Activity Timeline versus related lists
Key Takeaway
In Lightning Experience, one component, the activity timeline, replaces the Open Activities and Activity History related lists that Salesforce Classic uses.
Tasks, events, and emails linked to a record need a place to show up on that record. Salesforce Classic uses two related lists. Lightning Experience uses the activity timeline, a single component where you can expand each activity.
Related lists in Salesforce Classic
In Salesforce Classic, open and closed activities sit in two separate related lists. The Open Activities related list shows open activities, and the Activity History related list shows closed activities. Activity History shows the same key fields as Open Activities.
For example, imagine a Lead record in Salesforce Classic. Its Open Activities related list shows open activities and key activity fields. From that list, you can create a new task, a new activity, or a new meeting request. When a task related to the lead is closed, a link to the task appears in the lead's Activity History related list.
In Salesforce Classic, the related lists a user can see and use depend on these things:
- The user's permissions.
- The admin's user interface and page layout customizations.
- The user's own personal customizations. For example, a user can click "Customize Page" to select and arrange related lists.