Salesforce Calendar - how to show tasks & other records

Summary

This video provides a step-by-step guide on customizing the Salesforce calendar to display tasks alongside events. The process includes creating a new calendar for tasks, adding a due date and time field, and using checkboxes to filter which tasks appear. Additionally, it explains how to display opportunities in the calendar, including a feature to show opportunities one week before their closing date. The tutorial also covers adding public calendars and resources like conference rooms to enhance scheduling capabilities within Salesforce.

Takeaways

• 📅 Salesforce's default calendar only displays events, but tasks can also be added with customization.
• 🔧 You can create a custom calendar for tasks by selecting 'New Calendar' and using 'Task' as the source.
• 📝 To display a task's due date and time in the calendar, a new 'Date Time' field must be added to the task object.
• 💡 The task will appear as an all-day event unless a specific time field is added to the task layout.
• ✅ A checkbox field 'In Calendar' can be created to control whether a task appears in the calendar or not.
• 🔄 Tasks only show in the calendar once filters are applied, using the 'In Calendar' checkbox set to true.
• 📊 You can also create custom calendar views for opportunities by selecting the close date as the 'Start' field.
• ⏳ Opportunities can be shown a week before their closing date by creating a formula field that adjusts the close date.
• 🏢 Public calendars and resources (e.g., conference rooms) can be added for broader organizational use.
• 🔄 Custom filters and list views can be shared with all users to allow consistent calendar management.

Q & A

How can you show tasks in the Salesforce calendar?

To show tasks in the Salesforce calendar, create a new calendar by selecting 'Tasks' under 'My Calendars.' Set the start field to the due date and add a subject field to display the task.

Why do tasks initially appear as all-day events in the calendar?

Tasks appear as all-day events because they lack a time field. You need to create a new 'Date Time' field in the activity object to include both the date and time for the task.

What is the purpose of the 'In Calendar' checkbox?

The 'In Calendar' checkbox allows users to choose whether a task should appear in the calendar. If checked, the task will be shown; if not, it will be excluded.

How do you add a 'Date Time' field to tasks in Salesforce?

To add a 'Date Time' field, go to the activity object under 'Fields and Relationships,' create a new 'Date Time' field, make it visible to all profiles, and add it to the task layout.

How do you apply a filter to display only specific tasks in the calendar?

Create a new list view where the filter is set to 'In Calendar' as true. Then, apply this filter in the calendar by editing the 'My Tasks' calendar and selecting the new list view.

Can opportunities be displayed in the Salesforce calendar?

Yes, opportunities can be displayed by creating a new calendar. Set the 'Close Date' as the start field and display the opportunity name in the calendar.

How can you display an opportunity one week before its closing date in the calendar?

Create a formula field that calculates the date seven days before the close date. Then, set this new field as the start field in the opportunity calendar.

Why was there no change in the calendar after creating the new 'Date Time' field for tasks?

The calendar did not update because the start field needed to be changed to 'Due Date Time' in the task calendar settings. Once updated, the task appeared in the correct position.

What are public calendars and resources in Salesforce?

Public calendars allow you to display events for entire departments, while resources can be used to book items like conference rooms. These can be managed under 'Public Calendars and Resources' in the setup menu.

How can you customize task layouts in Salesforce to show new fields?

To customize task layouts, add any new fields (like 'Due Date Time' or 'In Calendar') to the global task layout by editing the 'New Task' global action and including the new fields.

Outlines

00:00

🗓️ Adding Tasks to Salesforce Calendar

The default Salesforce calendar only displays events, but tasks can be added as well. The speaker demonstrates how to display tasks on the calendar by creating a new calendar under 'My Calendars,' selecting tasks, and configuring the fields for start and subject. Although initially, the task appears as an all-day event without a specific time, a new 'Date Time' field is added to the activity object to allow tasks to have a defined time. This field is made visible only in the task layout, ensuring tasks have both date and time. After updating the task with this new field, it correctly displays in the calendar with a time slot.

05:02

✅ Filtering Tasks in Salesforce Calendar

The speaker continues by explaining how to prevent all tasks from showing on the calendar. A checkbox field called 'In Calendar' is created, ensuring that only tasks marked with this box will appear on the calendar. This new checkbox field is added to the task layout and made visible for all profiles. Once a task is created with this checkbox selected, it will display in the calendar. A filter is also applied to display only tasks with the 'In Calendar' box checked, which can be shared across users for more effective task management.

📅 Adding Opportunities to Salesforce Calendar

The next scenario involves adding opportunities to the Salesforce calendar, specifically those that are closing soon. A new calendar is created to show opportunities with a closing date, and the opportunity name is selected as the display field. However, the speaker wishes to see opportunities one week before their closing date, so they create a formula field on the opportunity object. This field subtracts seven days from the close date, allowing users to see the opportunity earlier in their calendar.

🏢 Utilizing Public Calendars and Resources in Salesforce

The speaker wraps up by showing how public calendars and resources can be added to Salesforce for departmental use or for booking resources like conference rooms. Public calendars and resources can be managed through the setup menu, allowing organizations to streamline scheduling across departments. This feature helps users customize and manage their Salesforce calendars more effectively.

Keywords

💡Salesforce Calendar

The Salesforce Calendar is a built-in feature within Salesforce that allows users to view and manage events. In the video, the speaker explains how the out-of-the-box calendar primarily displays events but can be customized to show tasks and other objects, making it a central tool for time management and task tracking.

💡Tasks

Tasks are a key part of Salesforce's functionality, representing actions that need to be completed within the system. The video focuses on customizing the calendar to include tasks by associating them with due dates and creating additional fields, enabling users to track their tasks alongside events on the calendar.

💡Due Date

The Due Date is a specific field used to indicate the deadline for a task in Salesforce. In the video, the speaker modifies the task layout to include this field in the calendar, allowing tasks to be shown at the correct time based on their due dates, helping users prioritize their workload.

💡New Calendar

A New Calendar refers to the creation of a custom calendar within Salesforce. The speaker demonstrates how to set up new calendars for tasks or other objects like opportunities, offering flexibility in how data is visualized and managed according to user preferences.

💡Date-Time Field

A Date-Time Field is a custom field that combines both date and time information. The speaker adds this field to tasks in Salesforce so that the calendar can show specific times for tasks, resolving the issue where tasks appear as all-day events without a specified time.

💡Global Actions

Global Actions in Salesforce are actions that users can take from various parts of the system, such as creating a task or event. The video discusses updating the layout for new tasks within Global Actions to include newly created fields like the Date-Time field and the 'In Calendar' checkbox.

💡In Calendar Checkbox

The 'In Calendar' checkbox is a custom field added to tasks that allows users to control whether a task appears on the calendar. By default, it is unchecked. The video explains how this field can be used to filter tasks, showing only those that are checked to appear in the calendar.

💡List View

A List View in Salesforce is a customizable view that displays records based on specific filters. The speaker creates a list view to filter tasks that have the 'In Calendar' checkbox selected, allowing users to only display relevant tasks in their calendar view.

💡Opportunities

Opportunities represent potential sales or deals in Salesforce. In the video, the speaker explains how to create a calendar for opportunities, using the 'Close Date' field to display opportunities that are approaching their closing date, which can be critical for sales teams.

💡Formula Field

A Formula Field is a custom field in Salesforce that calculates values dynamically based on other fields. The speaker creates a formula field that calculates a date seven days before the close date of an opportunity, allowing users to see upcoming opportunities on their calendar a week in advance.

Highlights

Salesforce calendar only shows events by default, but tasks can be displayed by creating a new calendar for tasks.

To display tasks in the calendar, select 'New Calendar' next to 'My Calendars' and populate fields like start date (due date) and task name.

Tasks initially show up as all-day events in the calendar, so adding a new DateTime field for tasks allows specifying the time as well.

The new DateTime field must be created in the 'Activity' object and added to the task layout, excluding event layouts.

Global actions for new tasks need to include the new DateTime field, replacing the old due date to ensure tasks show both date and time.

In the calendar view, users must change the 'Start' field of tasks to the new due date-time field to accurately place tasks on the calendar.

A checkbox field called 'In Calendar' can be added to filter tasks that should appear in the calendar. Unchecked tasks will not display.

The 'In Calendar' checkbox is added to the task layout and the global actions to control task visibility in the calendar.

To manage tasks on the calendar efficiently, users can apply a filter that only shows tasks where 'In Calendar' is checked.

List views with filters can be created for tasks based on the 'In Calendar' checkbox, allowing users to limit task visibility as needed.

For opportunities, a new calendar can display opportunities closing on specific dates by selecting the 'Close Date' as the field for start.

A formula field can be created to display opportunities in the calendar a week before their actual close date.

The formula subtracts 7 days from the opportunity's close date, and the new calendar must be updated to show this adjusted date.

Salesforce calendars can also display public calendars and resources like conference rooms, which can be added under the 'Public Calendars and Resources' section.

The overall customization of Salesforce calendars enables more personalized views for tasks, opportunities, and public resources, providing users greater control over their schedule visualization.

Transcripts

out-of-the-box salesforce calendar will

show us only their events but what about

tasks for example if I go to this lead

norm I can see that I already created

tasks for today and I would like these

tasks to be shown on the calendar as

well it is very easy to edit next to the

my calendars I select new calendar here

I can see that I have lots of options

but now I select a task I have to

populate the field for start which will

be the due date and I have to populate

the field name to display apply a filter

and field for end is only optional so

here I select subject and I click Save

however I have to add a name to the

calendar as well in this case the name

will be my tasks and I click Save now I

can see that the task is in the calendar

however it doesn't have a time it seems

like it's the whole day so I add a new

time field to the task so I can populate

the time I go to the activity object and

under fields and relationships I create

a new date time field date time because

I want to populate the date and the time

as well the name will be due date time

so I add this field and I make it

visible for all the profiles and I add

it to the task layout only because I

don't want it to be available on the

event layout but we are not done yet we

have to go to the global actions and

under

new tasks I click on the layout and and

add this new field I created and delete

the due date in this way when I go to

the lead and create a new task I will be

able to see this new field as you can

see the date and the time field as well

so now I create a new task where I

populate the date and the time so I

select the time from the scroll down

menu and I click Save

so I go to the calendar now and what I

can see there is no change because I

have to change my tasks first so the

field for start change to due date time

and now as you can see the the task is

in the right place in the calendar

however if I have many tasks I don't

want to show every one of them on the

calendar so we can add a field now

called is calendar and if it's checked

the tasks will appear in the calendar if

it's not checked we don't want the text

to be in the calendar so I went to the

activity object and creating a new

checkbox field called in calendar it's

by default unchecked of course I make

this visible for all the profile for now

and I would like to show this field only

on the tasks layout I click Save I go

back and I would like to add it to the

new tasks global action as we did with

the due date time so I add this field as

well and click Save

when I go back to the new tasks I can

see that there is an in calendar check

box as well

I create a new task and I will populate

the date and time if I check the in

calendar checkbox the task will appear

in my calendar if I don't do that it

will not how I say this and I go back to

the calendar but now I can see two tasks

why because I have to apply a filter I

go to task and I create a new list view

where the filter will be in calendar set

to true and I would like to see only my

tasks I make this list view available

for all the users so they will be able

to add this filter to their calendar as

well so I go to the filter and select in

calendar and set it true

the owner remain my tasks as I can see

there is only one tasks with in calendar

check to true so I go to my tasks

calendar and edit the calendar and under

apply a filter I will select the newly

created list view my calendar tasks I

click Save and now I only can see those

tasks where the user or where I actually

selected in calendar there are other use

cases as well if I go to the opportunity

we have a field close date so for

example if I would like to see the

opportunity which is closing today in my

calendar

I go back to the calendar and I add a

new calendar here under object I select

the opportunity and click next calendar

name will be closing opportunities you

remember that I have to select a field

for start which will be the close date I

don't select a field for end and I don't

select an apply a filter but I select

the opportunity name has the field to

display in the calendar so if I go to

25th of May I can see that opportunity

but I would like to see the opportunity

one week before it's closing so I create

a new field a formula field on the

opportunity object I go to formula and I

select date this will be the field which

show me the date seven days before the

closing date so I select close date from

the inserting field and minus seven and

check the syntax it's working correctly

so I click next I will make this visible

for all the profiles and click Next I

save it I don't want to show this field

on any of the layouts because I just

need this field for the calendar view so

now I go back to the calendar i refresh

the page if you liked this video please

click like please subscribe and don't

forget the click on the bell button so I

came back to the calendar and as I can

see the opportunity is still in the old

place

why because I have to modify the closing

opportunities calendar to set the fields

for start to the field which I created

earlier so now as I changed it to the

formula field I can see that the

opportunity is one week before the

closing date in our calendar under other

calendars we can see that we can add

public calendars and resources as well

if we go to the setup under public

calendars and resources we can add these

recourse as well public calendars for

departments resources for conference

rooms for example so we can show those

as well in our calendar

I hope this video will help you to

customize the calendar view in

Salesforce and if you have any custom

solution please share this with us in

the comment section thank you for

watching and see you next time