Protected Components in Managed Packages

Developers can mark certain components as protected. Protected components can’t be linked to or referenced by components created in a subscriber org. A developer can delete a protected component in a future release without worrying about failing installations. However, after a component is marked as unprotected and is released globally, the developer can’t delete it.

Developers can mark these components as protected in managed packages.

  • Custom labels
  • Custom links (for Home page only)
  • Custom metadata types
  • Custom objects
  • Custom permissions
  • Custom settings
  • Workflow alerts
  • Workflow field updates
  • Workflow outbound messages
  • Workflow tasks

Considerations for Protected Custom Objects in Subscriber Sandboxes

When a subscriber creates either a full or partial sandbox copy using a template, protected custom objects don’t display in the list of objects to copy. As a result, data contained in the records of protected custom objects isn’t copied to these sandboxes. If a full sandbox is created without selecting a sandbox template, data from protected custom objects is copied to the sandbox.