Task
A Task in Salesforce is a standard activity record that represents a to-do item, follow-up, phone call, or any other action a user needs to complete and track.
Definition
A Task in Salesforce is a standard activity record that represents a to-do item, follow-up, phone call, or any other action a user needs to complete and track. Tasks store details like the subject, due date, priority, status, and assigned owner, and link to related records through two polymorphic relationships: WhoId (a Lead or Contact) and WhatId (any related object such as an Account, Opportunity, Case, or custom object). Together with Events, Tasks form the Activity timeline that appears on every record's detail page in Lightning Experience. Tasks can be created manually by users, generated automatically by Workflow Rules, Process Builder, or Flow, or logged retrospectively through features like Email-to-Task and call logging via CTI integrations. Closed Tasks roll up into Activity History on the parent record, providing a complete audit trail of customer touchpoints over time.
In plain English
“A Task is Salesforce's version of a to-do item attached to a customer. When a sales rep needs to call a prospect tomorrow at 2pm, they create a Task that's pinned to that prospect's record. Anyone on the team can see what's been done, what's coming up, and what's overdue - all in one place.”
Worked example
A sales rep at a software company finishes a discovery call with a prospect at Acme Corp. To stay organized, she creates a Task with Subject "Send pricing proposal", Due Date set to two days out, Priority "High", and Status "Not Started". The Task's WhoId points to the Acme Corp Contact she met with, and the WhatId points to the open Opportunity. A reminder email fires two hours before it's due. When she sends the proposal the next day, she opens the Task, changes Status to "Completed", and adds a quick note in the Comments field - instantly logging the touchpoint to the Opportunity's Activity timeline for her manager to see.
Why Task matters
Tasks share their underlying schema with Events through the Activity object - meaning custom fields you add to Activities appear on both Tasks and Events. Salesforce intentionally limits the fields you can add directly to the Task object: most additions go on Activity. The polymorphic WhoId and WhatId fields allow a single Task to relate to almost any standard or custom object, but they also make reporting tricky - querying Tasks for a specific Account requires either using the AccountId formula field (auto-populated when WhatId is an Account) or a SOQL join through the parent.
Closed Tasks (Status = Completed or marked Closed) move to the Activity History related list on the parent record, while open Tasks remain in Open Activities. This split is purely a UX convention - both are the same Task records under the hood. Recurring Tasks (when enabled in Activity Settings) create a series of linked Task records sharing a parent ID; deleting the parent does not automatically delete children. Group Tasks similarly create one Task per assignee. Both features can quickly inflate Task storage if not used deliberately.
Tasks created by Workflow Rules use the Workflow Task action, which always assigns to a specific user, role, or record owner. Process Builder, Flow, and Apex Triggers can create Tasks with full polymorphic flexibility. Mass actions like list-view inline edit, Salesforce Inbox, and the Task quick action speed up high-volume task management - common in inside-sales and service teams that close 50+ Tasks per day.
How to create Task
Tasks are the to-dos sales and service teams log against people and records. They have surprisingly few platform requirements — the friction comes from the Activity Composer's UX rather than the data model.
- Open the Activity composer
Tasks are almost always created in context — from a Contact, Lead, Opportunity, or Account record's Activity tab. The standalone Tasks list is for managing your queue, not creating.
- Click New Task
On the Activity tab, click the New Task button (or use the Activity composer's task icon). The composer opens inline.
- Enter the Subject
What needs to be done — keep it under ~60 characters so it's scannable in list views and reports.
- Set Due Date, Priority, Status
Due Date defaults to today, Priority to Normal, Status to "Not Started" — adjust as needed. None are platform-required but all are required by every standard layout.
- Assign To
Defaults to the creating user. Reassign to a teammate if you're logging the task on their behalf.
- Save
Save commits the Task. The related record (Contact, Opportunity, etc.) is auto-linked because you launched from its Activity tab.
Not platform-required, but required by every standard Task page layout. The Activity Composer won't save without it.
- Tasks completed (Status moved to a closed value) cannot be reopened in the standard UI unless an admin enables the "Allow Users to Edit Closed Tasks" Activity setting.
- Tasks have no record types by default — every Task uses the same layout. Enable Activity Record Types in Setup if you need to split layouts by team.
- WhoId (Lead/Contact link) and WhatId (related record link) are mutually constrained — a Task can have one of each, but not two Whats. Plan accordingly when bulk-creating via Apex or Data Loader.
How organizations use Task
After every discovery call, account executives create a Task with the next-step action - send proposal, schedule demo, loop in solutions engineer - pinned to the Opportunity. Manager dashboards roll up overdue Tasks per rep to flag stalled deals.
Service agents log callbacks and follow-ups as Tasks attached to the Case. When SLA timers approach breach, automated workflows create high-priority Tasks for the case owner with a 30-minute due date, surfacing them in Omni-Channel.
Major-gift officers create Tasks for cultivation outreach (calls, thank-yous, event invites) on each donor Contact record. The Activity History on the donor profile becomes the institutional memory for the relationship.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Task.
- Tasks in Salesforce HelpSalesforce
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