Salesforce strongly recommends using the default permission sets for most orgs. Salesforce automatically updates default permission sets with every release, so your users always have access to new features without admin intervention.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic |
| Available in: Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions |
Custom (cloned) permission sets are an edge case. Consider them only if you have specific field-level security requirements that the defaults can't meet. If you do maintain custom permission sets, you manually update them after every release. As schema and object models change with each release, features stop working if the custom permission set isn't kept current.
| Question | If yes | If no |
|---|---|---|
| Do you have specific field-level security needs beyond Salesforce defaults? | Consider custom permission sets, but plan for manual maintenance after every release. | Use default permission sets (recommended). |
| Does your team have capacity to review and update permission sets after every release? | Custom is manageable. | Stick with defaults, which update automatically. |
| Did you already clone a permission set in a previous release? | Audit it now—check for missing fields from recent releases. | You're safe with defaults. |
| Are reps suddenly losing access to features after an upgrade? | Your custom set is likely out of date, so re-clone from the latest default. | Not related to this issue. |