Activity Timeline in Salesforce allows users to track their activities.
In this Salesforce tutorial, I will explain about activity timeline in Salesforce. I will also explain how to enable activity timelines in Salesforce.
Additionally, I will step-by-step guide you on how to customize the activity timeline in Salesforce.
Activity Timeline in Salesforce
The Salesforce activity timeline shows the activities such as emails, calls, tasks, and events in one place. Activity timeline is present on the dashboard that allows the users to access and track the complete activities that they perform, such as email history, prioritize tasks, upcoming events, etc,
You can use it in the accounts, cases, contacts, contracts, claims, leads, opportunities, and insurance policies. You can even view the activity timeline on the custom object with the activity-enabled feature.
Enable Activity Timeline Salesforce
Sometimes, the activity timeline in Salesforce is not visible on the dashboard. Here is the example; you can see that the activity timeline is not visible in the lead objects.
Instead of showing the activity timeline, it shows the “Open Activities” and “Activity History” in the related section.

Below are the steps to enable the activity timeline in Salesforce:
1. Go to the “Gear” icon and click on the “Setup” option.

2. In the “Quick Find” box, search for “Record Page Settings” and click on it once found.

3. Scroll down to the “Default Activities View” section. Here, you will get the two options:
- Related Lists: It shows the open activities and the history of the activities.
- Activity Timeline: It shows the upcoming activities and past activities in the timeline chart format.
Click on the “Activity Timeline” to enable it, and then click on “Save”.

You can see how the activity section is visible. Under this tab, you will get the activity timeline related to the leads object.

In this way, you can enable the activity timeline in Salesforce.
Customize Activity Timeline Salesforce
You can customize the activity timeline in Salesforce on the basis of some settings, or you can call filters.
1. Click on the “App Launcher”, and search for the object on which the activity timeline is present. For example, let’s say on account object.

2. Select any account whose activity timeline you want to see. For example, let’s say “Dickenson plc”.
3. Click on the “Gear” icon on the “Activity” tab to customize the activity timeline.

4. You can customize the activities on the activity timeline on the following filters:
| Settings | Description |
|---|---|
| Data Range | It filters the activity on the basis of the date. You will get the “All Time”, “Last 7 days”, “Next 7 days”, and “Last 30 days” activities. |
| Activities to Show | It filters the activities on the basis of all activities for which you have access or the activities that are created by you only. |
| Activity Type | It filters on the basis of the activity type. You will get “All Type”, “List Email”, “Email”, “Logged Calls”, “Events” and “Tasks”. |
| Sort Upcoming and Overdue Activities | You will always get the upcoming activities and past activities on the activity timeline. This filter helps you to sort the activities from “Oldest Dates First” or “Newest Dates First”. |
Click on the “Apply and Save” button to save the changes in the activity timeline.

In this way, you can customize the activity timeline in Salesforce.
Conclusion
I hope you have understood the activity timeline in Salesforce. I have also explained how to enable and customize activity timeline in Salesforce.
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I am Bijay Kumar, the founder of SalesforceFAQs.com. Having over 10 years of experience working in salesforce technologies for clients across the world (Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, etc.). I am a certified salesforce administrator and expert with experience in developing salesforce applications and projects. My goal is to make it easy for people to learn and use salesforce technologies by providing simple and easy-to-understand solutions. Check out the complete profile on About us.