Salesforce Metadata Types that Do Not Support Wildcard Characters in Package.xml

When we want to retrieve or deploy metadata to a Salesforce Org, we use package.xml either with ANT command or using SFDX. And when retrieving metadata from a Salesforce org, it is quite common to use wildcard character asterisk (*) to retrieve everything of that metadata type.

For example, the following is used in package.xml to retrieve metadata about all custom objects.

<?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8 standalone=yes?>
<Package xmlns=http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata>
    <types>
        <members>*</members>
        <name>CustomObject</name>
    </types>    
    <version>53.0</version>
</Package>

But do note that some of the metadata type does not support wildcard characters. And even if you put wildcard character in your package.xml, nothing will be retrieved. These metadata types include:

1. ActionOverride
2. AnalyticSnapshot
3. CustomField
4. CustomLabel
5. Dashboard
6. Document
7. EmailTemplate
8. Folder
9. FolderShare
10. GlobalPicklistValue
11. Letterhead
12. ListView
13. Metadata
14. MetadataWithContent
15. NamedFilter
16. Package
17. PersonalJouneySettings
18. Picklist
19. ProfileActionOverride
20. RecordType
21. Report
22. SearchLayouts
23. SearchingSettings
24. SharingBaseRule
25. SharingReason
26. SharingRecalculation
27. StandardValueSet
28. Territory2Settings
29. ValidationRule
30. WebLink

References & Useful URLs

• Metadata API Developer Guide -> Metadata Types