How do I compare metadata using Spanning?

Spanning Backup for Salesforce offers the ability to compare the metadata between any point-in-time backup and the backup or live data from the same org, or the live data from a different Salesforce org.

To initiate a metadata comparison between a point-in-time backup from one org to a different point-in-time backup in the same org, or to live (current) metadata in the same org, please follow these steps:

1. Log into your Spanning Backup for Salesforce Account as the admin user

2. Click the COMPARE METADATA tab



3. Select the first backup batch that you want to compare



4. Select “This Org”



5. Select “Current Components” if you want to compare the metadata from the selected backup batch with the current metadata in your live Salesforce org. Select “Another Backup Batch” if you would like to compare the metadata from the selected batch with the metadata from a different backup batch. Please note that if you compare two different backup batches, the first backup batch that you select must be earlier than the second backup batch.  When ready, click Next.



6. Select all of the metadata components that you want to compare.


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7. Click “Compare.” Spanning will run the metadata comparison process and notify you via email and Chatter when the process is complete and results are ready for you to view. 

8. Click “Metadata Compare” from the Recent Activity section of the dashboard or from the email or Chatter notification once the metadata comparison process is complete to view the comparison results.



9. All of the components of metadata from both versions are displayed in alphabetical order.  Click the down arrow next to the name of the specific piece of metadata you are interested in to display all pieces of backed up metadata from both orgs. Metadata items in grey are the same from both orgs, metadata items in yellow alerts you that the two files of metadata are different, and red means that a specific metadata file only exists in one of the compared versions.



10. Click any specific file of metadata to see more details about the comparison between two versions of metadata.



11. If you want to see the specific file of metadata in its entirety, click the “Export” button to export that metadata to your local computer.


To initiate a metadata comparison between a point-in-time backup from one org to the live data in a different Salesforce org, please follow these steps:

1. Follow steps 1-3 from above.

2.  Choose "Different Org", then authorize either a production, development, or sandbox org to compare against.



3. Follow steps 5-11 from above.


To perform a metadata restore directly from the comparison view, please see this article:

Can I restore metadata directly from the metadata comparison results?