Sorting Options for Past Activities in the Activity Timeline

Past activities can be sorted in one of two ways: the date the activity was due, or the date the activity was completed. If there’s no due date, or the due date is in the future, the last modified date is used.

Required Editions

Available in Lightning Experience in: Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions

Sorting activities by their due date can give a misleading picture of when something actually happened. Often, an event is completed on a different day that when it was scheduled.

Items in the activity timeline and the activity history related list are sorted differently. Items in the activity history related list, including tasks, are sorted by the due date. Events with no due date are shown at the bottom of the list.

Sort by Completed Date

In this case, past activities are sorted by completed date and data specific to the activity.

Activity Sorting
Task Completed Date Time
Logged Call Completed Date Time
Event Due Date Time, which is the same as Start Date Time
Email Completed Date Time, which is the same as Email Sent Date Time
List Email Schedule Date
Cadence Task Completed Date Time

Sort by Due Date

In this case, past activities are sorted by due date and data specific to the activity.

Activity Sorting
Task Due date descending. If no due date, or due date is in the future, last modified date.
Logged Call Due date descending. If no due date, last modified date.
Event Start DateTime, then secondary sorting by last modified date
Email Message Date
List Email Schedule Date
Cadence Task Due date, then last modified date