Logging an Activity in Salesforce usually means creating a Task or an Event from a related record (Contact, Account, Opportunity, Case) or from the global create button. The create flow itself is short; the choices you make about WhoId and WhatId at create time determine whether the Activity shows up where reps and managers expect to find it.
- Open the record the Activity belongs to
Most Activities are easier to log from the related record (Contact, Account, Opportunity, Case) than from the global Tasks or Events tab, because starting from the related record auto-populates WhoId or WhatId.
- Click New Task or New Event
Use the Activity composer on the record page. The composer has tabs for Task, Event, Log a Call, and Email; pick the tab that matches what actually happened.
- Set the Subject
Subject is the report headline. Write it like a summary, not like an email greeting. "Demo with VP Eng on roadmap" reads better than "Demo" or "Tuesday call."
- Confirm WhoId and WhatId
Both fields auto-populate from the source record, but verify they are correct, especially when logging an Activity that touched multiple Contacts at the same Account. Pick the most relevant Contact for WhoId.
- Set Status, Priority, and Date
Status drives whether the Activity counts as Open or Closed. Priority drives Activity-based dashboards. ActivityDate (Task) or StartDateTime/EndDateTime (Event) drives every time-based report.
- Save
Click Save. The Activity attaches to the parent records and shows up in their Activity Timeline. If your org uses Einstein Activity Capture, server-side sync may fire here.
Required. The headline that shows up in every Activity report and timeline view.
Required for Task. For Event, StartDateTime and EndDateTime are required instead.
- Activities created with no WhoId and no WhatId are orphaned. They show up in reports run on the Task or Event object directly but never appear on any related record's timeline.
- EmailMessage is not Task. Reports built off the Task object miss every email logged through Lightning email integration. Add EmailMessage to the report type or build a custom report type if total-touches matters.
- Allow Activities on custom objects is a one-way toggle. Plan it at object-definition time, because retrofitting it later leaves partial timelines that confuse reps.
- Task and Event field history is off by default. Turn it on explicitly if you ever need to audit who changed Status, Subject, or Description on an Activity.