Activities¶

Activities are follow-up tasks tied to a record in an Odoo database.

The icon used to display activities varies, depending on the activity type:

(clock) icon: the default activities icon.
(phone) icon: a phone call is scheduled.
(envelope) icon: an email is scheduled.
(check) icon: a “to-do” is scheduled.
(people) icon: a meeting is scheduled.
(upload) icon: a document is scheduled to be uploaded.

Schedule activities¶

Activities can be scheduled on any page of the database that contains a chatter thread, Kanban view, list view, or activities view of an application.

Chatter¶

Activities can be created from the chatter on any record.

To schedule a new activity, click the Activities button, located at the top of the chatter. In the Schedule Activity pop-up window that appears, fill out the Schedule Activity form.

screenshot: essentials-activities-chatter

menu: CRM ‣ (any opportunity) ‣ chatter
shows: Top of the chatter with the "Activities" button, and the Schedule Activity dialog opened from it.
highlight: The "Activities" button.
data: Demo opportunity "Office Design Project".
module: mail, crm
notes: English UI, 1440px width, crop to the chatter and the dialog.

Kanban view¶

Activities can also be created from the (Kanban) view.

To do so, click on the (clock) icon located at the bottom of an individual record.

Click + Schedule An Activity, then proceed to fill out the Schedule Activity form.

screenshot: essentials-activities-kanban

menu: CRM ‣ Sales ‣ My Pipeline (Kanban view)
shows: Kanban card with the clock icon clicked; the popover lists planned activities and shows "+ Schedule An Activity".
highlight: The clock icon and "+ Schedule An Activity".
data: Demo pipeline.
module: mail, crm
notes: English UI, crop to one column and the popover.

Note

If a record already has a scheduled activity, the (clock) icon is replaced by the icon that represents the existing scheduled activity. Click on the activity type’s icon to schedule another activity.

List view¶

Activities can also be created from a (list) view.

If the Activities column is hidden, reveal it using the (settings adjust) icon in the far-right of the top row.

Then, click on the (clock) icon for the record the activity is being added to, and click + Schedule an activity. Proceed to fill out the Schedule Activity form that appears.

Note

screenshot: essentials-activities-list

menu: CRM ‣ Sales ‣ My Pipeline (List view)
shows: List view with the Activities column; the clock icon of one row is clicked and the popover with "+ Schedule An Activity" is open.
highlight: The Activities column.
data: Demo pipeline.
module: mail, crm
notes: English UI, crop to the list and the popover.

Activity view¶

Most applications in Odoo have an Activity view available. If available, a (clock) icon is visible in the top-right corner of the main menu bar, amongst the other view option icons.

To open the activity view, click the (clock) icon.

screenshot: essentials-activities-view-switcher

menu: CRM ‣ Sales ‣ My Pipeline
shows: View switcher in the top-right corner of the control panel (Kanban, List, Calendar, Pivot, Graph, Map/other, Activity icons).
highlight: The Activity view (clock) icon.
module: mail, crm
notes: English UI, crop tightly to the view switcher.

In this view, all the available activities are listed in the columns, while the horizontal entries represent all the individual records.

Activities that appear green have a due date in the future, activities that appear orange are due today, while activities appearing red are overdue.

Color bars in each column represent records for specific activity types, and display a number indicating how many activities are scheduled for that type.

If multiple activity types are scheduled for a record, a number appears in the box, indicating the total number of scheduled activities.

Note

Activity colors, and their relation to an activity’s due date, are consistent throughout Odoo, regardless of the activity type, or the view.

To schedule an activity for a record, hover over the corresponding field. Click the (plus) icon that appears, and then fill out the Schedule Activity form.

screenshot: essentials-activities-activity-view

menu: CRM ‣ Sales ‣ My Pipeline ‣ Activity view
shows: Activity view grid: activity types as columns, records as rows, colored cells for late / today / planned activities; the mouse hovers an empty cell showing the plus icon.
highlight: The plus icon in the hovered cell.
data: Demo pipeline with several activities.
module: mail, crm
notes: English UI, 1440px width.

Schedule Activity form¶

Activities can be scheduled from many different places, such as from the chatter of a record, or from one of multiple views in an application, when available: the Kanban view, list view, or activity view.

Enter the following information on the form:

Plan: optionally, select an activity plan to schedule several predefined activities at once instead of a single activity. When a plan is selected, set the Plan Date the activities’ deadlines are computed from and, if the plan requires it, the user to assign them to. This field only appears if at least one activity plan exists for the record’s model.
Activity Type: select the type of activity from the drop-down menu. The default options are: Email, Call, Meeting, or To-Do. Depending on what other applications are installed, additional options may be available.
Summary: enter a short title for the activity, such as Discuss Proposal.
Due Date: using the calendar popover, select the activity’s deadline.
Assigned to: by default, the current user populates this field. To assign a different user to the activity, select them from the drop-down menu.
Notes: add any additional information for the activity in this field.

When the Schedule Activity pop-up window is completed, click one of the following buttons:

Open Calendar: opens the user’s calendar to add and schedule the activity.

Click on the desired date and time for the activity, and a New Event pop-up window appears. The summary from the Schedule Activity pop-up window populates the Title field.

Enter the information in the New Event pop-up window, then click Save & Close to schedule it. Once scheduled, the activity is added to the chatter under the Planned Activities section.

Important
The Open Calendar button only appears if the Activity Type is set to either Call or Meeting.
Schedule: schedules the activity, and adds the activity to the chatter under Planned Activities.
Schedule & Mark as Done: adds the details of the activity to the chatter under Today. The activity is not scheduled, and is automatically marked as done.
Done & Schedule Next: adds the details of the activity to the chatter under Today. The activity is not scheduled, is automatically marked as done, and a new Schedule Activity pop-up window appears.
Cancel: discards any changes made on the Schedule Activity pop-up window.

screenshot: essentials-activities-schedule-form

menu: CRM ‣ (any opportunity) ‣ Activities ‣ Schedule Activity
shows: Schedule Activity dialog with Plan, Activity Type, Summary, Due Date, Assigned to and the note editor; buttons Schedule, Schedule & Mark as Done, Done & Schedule Next, Open Calendar (Activity Type "Meeting"), Cancel.
highlight: The button row.
data: Activity Type "Meeting", Summary "Discuss proposal".
module: mail, calendar, crm
notes: English UI, crop to the dialog.

All scheduled activities¶

To view a consolidated list of activities, organized by application, click the (clock) icon in the header menu, located in the top-right corner.

If any activities are scheduled, the number of activities appear in a red bubble on the (clock) icon.

All activities for each application are further divided into subsections, indicating where in the application the activity is to be completed. Each sub-section lists the number of scheduled activities that are Late, due Today, and scheduled in the Future.

Example

In the Time Off application, one activity is scheduled to be done in the All Time Off requests dashboard, and six activities are scheduled to be done in the Allocations dashboard.

These requests appear in two separate lists in the all activities drop-down menu: one labeled Time Off and one labeled Time Off Allocation.

screenshot: essentials-activities-systray

menu: Top menu bar ‣ clock icon
shows: The activities dropdown of the top menu bar, with the counters per model and the Late / Today / Future counts; the "Time Off" and "Time Off Allocation" entries are visible.
highlight: The two Time Off entries.
data: One time off request and six allocation requests waiting for approval.
module: mail, hr_holidays
notes: English UI, crop to the dropdown.

Activity types¶

To view the currently configured types of activities in the database, navigate to Settings app ‣ Discuss section ‣ Activities setting ‣ Activity Types.

screenshot: essentials-activities-settings

menu: Settings ‣ General Settings ‣ Discuss
shows: The Discuss section of the settings with the "Activities" setting and its "Activity Types" link.
highlight: The "Activity Types" link.
module: mail
notes: English UI, crop to the Discuss section.

Doing so reveals the Activity Types page, where the existing activity types are found.

Tip

Individual applications have a list of Activity Types dedicated to that application. For example, to view and edit the activities available for the CRM application, go to CRM app ‣ Configuration ‣ Activity Types.

screenshot: essentials-activities-types-list

menu: Settings ‣ General Settings ‣ Discuss ‣ Activity Types
shows: List of the existing activity types (Email, Call, Meeting, To-Do, Upload Document, …).
module: mail
notes: English UI, crop to the list.

Edit activity types¶

To edit an existing activity type, click on the activity type, and the activity type form loads.

Make any desired changes to the activity type form. The form automatically saves, but it can be saved manually at any time by clicking the Save Manually option, represented by a (cloud upload) icon, located in the top-left corner of the page.

Create new activity types¶

To create a new activity type, click New from the Activity Types page, and a blank activity type form loads.

Enter a Name for the activity type at the top of the form, then enter the following information on the form.

Activity Settings section¶

Action: Using the drop-down menu, select an action associated with this new activity type. Some actions trigger specific behaviors after an activity is scheduled, such as:
- Upload Document: If selected, a link to upload a document is automatically added to the planned activity in the chatter. Uploading the document marks the activity as done.
- Phonecall or Meeting: If selected, users have the option to open their calendar to select a date and time for the activity. The Meeting action requires the Calendar app.
Note
Available activity types vary based on the installed applications in the database.
Model: optionally, restrict the activity type to a specific model, e.g., Lead/Opportunity. If left empty, the activity type is available on all records.
Default User: Select a user from the drop-down menu to automatically assign this activity to the selected user when this activity type is scheduled. If this field is left blank, the activity is assigned to the user who creates the activity.
Default Summary: enter a note to include whenever this activity type is created.

Note
The information in the Default User and Default Summary fields are included when an activity is created. However, they can be altered before the activity is scheduled or saved.
Keep Done: Tick this checkbox to keep activities that have been marked as Done visible in the activity view.
Default Note: enter any notes to appear with the activity.
Email templates: select the email templates that can be used with this activity type. They are proposed as quick actions on the planned activity in the chatter.

Next Activity section¶

It is possible to have another activity either suggested or triggered. To do so, configure the Next Activity section.

Chaining Type: select either Suggest Next Activity or Trigger Next Activity from the drop-down menu. Depending on the selected option, either the Suggest or Trigger field is displayed.

Note
The Chaining Type field does not appear if Upload Document is selected for the Action.
Suggest/Trigger: depending on what is selected for the Chaining Type, this field either displays Suggest or Trigger. Using the drop-down menu, select the activity to recommend or schedule as a follow-up task to the activity type.
Schedule: configure when the next activity is suggested or triggered.

First, enter a numerical value indicating when the activity is suggested or triggered.

Next to this field, a Days field is visible. Click Days, the default option, to reveal a drop-down menu. Select the desired time-frame option from the list. The options are Days, Weeks, or Months.

Lastly, using the drop-down menu, select whether the activity is scheduled or triggered either after previous activity deadline or after completion date.

screenshot: essentials-activities-type-form

menu: Settings ‣ General Settings ‣ Discuss ‣ Activity Types ‣ New
shows: Completed activity type form: Name, Action, Default User, Default Summary, Keep Done, Default Note, and the Next Activity section with Chaining Type, Trigger and Schedule.
data: Activity type "Follow-up call", Action "Phonecall", triggers "Email" 2 days after completion date.
module: mail
notes: English UI, crop to the form sheet.

Activity plans¶

Activity plans are predefined sets of activities that can be scheduled on a record in one go, e.g., an onboarding checklist, or the standard follow-up steps of a new opportunity.

To manage activity plans, go to the Configuration menu of an app that supports them, e.g., CRM ‣ Configuration ‣ Activity Plans, Sales ‣ Configuration ‣ Activity Plans, or Project ‣ Configuration ‣ Activity Plans. With developer mode activated, all plans are also available under Settings ‣ Technical ‣ Activities ‣ Activity Plans.

Click New, enter the Plan Name, select the Model the plan applies to (if the field is displayed), then add one line per activity in the Activities To Create tab:

Activity Type and Summary: the activity to create.
Assignment: Ask at launch to choose the responsible user when the plan is scheduled, or Default user to always assign the activity to the user selected in the Assigned to field.
Interval, Unit, and Trigger: when the activity’s deadline is set, relative to the plan date (Before Plan Date or After Plan Date).

To launch a plan, open the Schedule Activity form on a record, select the plan in the Plan field, set the Plan Date, and click Schedule. A summary of the activities to be created is displayed in the form before scheduling.

screenshot: essentials-activities-plan-form

menu: CRM ‣ Configuration ‣ Activity Plans ‣ New
shows: Activity plan form with Plan Name and the "Activities To Create" tab listing three lines (activity type, summary, assignment, interval, unit, trigger).
data: Plan "New opportunity follow-up": Call after 1 day, Email after 3 days, Meeting after 7 days.
module: mail, crm
notes: English UI, crop to the form sheet.