Case Feed
Case Feed is the chronological activity stream that surfaces on a Salesforce case record, combining emails sent and received, call logs, status changes, attached files, internal posts, and customer-portal interactions in a single timeline.
Definition
Case Feed is the chronological activity stream that surfaces on a Salesforce case record, combining emails sent and received, call logs, status changes, attached files, internal posts, and customer-portal interactions in a single timeline. It is the agent's primary working surface inside the Service Console: above the feed sit publishers for the most common actions (Reply Email, Log a Call, Internal Note, Change Status), below it sits the chronological case history. The combination collapses what would otherwise be five separate related lists into one continuous thread.
Case Feed has two generations. Classic Case Feed shipped in 2010 as a workaround for the limitations of the standard Case detail layout. Compact Case Feed, the modern Lightning version, redesigned the surface to fit the Service Console workspace, with the Highlights Panel above, the publisher tab strip in the middle, and the feed below. Publishers are now Quick Actions, configurable through the page layout. The Compact Case Feed is the recommended surface for any Lightning Service Cloud deployment. The Classic version still ships in older Salesforce Classic orgs but receives no new development.
How Case Feed organizes agent activity on a case
What the feed actually shows
The Case Feed combines several record types into one chronological stream. Email messages (sent and received through Email-to-Case) appear inline with the subject, sender, recipient, and body preview. Call logs entered through the Log a Call publisher show as call records with duration and notes. Status changes from the standard case workflow show as system posts. Internal team notes posted by other agents appear as internal-only feed items, invisible to customers in the Help Center. Files attached to the case show as feed items linked to the file record. Each item has a timestamp and an actor, making the feed a complete audit trail of the case's lifecycle.
Publishers and the action tab strip
The strip across the top of the feed holds publishers, the entry points for agent actions. The default set on a Service Console case is Reply Email, Log a Call, Email, Quick Actions. Each publisher is configured through the case page layout's Quick Actions section. Adding a custom publisher (Schedule Callback, Refund Approval, Escalate to Tier 2) requires building a Quick Action and adding it to the publisher set. The order and visibility of publishers are controlled per page layout, which means agents on different record types can see different publisher sets without code.
Email integration through Email-to-Case
The biggest payoff of Case Feed comes from Email-to-Case integration. When a customer emails the support address, Email-to-Case converts the email into a case and threads any future emails into the same case feed automatically. The thread persists across replies, attachments, forwarded messages. Agents see the entire conversation in chronological order without checking separate inboxes. The threading uses message-id headers and a hidden Salesforce thread identifier inside the email body. Configuration sits in Email-to-Case Settings; misconfigured thread IDs cause every customer reply to create a new case, which is the most common Email-to-Case complaint.
Internal vs external visibility
Feed items have a visibility setting that controls who sees them. External items are visible to customers logged into the Help Center or Experience Cloud site tied to the case. Internal items are visible only to internal users. The setting matters for compliance and customer experience. Internal posts mistakenly marked external can leak private team discussions to customers. The Compact Case Feed defaults publishers to internal for notes and external for email, which is the right default. The page layout can override the defaults per Quick Action.
Filter views: All, Email, Notes, Tasks
The feed can be filtered to show specific item types. All shows everything chronologically. Email shows only email items. Notes shows only feed posts and internal comments. Tasks shows only logged calls and scheduled activities. Agents working through a long case history use the filters to focus on the most relevant interactions. The filter strip sits at the top of the feed in Lightning. Custom feed filters are configurable through the Case Feed Settings in Setup.
Mobile and the Salesforce Mobile App
Case Feed renders in the Salesforce Mobile App with a stripped-down version of the same UI: feed timeline, key publishers, status panel. Mobile users see the same data as desktop users but with touch-optimized controls and fewer related lists. The mobile experience is what field service agents and on-call support managers use when they cannot reach a desktop. The configuration is unified across surfaces; admins do not need to maintain a separate mobile case page in most cases.
Case Feed and Service Cloud Voice
When Service Cloud Voice is enabled, voice calls handled through the Amazon Connect or telephony integration appear in the Case Feed as call recordings with a transcript. Agents can scrub through the recording, jump to the transcript, and link the call to the case. The integration is what makes Service Cloud Voice a full omnichannel offering: voice, email, chat, and case posts all appear in one chronological stream. Without the Voice integration, calls still appear in the feed but only as manual Log a Call entries without recordings.
Configuring Case Feed for agent productivity
Setting up Case Feed is a page layout configuration: enable the feed, choose the publishers, configure the default views and filters. The work is incremental; most orgs start with the out-of-box Compact Case Feed and refine over time.
- Enable Case Feed at the org level
Setup, Support Settings, confirm Use the Compact Case Feed is enabled. New orgs default to enabled. Older orgs may still be on the Classic Case Feed.
- Edit the case page layout for the feed
Setup, Object Manager, Case, Page Layouts. Edit the layout assigned to your agents. Confirm the Feed component sits in the right region. Adjust the Highlights Panel fields above the feed.
- Configure the publisher set
On the page layout, drag Quick Actions into the publisher section. The standard ones are Email, Log a Call, Post (internal note), Quick Action for state changes. Custom publishers are built as Quick Actions on the Case object first.
- Set the default feed filter
Setup, Case Feed Settings. Pick the default filter applied when an agent opens a case: All, Email, Internal Notes. Defaults matter; most teams want All for case ownership clarity.
- Configure Email-to-Case threading
Setup, Email-to-Case, confirm the routing addresses and the thread ID header configuration. The most common Case Feed issue (customer reply creates new case instead of threading) traces to this configuration.
- Train agents on internal vs external visibility
Internal notes posted as external by mistake leak to customers. Train agents to check the visibility toggle on every Post. The default is internal but the Quick Action setting can be overridden per layout.
The modern Lightning version of Case Feed, recommended for all current deployments.
The action tab strip above the feed. Configured through Quick Actions on the case object and assigned in the page layout.
The dropdown to view All, Email, Notes, Tasks, or custom-defined filter sets. Configured in Case Feed Settings.
The toggle on each feed item that controls customer visibility through Experience Cloud or the Help Center.
The hidden token in case-related emails that threads customer replies back to the original case feed.
- Email-to-Case threading depends on the hidden thread ID in the email body. Customers replying with the thread ID stripped (by some Outlook plugins) create new cases instead of replying. Use email-thread-id headers as a backup.
- Internal posts marked external leak to customers. The default is internal, but Quick Action configuration can flip it. Audit the publisher set quarterly.
- Classic Case Feed still ships in older orgs. Migrating to Compact Case Feed requires re-creating publishers as Quick Actions and updating page layouts. Plan the change.
- Service Cloud Voice integration is required for in-feed call recordings. Without it, calls appear only as manual Log a Call entries with no audio.
- Custom feed filters in Setup, Case Feed Settings let you build views like "Last 7 Days Emails Only", which can dramatically speed up long case reviews. Underused feature worth turning on.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Case Feed.
- Case Feed OverviewSalesforce Help
- Case Feed SettingsSalesforce Help
- Email-to-CaseSalesforce Help
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
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Q1. What does Case Feed display?
Q2. What can agents do directly from Case Feed?
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