Introduction
With the Activity Feed, you can view notifications, tasks and updates in one central place in Workspace 365. This helps you respond faster to information that matters during your workday.
This article is for:
employees who want to manage notifications and updates in Workspace 365;
employees who receive briefing emails;
employees who want to filter or mute Activity Feed notifications;
employees who are responsible for communication, processes or information flows within the organisation.
The Activity Feed can show information from Workspace 365 and from connected third-party applications. Examples include HR systems, TOPdesk, project management tools, CRM systems, Slack, Salesforce, Monday or other applications.
Example: an employee requests leave in an HR system. The team manager receives an activity in the Activity Feed. The team manager can approve or reject the request directly from the activity.
Requirements
Some features require external connections or configuration:
Exchange must be connected for email activities.
The Workspace administrator must enable Enable email activities in the Activity Feed via Integrations > Exchange.
Activities from third-party applications require a connection with that application.
Custom activities through the Activity Feed API require technical knowledge of API connections.
Instructions
Manage notifications
You can choose which information types you see in the Activity Feed.
Open the Activity Feed.
Click the gear icon.
Enable or disable information types.
The Activity Feed can show notifications for these information types:
Information type | Examples |
The Hub | New announcements, comments, replies, mentions, Community posts, event attendance and knowledge articles |
Apps | Newly available apps, scheduled maintenance and user requests |
Birthdays | Birthday notifications, birthday wishes and replies |
Calendar | Calendar events |
Email notifications | |
Folders and files | Moved, copied or shared items |
💡 Email notifications only appear in the Activity Feed when the Workspace administrator has enabled email activities via Integrations > Exchange.
Mute activities
You can mute activities when you no longer want to see specific notifications.
Open the Activity Feed.
Click the three dots on the activity that you want to mute.
Select Mute.
Muted activities are still created. The Activity Feed no longer shows muted activities as active notifications.
Automatically remove email activities
When you read an email on any device, Workspace 365 automatically removes the related email activity from the Activity Feed.
This also applies when you read the email outside Workspace 365.
Use daily or weekly briefing emails
The briefing email gives an overview of activities in Workspace 365. The briefing email can be useful for employees who:
do not use the mobile app;
do not open Workspace 365 every day;
do not start their workday from Workspace 365.
The briefing email can include information about:
new announcements;
colleagues’ birthdays;
newly available apps;
other activities from the digital workplace.
The briefing email uses the Activity Feed settings.
The weekly briefing is sent on Monday morning. The delivery is not based on working days.
Briefing type | Number of items per category |
Daily briefing | 3 items |
Weekly briefing | 5 items |
By default, the weekly briefing email is enabled.
Check or change the time zone
The time zone in the Workspace profile determines when users receive birthday notifications and briefing emails.
Every time a user signs in, Workspace 365 checks:
whether the time zone in the Workspace profile matches the local system settings;
whether the country or region setting matches the selected time zone.
When Set time zone automatically is enabled, Workspace 365 automatically updates the user’s time zone when Workspace 365 detects a mismatch.
When Set time zone automatically is disabled, the user can choose a time zone manually. Workspace 365 then shows a notification when Workspace 365 detects a mismatch.
Use the Activity Feed API
With the Activity Feed API, you can show external information, tasks and notifications in the Activity Feed. You can create custom activities from third-party applications and send these activities to specific users or groups.
With the API, you can:
add actions that users can perform from an activity;
add tags or categories;
group activities;
change colours;
change icons;
show notifications from external systems.
Examples:
show TOPdesk notifications in the Activity Feed;
convert email notifications into activities;
show HR tasks to managers;
show CRM tasks to sales employees.
[Link to documentation]:
Best practices
Use the Activity Feed for notifications that require action from users. This keeps the Activity Feed task-focused.
Enable only the information types that are relevant to your work. This prevents unnecessary notifications.
Use mute for activities that you do not want to see temporarily or permanently.
Check the time zone in Workspace 365 when briefing emails or birthday notifications arrive at the wrong time.
Use the Activity Feed API mainly for notifications that help users act faster. Examples include approvals, service notifications or tasks from external systems.
Limitations
Muted activities are still created. Muting only hides the activity for the user.
The briefing email uses the Activity Feed settings. Disabled information types can therefore affect the content of the briefing email.
The weekly briefing email is sent on Monday morning. The delivery does not take personal working days into account.
Email activities only appear when email activities have been enabled by the Workspace administrator.
Troubleshoot
Briefing email does not arrive
What do you see?
You do not receive a daily or weekly briefing email.
What does this mean?
The email may have been blocked by an anti-phishing policy. The email may also have been placed in quarantine.
What should you do?
Check the quarantine in your email environment.
Check whether an anti-phishing policy blocks the email.
Check whether the briefing email is enabled in Workspace 365.
Contact support when the settings are correct and the email is not blocked.
Email notifications do not appear in the Activity Feed
What do you see?
You do not see email activities in the Activity Feed.
What does this mean?
Email activities may not be enabled. The Exchange integration may also be missing or may not work correctly.
What should you do?
Check whether Exchange is connected.
Check whether Enable email activities in the Activity Feed is enabled via Integrations > Exchange.
Check whether email notifications are enabled in the Activity Feed settings.
Notifications arrive at the wrong time
What do you see?
Birthday notifications or briefing emails arrive at an unexpected time.
What does this mean?
The time zone in the Workspace profile may not match the local system settings.
What should you do?
Open your Workspace profile.
Check the selected time zone.
Enable Set time zone automatically when Workspace 365 should update the time zone automatically.
Change the time zone manually when you want to use a custom time zone.
A muted activity is still created
What do you see?
An activity that you muted still exists.
What does this mean?
Muting does not delete activities. Workspace 365 still creates the activity.
What should you do?
You do not need to do anything. Muting only prevents the activity from remaining visible as a notification.
Glossary
Term | Meaning |
Activity Feed | The place in Workspace 365 where notifications, tasks and updates come together. |
Activity Feed API | A technical connection that allows external systems to show activities in Workspace 365. |
API | A technical way for systems to exchange data. |
Information type | A notification category in the Activity Feed, such as email, calendar or birthdays. |
Briefing email | A daily or weekly email with an overview of activities in Workspace 365. |
Mute | Hide an activity as a visible notification without deleting the activity. |
Exchange | The Microsoft service that makes email and calendar information available. |