> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://learn.withessential.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://learn.withessential.com/administration/basics/activity-feed.md).

# The Activity Feed: what your team has been doing

The Activity Feed is a single, business-wide list of recent work: who did what, to which record, and when. Where a record's [timeline](/administration/basics/timeline-events-and-comments.md) tells you the history of *one* customer, quote, or job, the Activity Feed tells you what has been happening across the whole account — useful for a morning catch-up, for seeing what changed while you were out, or for checking that a teammate's work went through.

> **Where to find it:** the pulse icon at the top of Essential, immediately to the left of the notification bell

## Open the feed

Select the pulse icon in the header. The panel opens with the most recent activity first. Selecting the icon again (or clicking anywhere outside the panel) closes it.

When there is new activity matching your notification settings, a small red dot appears on the pulse icon. Opening the panel records the read point for the activity types and actors you can see. Your preferences and read state follow your account across devices. Muted activity, hidden own activity, and activity behind a permission or feature gate stay unread until you can see them again. There is no unread count and no need to mark individual rows or dismiss them.

## What each row shows

Every row is one thing that happened:

* **Who** — the teammate or customer who acted. Customer Portal changes, public quote signatures, and customer email opens, clicks, and views show the customer when it is available. Work Essential performed without a user — such as a scheduled automation — is shown as **Essential**. Assistant-assisted updates show the teammate who requested them, and workflow updates show the user recorded as the workflow run's creator. A deleted or otherwise unavailable teammate is shown as **Unknown user**.
* **What** — a short description, such as "Quote sent", "Quote signed", "Invoice paid", or "Visit released to Barbara Smith for Sep 1, 2026 at 10:00 AM". Customer quote signatures appear as soon as the signing transaction completes. Scheduling work for visits linked to jobs shows up here too: creating one — even when it is saved as a draft — gets a "Visit created" line immediately. Releasing it to a technician, moving it to the backlog, reverting it to draft, or deleting it each get their own line. Property-less "Tech Unavailable" visits do not have a job timeline, so they do not appear in the feed.
* **Which record** — the identifier you already recognise from elsewhere in Essential: `#Q1042` for a quote, `#I2210` for an invoice, `#J77` or `#26-77` for a job, a customer or property name, an inspection report name, a task's description.
* **Context** — the customer or property the record belongs to, where there is one.
* **When** — how long ago it happened, for example "3 hours ago".

Select a row to open the record it refers to. The panel closes and takes you straight there.

Some kinds of activity are about something that has no page of its own — a visit, a payment, a recurring service. Those rows open the record that does: a visit opens its job, a payment opens the invoice it settled, a recurring service opens its asset group.

Some rows cannot be opened even though their record still exists — for example, after inventory tracking is turned off for an item — or after their record is deleted. The row stays in the feed because the activity still happened, but there may no longer be an available page to open.

## Choose which events you receive

Select the gear icon in the Activity Feed to edit notification settings directly in the dropdown. The same form is available at **Settings → Personal Settings → Notifications**, and the bell’s gear opens that page. **Notify me about** is one shared selection for the Activity Feed, notification bell and email digest.

Choose **All events** to include current and future event types, or **Choose events** to select individual kinds of activity. Custom selections keep new event types off until you select them.

You can select any combination of events. For example, choose **Choose events**, select **Clear events**, then check **Signed quotes**, **Customer notes**, and **Paid invoices** to receive just those three. Customer notes includes notes and comments on customers and properties; paid invoices means fully paid.

The event groups cover quotes, invoices and payments, customers and properties, jobs and visits, tasks, inspection reports, inventory and purchasing, and direct notifications such as mentions or service requests. Each group has a checkbox to select or clear it. Turn off **Include my own activity** to hide changes you performed yourself.

Select **Save** to apply your changes across devices and both editing locations. In the dropdown, **Back** returns to the feed; **Cancel** discards unsaved edits. Muted activity does not appear under **All** or contribute to the unread dot, and opening the feed does not mark it read. If you clear every event, the feed and bell are empty and no digest is sent. These settings affect only your account.

**Email frequency** controls delivery separately. Turning email **Off** keeps your selected in-app events enabled. Changing event choices starts a fresh digest period so earlier activity is not emailed. See [Notification and email preferences](/administration/settings/manage-your-personal-notifications.md).

## Load older activity

The feed shows the most recent activity first. Select **Load more** at the bottom to add the next batch. The button disappears once you reach the end of the history.

## Who can see the Activity Feed

The feed mixes activity from across Essential, including records that are protected by their own permissions. Rather than show a partial feed with silent gaps in it, access is all-or-nothing. A role sees the pulse icon only when it has **all four** of these permissions:

* **View Activity Feed**
* **View Quote**
* **View Invoice**
* **View Inspection Report**

The **Default Back Office Admin** role has all four, so admins get the feed without any setup. If you grant **View Activity Feed** to a role that is missing one of the three View permissions, the icon stays hidden until you add the missing one — no access leaks, but the checkbox on its own does nothing. See [Roles and permissions: how access works](/administration/basics/roles-and-permissions-how-access-works.md) to change a role.

The feed also follows what your business has turned on: if invoicing or inventory isn't enabled for you, that activity simply never appears.

## Related guides

* [Timeline events and comments](/administration/basics/timeline-events-and-comments.md)
* [Roles and permissions: how access works](/administration/basics/roles-and-permissions-how-access-works.md)
* [First login, navigation, and support](/administration/basics/first-login-navigation-and-support.md)


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