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Productivity, Collaboration, and Mobility (Deep Dive)
Activities, Chatter, Salesforce Mobile App, and AppExchange.
⏱️ Estimated reading time: 40 minutes
Activity Management (Tasks and Events)
Activities record interactions with customers.
- Tasks: To-do items. Have a due date but no time. Can be assigned to multiple users (Salesforce creates a copy of the task for each).
- Events: Meetings with start/end date and time.
- Public and Resource Calendars: Allow managing shared resources (e.g., Conference Room, Projector) or viewing team availability.
- Tasks: To-do items. Have a due date but no time. Can be assigned to multiple users (Salesforce creates a copy of the task for each).
- Events: Meetings with start/end date and time.
- Public and Resource Calendars: Allow managing shared resources (e.g., Conference Room, Projector) or viewing team availability.
🎯 Key Points
- ✓ Group Tasks: If you assign a task to 5 people, 5 independent task records are created
- ✓ Archiving: Activities closed more than 365 days ago are archived and don't appear in standard reports (need 'All Time' or API)
- ✓ Shared Activities: Allows relating an activity to up to 50 Contacts (but only 1 Primary 'Related To' record)
Chatter: Groups and Field Tracking
Chatter is the internal social network.
Group Types:
- Public: Anyone can see and join.
- Private: Anyone can see the group exists, but you need permission to join and see content.
- Unlisted: Invisible in search. Invite-only access. (Requires enabling 'Enable Unlisted Groups' in Setup).
Feed Tracking: Allows seeing on the Chatter feed when a critical field changes (e.g., Case 'Status').
Group Types:
- Public: Anyone can see and join.
- Private: Anyone can see the group exists, but you need permission to join and see content.
- Unlisted: Invisible in search. Invite-only access. (Requires enabling 'Enable Unlisted Groups' in Setup).
Feed Tracking: Allows seeing on the Chatter feed when a critical field changes (e.g., Case 'Status').
🎯 Key Points
- ✓ Feed Tracking Limit: Maximum 20 fields per object
- ✓ Chatter Free users can access groups and files, but NOT CRM objects (Accounts, Opportunities)
- ✓ Broadcast Groups: Only owners and managers can post; members can only comment
Salesforce Mobile App and Quick Actions
How do you customize what is seen on mobile?
1. Compact Layouts: Control the 'header' section (the first 4-7 key fields) seen in mobile lists.
2. Quick Actions (Global vs Object-specific): The buttons in the bottom action bar.
- *Global:* 'Create New Lead' (no context).
- *Object-specific:* 'Create New Contact' (inside an Account, pre-fills the Account).
3. Navigation: Edited in the 'Salesforce Navigation' menu in Setup.
1. Compact Layouts: Control the 'header' section (the first 4-7 key fields) seen in mobile lists.
2. Quick Actions (Global vs Object-specific): The buttons in the bottom action bar.
- *Global:* 'Create New Lead' (no context).
- *Object-specific:* 'Create New Contact' (inside an Account, pre-fills the Account).
3. Navigation: Edited in the 'Salesforce Navigation' menu in Setup.
🎯 Key Points
- ✓ Smart Search Items: A dynamic list of objects recently used by the user in the mobile menu
- ✓ Offline Edit: Must be enabled in Setup to allow creating/editing records offline (cached)
- ✓ If you don't configure a Compact Layout, Salesforce uses the 'System Default' (usually useless)
AppExchange: Package Installation
AppExchange is the app store.
Package Types:
- Managed: Code is hidden/protected. Provider updates it automatically. Does not count against your Org's code/object limits (usually).
- Unmanaged: An open copy of the code. You are responsible for maintaining it. Counts against your limits.
Installation Permissions: You can install for 'Admins Only', 'All Users', or 'Specific Profiles'.
Package Types:
- Managed: Code is hidden/protected. Provider updates it automatically. Does not count against your Org's code/object limits (usually).
- Unmanaged: An open copy of the code. You are responsible for maintaining it. Counts against your limits.
Installation Permissions: You can install for 'Admins Only', 'All Users', or 'Specific Profiles'.
🎯 Key Points
- ✓ To install packages, you need the 'Download AppExchange Packages' permission
- ✓ Unmanaged Packages CANNOT be upgraded; you must uninstall and reinstall
- ✓ Lightning Bolt Solutions: Pre-built templates for Communities or Industry processes
Email Integration: Einstein Activity Capture
Salesforce has deprecated 'Lightning Sync' and 'Salesforce for Outlook'. The current standard is Einstein Activity Capture (EAC).
What does EAC do?
1. Syncs emails and events between Outlook/Gmail and Salesforce automatically.
2. Captures data and adds it to the activity timeline.
Critical Limitation: Data captured by EAC is stored on an external AWS server and displayed in Salesforce as virtual objects. They are NOT physical 'Task' or 'Event' records, so they do not appear in standard Salesforce reports (Einstein Analytics reports are needed).
What does EAC do?
1. Syncs emails and events between Outlook/Gmail and Salesforce automatically.
2. Captures data and adds it to the activity timeline.
Critical Limitation: Data captured by EAC is stored on an external AWS server and displayed in Salesforce as virtual objects. They are NOT physical 'Task' or 'Event' records, so they do not appear in standard Salesforce reports (Einstein Analytics reports are needed).
🎯 Key Points
- ✓ Outlook Integration (Side Panel): Allows creating Salesforce records (Leads, Contacts) directly from the Outlook/Gmail inbox
- ✓ If not using EAC, users must manually press 'Log Email' to save emails
- ✓ EAC automatically deletes captured emails after 6 to 24 months (depending on the license)
File Management: Salesforce Files vs Attachments
The classic 'Attachments' object is being replaced by Salesforce Files (ContentVersion).
Files Advantages:
- Versioning: You can upload a new version of the file without deleting the old one.
- Sharing: One file can be shared with multiple records, people, or groups without duplication.
- Preview: Supports rich preview of PDFs and documents in the browser.
Files Advantages:
- Versioning: You can upload a new version of the file without deleting the old one.
- Sharing: One file can be shared with multiple records, people, or groups without duplication.
- Preview: Supports rich preview of PDFs and documents in the browser.
🎯 Key Points
- ✓ Libraries: Folders to organize files with specific security permissions
- ✓ File Privacy on Records: Controls if Community customers can see the file
- ✓ Notes (Enhanced): The new notes tool allows rich text, images, and relating one note to multiple records