly.

Challenges in Manual Profile Comparison

While Salesforce provides access to profile configurations, it lacks efficient comparison capabilities.

  • ❌ No side-by-side comparison view
  • ❌ Requires switching between multiple screens
  • ❌ No exportable comparison format
  • ❌ Difficult to track differences across permissions
  • ❌ Extremely time-consuming for large orgs
  • ❌ High risk of missing critical changes

For organizations with multiple profiles, manual comparison becomes inefficient and unreliable.

Compare Salesforce Profiles in Bulk

Instead of manually comparing profiles, you can use a bulk comparison approach to simplify the process.

Note:

To avail this feature, kindly make sure you have installed the latest version of the application. You can upgrade your package using either of two ways:

  1. In Salesforce, go to “BOFC Home > Settings > App Version > Click to Upgrade” — or —
  2. Refer the below button to quickly upgrade your package to the latest version and explore its complete benefits:

Stay up to date with the latest in BOFC - Latest features, offers, news, tips and more

Follow the steps below to compare Salesforce profiles in bulk:

1. Open the BOFC Home > Click “Compare Multiple Profiles (side by side)”

Compare Multiple Profiles (side by side)

2. It will open below screen for Managing actions on Multiple Profiles”

3. Select “Compare Multiple Profiles”

User can Mass Compare Salesforce Profiles:

  • Within Current Org – means profiles which needs to be compared exists in current org in BOFC is installed.
  • Between Current & Selected Org – means user can select the profiles which needs to be compared (with same name or different name) in both current org and selected org.

Let’s go ahead and see how it works when we are trying to compare salesforce profiles across different org.

4. Select “Between Current Org & selected Org” and it will ask user to select External org. If org doesn’t exists, user can click “Manage Org Details” to add any Org.

5. Once the External Org is selected, it will ask user to Select Profiles in each Org and Profile Attributes.

  • Select single or multiple Profiles from the drop down
  • Select which profile attributes needs to be compared (for eg: Object details, Apex permissions, Record type settings etc)

6. Once profiles and attributes are selected, it will ask user to select the Component Types:

  • Unmanaged Components – which means components which ARE created in this org and NOT a part of any Managed Package installed in the Salesforce org
  • Managed Components – which means components which are NOT created in this org and ARE a part of any Managed Package installed in the Salesforce org

7. All Set we are ready to Initiate the Process to Compare. Click on “Click to Initiate Process

Click to Initiate

8. Once “Click to Initiate Process” button is clicked, it will display a popup on the page. This popup show the status of the process to compare multiple profiles. Wait for couple of seconds, until status is changed to “Completed” in the highlighted table.

  • Status: Shows if process got completed or not
  • Failure: Shows no of profiles which got error out

9. Once status is “Completed“, your comparison file is ready for export. Click on “Download” link to download in xls.

How BOFC Simplifies Profile Comparison?

BOFC (Bulk Object Field Creator) helps Salesforce admins streamline profile comparison with a faster and more reliable approach.

  • Compare multiple profiles side-by-side
  • Perform cross-org comparisons in a single process
  • Export results into Excel format
  • Reduce manual effort significantly
  • Improve accuracy and consistency

Instead of spending hours manually reviewing profiles, BOFC allows you to complete the task in minutes with clear, structured output.

Manual Method vs BOFC (Profile Comparison)

Feature Manual Salesforce Method BOFC
Profile Comparison One-by-one manual review Bulk side-by-side comparison
Cross-Org Support Not available Yes
Time Required Very High Very Low
Accuracy Error-prone High accuracy
Export Capability Not available Excel export
Multi-Profile Handling Very limited Compare multiple profiles at once
Visibility of Differences Hard to track Clearly structured output

Key Features to Look for in a Profile Comparison Tool

  • Bulk comparison capability
  • Cross-org support
  • Export functionality
  • High accuracy in detecting differences
  • Easy-to-use interface

A tool like BOFC is specifically designed to meet these needs for Salesforce admins.


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