Activities: tasks, calls, events, emails and notes on any record

An activity is one piece of work or one interaction logged on a record: a task to do, a call you made, a meeting, an email or a note. Every activity hangs off the record it concerns, such as a lead, an opportunity, a case, a contact or a record of your own custom entity. That way the record's Activities panel answers "what has happened here, and what is still to do?" in one place.

Overview

Activities form one shared layer across the whole platform. People add them by hand from a record's Activities panel. The platform adds them too: finished phone calls, synced emails, case status changes, approvals and business rules all write activities onto the record they concern. Every activity has a type, a status and a priority. It can carry dates, a reminder, a repeat pattern, participants and attachments.

When to use it

• Task: something someone has to do, usually by a due date. For example, "Send the revised quote".
• Call: log a phone call and what came of it. Calls made through the softphone are logged for you; see Calls, dispositions and recordings.
• Event: a meeting or appointment with a start time, a location and how you show in calendars. Events are saved with the type Meeting.
• Email: send an email from the record through a connected mailbox, or log one that was sent elsewhere.
• Note: a rich-text remark with optional files and @-mentions of colleagues.

The Edit Activity dialog also offers the types Visit and Document. Cases write Status Change entries onto their own timeline, and you never pick that type yourself.

How xMatix handles it

• The parent link. Each activity stores the entity and the record it belongs to, together with a copy of the record's display name. Lists therefore show the record's name and not a bare identifier. The copy refreshes every time the activity is saved. An activity can also name a Contact and an Account, which lets person-centred lists find it even when the parent is something else.
• Defaults. A new activity with no type, status or priority becomes a Task, Open, Normal priority. Its owner is the person who created it.
• Completion. When an activity's status becomes Completed, Completed On is stamped automatically. Reopening the activity does not clear that date.
• The panel's timeline. The panel sorts what is loaded into four groups. Overdue, Today and Upcoming hold activities that are Open, In Progress or Waiting, grouped by the calendar day of their due date (or start date when there is no due date). Undated open activities count as Upcoming. Past holds everything Completed, Cancelled or Deferred.
• Reminders. A reminder is an email plus an in-app bell notification. It goes to the activity's owner and to the owner of the record the activity is on, once each. See Business rules for exactly when it is sent.
• Repeating tasks. A repeating activity makes its next occurrence only when you complete the current one. There is always one open occurrence, and a series you stop working on doesn't pile up copies.

Prerequisites

• The record's page must include the Activities panel. Seeded record pages for leads, opportunities, quotes, cases, contacts, visits and many others already include it. An administrator can add it to any other layout (see Configuration).
• Your security profile needs access to the Activity entity (see Permissions).
• To send email rather than just log it, you need a connected mailbox: a shared mailbox, or your own.

Procedure

Step 1 — Open the Activities panel on a record

Open the record and find the Activities card. Its header shows how many activities there are, for example "12 activities", or "No activities yet". Below the header are the create buttons Task, Email, Call, Event and Note, plus a Refresh button. On a narrow panel the create buttons collapse into a single New menu.

Step 2 — Create a task

1. Select Task. The New Task form opens inside the panel.
2. Related to and Name are already set to the record you are on. Change them only if the task belongs to a different record.
3. Enter a Subject (required). Optionally set a Due Date.
4. Optionally choose a Reminder: None, 15 min before, 1 hour before, 1 day before or At time. The reminder is timed from the due date.
5. Check Assigned To. It defaults to you, if your user is linked to a resource. Set Priority and add a Description if you need to.
6. Select Create Task. The task appears on the timeline with status Open, and a "Task created" message confirms it.

Step 3 — Log a call or create an event

1. Select Call to open Log Call, or Event to open New Event.
2. Enter the Subject and the date. The date is required for both: for a call it is the Date & Time of the call, for an event it is the Start Date.
3. For a call, add Duration (min) and Outcome (what came of the call). For an event, add a Location, and a Reminder if you want one.
4. Select Log Call or Create Event.

To record a call's direction (Inbound, Outbound or Internal) or a structured call result (Connected, Left Voicemail, No Answer, Busy or Wrong Number), edit the activity afterwards (Step 6). The same goes for an event's Show As, end time or All day flag.

Step 4 — Send or log an email

1. Select Email. To is pre-filled with the record's own email address when it has one.
2. Enter the Subject and the message. Insert template lists your organization's active email templates for this entity and fills in values from the record.
3. Choose one of the two buttons:
   • Send Email sends the message through a connected mailbox, using the From address you pick. The Email activity appears on the timeline. If you have no connected mailbox, the button is disabled, and its tooltip tells you to connect one under Setup → Settings → Mailboxes.
   • Log Email only records an email that was sent somewhere else. Nothing is sent.

Step 5 — Add a note

1. Select Note. Enter an optional Title and the note text. The text supports formatting.
2. Type @ to mention a colleague. Each person you mention is added to the note as a participant.
3. Select Attach to add files, or Quick text to insert one of your organization's active message templates.
4. Select Add Note. The note is saved as Completed and shows "Note added". Its files are attached to the note.

Step 6 — Change, complete or follow up an activity

Each card on the timeline has these controls:

• Status pill: choose a new status (Open, In Progress, Waiting, Completed, Cancelled or Deferred). The card shows "Status updated to …". Completing an activity stamps Completed On.
• Create follow-up: opens the New Activity dialog, pre-filled with a Task named "Follow up: <original subject>", due tomorrow, on the same record. Nothing is saved until you select Create. The original activity is not changed.
• Edit: opens the Edit Activity dialog with every field (see Fields). This is also where you set up repeating, call and email details, Show As, and a reminder at a custom time. Select Save.
• Delete: asks "Delete activity?" and warns "This action cannot be undone." Select Delete to confirm.
• View email (email cards only): opens the synced message, where you can reply.

Step 7 — Add participants and attachments

1. Save the activity first, then open it with Edit. The Participants and Attachments sections appear only on a saved activity.
2. Under Participants, choose Contact, Account or Resource, search for the person or company, and select Add. Adding someone twice shows "That participant is already on this activity". The activity then also appears in the Activities panel of each participant's own record.
3. Under Attachments, select Attach file. Files are stored against the activity.

Step 8 — Make an activity repeat

1. Open the activity with Edit.
2. In Repeat, choose Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly. "Does not repeat" means a one-off activity.
3. Set Every (n) to repeat every 2 weeks, every 3 months, and so on (1 to 365; the default is 1). Optionally set Until to stop the series after a date.
4. Select Save. When you later complete an occurrence, the next one is created as Open, with its dates moved forward (see Business rules).

Step 9 — Find activities

• Status: All statuses, or one status.
• Activity type: All activities, Tasks, Calls, Emails or Events. There is no Notes option. Events matches every activity that is not a task, call, email or note, so it also lists system entries such as status changes.
• Period: All time, Last 7 days, Last 30 days or Last 90 days.
• Load Older Activities: the panel shows 10 at a time. Select this to see more.

The panel also lists activities from other records on which this record is a participant.

Step 10 — Work with activities on mobile

In the field app, a record whose mobile layout includes the Activities panel lets you create and edit tasks, calls, emails, events and notes, with the same reminder choices. Tap a card to see its details. The panel works offline, and your changes are sent when you are back online. Participants, attachments and repeating activities are not available on mobile.

Fields

These are the fields of the Edit Activity dialog, in the order it shows them. The record page for an activity (Details, Description, Scheduling, Reminder, Related record, Call, Email, Recurrence and Audit cards) shows the same fields.

Business rules

• Required. Subject is required ("Subject is required."). The parent must be complete: an entity and a record together, or neither. The entity must be one that exists in your organization's data model. The record itself is not checked.
• Name follows Subject. Every save copies Subject into Name. A business rule that creates activities can use Name as a duplicate guard (see Configuration).
• Repeating. When an occurrence of a repeating activity is saved as Completed, the next occurrence is created in the same save, as Open. It copies the subject, description, type, priority, duration, location, parent and contact/account links, visibility and the repeat pattern. Its due, start, end and reminder times all move forward by one step (n days, n × 7 days, n months or n years). The step is measured from the due date, or else the start date, or else the completion time. Owner, Assigned To, Outcome and call or email details are not copied. Each occurrence creates its successor only once, so reopening and re-completing it does not create another. The series stops when the next date would fall after Until, or when the count of remaining occurrences runs out.
• Cancelling ends a series. Only Completed moves a series forward. To stop a repeating task, set the open occurrence to Cancelled (or Deferred).
• Reminders. Reminders are checked about every minute. An activity gets a reminder only while its status is Open. In Progress and Waiting activities get none.
  • With Remind me on and a reminder time set, the reminder goes out at that time.
  • Otherwise, any Open activity with a due date is reminded 15 minutes before it is due. This also applies to an Open activity whose due date has already passed, which is reminded once.
• One reminder per activity. After a reminder is sent, Reminder Sent is stamped and no other reminder follows, even if you change the time. Each recipient gets the email (subject "Reminder: <subject>") and a bell notification. Someone with no email address still gets the bell.
• Calls write one entry. A softphone call that is linked to a record adds one Call activity, status Completed, when it ends. Its subject reads like "Inbound call · <number>", and it carries the times, duration, number and outcome. Later edits to the call do not change the activity. See Calls, dispositions and recordings.
• Other system entries. Cases add Status Change entries and acknowledgement emails. Synced mailboxes add Email activities. Approval processes add an open Task wherever the process has a task action (on submission, a step decision, final approval or rejection, recall or revert); it goes to the submitter, the record owner, the current approver or a named user, as the task action says, and to the submitter when that person can't be found. Macros add notes, emails and open tasks (a macro task with no subject is called "Macro task").
• Leads. Logging calls or emails on a lead keeps the lead's emailed-or-called flag current (see Leads).

Example

A sales rep follows up a new lead for a bakery chain, "Sunrise Breads".

1. On the lead, they select Call, enter Subject "Intro call", the current date and time, Duration (min) 12 and Outcome "Interested, wants a sample pack", then select Log Call. The call appears under Past.
2. On that card they select Create follow-up. The dialog opens with "Follow up: Intro call", due tomorrow. They change the subject to "Send sample pack", set Remind me to 1 hour before, and select Create. The task shows under Upcoming with a bell tag.
3. One hour before it is due, the rep, and the lead's owner if that is someone else, each get a "Reminder: Send sample pack" email and a bell notification.
4. Next day the rep sets the task's status pill to Completed. Completed On is stamped, and the task moves to Past.

Training

Practice exercise

In a sandbox, open any contact.

1. Create a Task with Subject "Weekly check-in", due today at 4:00 PM.
2. Open it with Edit, set Repeat to Weekly and Every (n) to 1, and save.
3. Set the task's status to Completed.

Expected result: the completed task moves to Past with a Completed On date. A new Open "Weekly check-in" appears under Upcoming, due at the same time a week later. Now set the new occurrence to Cancelled. No further occurrence is created.

Quick reference

• The create buttons are Task, Email, Call, Event and Note; Event saves as type Meeting.
• Subject is the only field you must fill in for a task or note. Calls and events also need a date.
• Use Edit for repeating, call direction or outcome, Show As, participants and attachments.
• Create follow-up pre-fills a task for tomorrow; select Create to save it.
• Reminders reach the activity owner and the record's owner, once, and only while the activity is Open.
• Complete an occurrence to move a series forward, cancel it to end the series.
• Send Email needs a connected mailbox; Log Email never sends anything.

Permissions

• Entity access. Viewing, creating, editing and deleting activities follow the Activity entity grant in the user's security profiles (Setup → Access Control → Profiles). No separate capability gates the panel.
• Whose activities you see. The platform's sharing policy for Activity is user-owned with Private default access. Users therefore see the activities they own, plus those reachable through the role hierarchy, teams and manual sharing. Profiles with View All see every activity. Among the seeded profiles, StandardUser and SystemAdmin have full access, while SalesExecutive and SalesManager can work with activities but don't have View All. If people say "I can't see my colleague's call on this lead", this policy is why. Review it under Setup → Access Control → Policies (see Record-level security).
• Visibility. The Visibility field records Internal, Public or External. The seeded sharing policy, not this field, decides who can read an activity.

Configuration

• Show the panel on a record page. Add the Activities panel widget to the entity's record layout in the layout designer (see Design a form layout). Put it in the first tab, in the side column. Any entity can carry activities, including your own custom entities. The shipped account and order pages don't include the panel.
• The entity's Activities switch. Setup → Design Studio → Entities → an entity → Features & tracking has an Activities switch. On the web it has no effect: turning it on does not add the panel, and turning it off does not remove it; only the layout decides. In the field app it matters only for an entity with no designed mobile layout. The app then builds a default record page, and that page gets an Activities tab when the switch is on.
• The Activity list. Activity belongs to the Platform app, with a seeded All activities list view (Name, Subject, Type, Status, Priority, Due On, Related Record Label, Owner, Completed On, Created Date, Assigned To). No menu item is seeded for it. To give users a list of all activities, add Activity to an app's navigation under Setup → Design Studio → Apps → Manage Items.
• Create activities automatically. In Setup → Process Studio → Business Rules, add a CreateActivity action to a rule on any entity. It runs after the record is saved (on the OnSavedChanges trigger).
  • Under Activity Field Assignments, add one row per Activity field. Each row is Static or Formula, and formulas read the saved record. Subject is required ("Add a Subject field assignment with a value").
  • Anything you leave unset becomes Task, Open, Normal, owned by the user who saved the record. To give the activity to the record's owner instead, assign Owner the formula OwnerId.
  • To avoid a new task on every save, assign Name (dedupe key) a fixed value. While an open activity with that name exists on the record, the rule creates no second one.
  • Set Reminder Set and Reminder On if the created task needs its own reminder.
  • See Business rules.
• React to activities. Activity can be the entity of a business rule, an automation script binding or a workflow trigger, for example "when a call is logged". See Workflows and Automation scripts.
• Email from the panel. Connect shared or personal mailboxes under Setup → Settings → Mailboxes. The Insert template and Quick text lists come from your organization's active messaging templates.
• Reminder lead time. The 15-minute default reminder before the due date is a platform setting, not something you set per organization. For a different time, users choose a reminder in the activity, or a rule sets Reminder On.

Common problems

"Subject is required." when saving

The activity has no subject. Enter one; for a note, fill in the Title or the text.

"RelatedEntityName and RelatedEntityId must be provided together."

The activity has a Related to entity but no record Name, or the other way round. Pick both, or clear both.

"… is not a known metadata entity."

The parent entity name doesn't match any entity in your organization's data model. This usually comes from an import or an integration that sends an entity's label instead of its name. Use the entity's API name.

I didn't get a reminder

Check these in order:

1. The activity is Open. In Progress, Waiting and Completed activities are not reminded.
2. It has a due date, or Remind me is on with a time.
3. Reminder Sent is empty. A reminder goes out only once per activity, so moving the due date after it was sent does not send another.
4. You are the activity's Owner, or the owner of the record it is on. Being Assigned To is not enough.

The Notes filter is missing

The panel's Activity type filter has no Notes option. Use All activities: notes are listed with Completed items under Past.

"Send Email" is greyed out

You have no connected mailbox available. Ask an administrator to connect one under Setup → Settings → Mailboxes, or use Log Email to record an email you sent elsewhere.

The series stopped repeating

The open occurrence was cancelled or deferred instead of completed. Or the next date fell after Until. Or the remaining count ran out. Create a new repeating activity to start again.

Common questions

Which records can have activities?

Any record of any entity, standard or custom. The activity stores the entity name and the record, and xMatix checks only that the entity exists in your data model. Whether people can add activities from a record's page depends on whether its layout includes the Activities panel. An administrator adds the panel in the layout designer, and from then on the entity carries activities just like leads and cases do. Business rules, integrations and automation scripts can add activities to any record, whether or not its page shows the panel.

How is a Call activity different from the call record?

The call record in the Call Register is the full telephony record, with timings, queue, recording and transcript. The Call activity is a short timeline entry, written once onto the business record the call was linked to. It copies the subject, times, duration, number and outcome at that moment. Editing either one afterwards does not change the other. Reporting on calls uses the Call Register; reading a customer's history uses the record's Activities panel. See Calls, dispositions and recordings.

What happens if I cancel an occurrence of a repeating task?

The series ends. A new occurrence is created only when the current one is Completed, so cancelling or deferring it is the way to stop a series early, with nothing to clean up. Occurrences that were already completed stay as they are. To resume later, create a new repeating activity. Changing the repeat settings on an occurrence that was already completed has no effect, because each occurrence creates its successor only once.

Who gets a reminder?

The activity's Owner and the owner of the record the activity is on. If those are the same person, they get one reminder. Each recipient gets an email and an in-app bell notification. The person in Assigned To is a resource, so they are not reminded unless they are also one of the owners. To have someone else reminded, make them the activity's owner.

Can I see all my activities in one list?

The Activity entity has a seeded All activities list view, but no menu item opens it out of the box. An administrator can add it to an app's navigation (see Configuration). After that you can filter it by owner, status and due date like any other list.

Is there a separate Task record I should use for to-dos?

No. Every to-do in xMatix is an activity with the type Task, created from a record's Activities panel or added by an approval process, a macro or a business rule. The entity list also contains an entity called Task, but it is an unused placeholder: it has no storage, menu, form or list. Reading or saving one, for example through the data API or an import, fails with "Entity type 'Task' not found in model." A business rule's Create Record action that targets Task creates nothing, so use Create Activity instead; its type defaults to Task. See the Task entity reference.

Related topics

• Calls, dispositions and recordings
• Using the softphone
• Activities in CRM
• Business rules
• Record-level security
• Design a form layout
• Apps, entities and records