How to Schedule Activities in Odoo

Table of Contents

• Why Use Activities in Odoo?
• How to Schedule an Activity
• Assigning Activities to Other Users
• Managing Scheduled Activities
• Viewing Your Activities
• Creating Custom Activity Types
• Activities Work Across All Modules
• Best Practices for Using Activities
• Summary
• References

Why Use Activities in Odoo?

Every company deals with the same two problems: too much administrative work and not enough time. Sticky notes get lost, mental to-do lists get forgotten, and follow-ups slip through the cracks.

Odoo's activities feature solves this by attaching actionable tasks directly to records — leads, sales orders, project tasks, or any document with a chatter. Each activity has a type, a deadline, an assignee, and an optional note, so nothing gets lost.

How to Schedule an Activity

Step 1: Open a Record

Navigate to any module — CRM, Sales, Project, or others. Open the record you want to attach an activity to. For example, open a lead in the CRM pipeline.

Step 2: Find the Chatter

Scroll to the bottom of the record (or look on the right side on larger screens). This is the chatter — the communication and history log for the document.

Step 3: Click "Schedule Activity"

Click the Schedule Activity button in the chatter. A dialog will appear with these fields:

• Activity Type — Choose from Email, Call, Meeting, To Do, Exception, or any custom type
• Summary — A short description (e.g., "Follow-up call")
• Due Date — When the activity needs to be completed
• Assigned to — The user responsible for the activity
• Note — Optional instructions or context for the assignee

Step 4: Schedule

Fill in the details and click Schedule. The activity now appears in the chatter with a countdown showing how many days remain until it is due.

Assigning Activities to Other Users

You are not limited to scheduling activities for yourself. Use the Assigned to field to delegate tasks to team members. The assignee will see the activity in their personal activity feed.

This is useful for managers who need to distribute follow-up tasks across a sales team without losing visibility.

Managing Scheduled Activities

Once an activity is scheduled, you have three options:

Action	What It Does
Edit	Change the deadline, assignee, or details
Cancel	Remove the activity entirely from the record
Mark Done	Complete the activity, with the option to schedule a follow-up immediately

When you click Mark Done, Odoo gives you three choices:

1. Discard — Cancel the completion if you clicked by mistake
2. Done — Mark it complete and move on
3. Done & Schedule Next — Mark it complete and immediately create a follow-up activity

This chain of activities keeps workflows moving without manual intervention.

Viewing Your Activities

Click the clock icon in the top navigation bar to see all activities assigned to you. This view shows:

• Activities due today
• Activities due in the future

The clock icon only displays your own activities, not those assigned to others. Multiple activities on the same record are grouped together under a single document entry.

Creating Custom Activity Types

The default activity types (Email, Call, Meeting, To Do, Exception) cover common use cases, but you can create your own.

Steps to Create a Custom Activity Type

1. Go to Configuration > Activity Types in any module (e.g., CRM)
2. Click Create
3. Configure the following:
   • Name — The display name for your activity type
   • Category — Optional grouping
   • Default Summary — Pre-filled summary text
   • Days to Complete — Automatic deadline calculation
   • Default Next Activity — Auto-schedule a follow-up when this activity is completed
   • Suggest Next Activities — Offer suggestions rather than auto-scheduling
   • Mail Template — Attach an email template to send automatically

4. Click Save

Custom activity types are available across all modules, so a type created in CRM also appears in Project, Sales, and other apps.

Activities Work Across All Modules

Activities are not limited to CRM. You can schedule them on:

• Project tasks — Track rewrites, reviews, or client follow-ups
• Sales orders — Remind yourself to confirm or follow up
• Invoices — Schedule payment follow-ups
• Any record with a chatter — The activity system is universal

This cross-module consistency means your team uses one system for all task tracking, regardless of which Odoo app they work in.

Best Practices for Using Activities

• Set realistic deadlines — Overdue activities lose their meaning if everything is always late
• Use the "Done & Schedule Next" flow — Build activity chains for multi-step processes
• Assign to the right person — Delegate rather than trying to track everything yourself
• Create custom types for recurring workflows — Save time on repetitive scheduling
• Check the clock icon daily — Make it part of your routine to review due activities

Summary

Odoo activities replace sticky notes and scattered to-do lists with a structured, trackable system built directly into every record. Schedule them in seconds, assign them to team members, chain them together, and create custom types to match your workflows. The clock icon keeps everything visible so nothing falls through the cracks.

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References

• Schedule activities | Odoo Getting Started — Odoo