Einstein Activity Capture API

Einstein Activity Capture API

Use this skill when an org uses Einstein Activity Capture to sync emails and calendar events from Gmail or Outlook, and a developer needs to read that synced data programmatically, query activity metrics, or understand why EAC records are invisible to standard SOQL, triggers, and reports — or why legacy Activity Metrics fields suddenly return null.

Before Starting

Gather this context before working on anything in this domain:

• EAC storage architecture (decide first): Legacy EAC stores synced activity in an external store — SOQL against Task / EmailMessage returns zero rows and syncs do not fire standard object triggers. Sync Email as Salesforce Activity (Summer '25+) writes captured email as standard Task / EmailMessage records queryable with ordinary SOQL and report types. Orgs created — or enabling EAC for the first time — after Summer '25 get this automatically and have no access to the legacy EAC reports; orgs that enabled EAC earlier must opt in. Confirm which model the org uses before writing queries or trigger logic.
• Legacy reporting retirement (Spring '27, February 2027): Activity Metrics, the Activities Dashboard, Recommended Connections, and Activity 360 Reports retire — including UnifiedEmail, UnifiedEmailParticipant, UnifiedMeeting, UnifiedMeetingParticipant, UnifiedTask and UnifiedTaskParticipant. Activity Metrics fields stop populating and custom code referencing them returns null, not an exception. Plan migration to Activities with Accounts / Activities with Opportunities (or Task/EmailMessage SOQL) before the deadline.
• Most common wrong assumption: Developers assume that because emails appear in the Activity Timeline UI, they are queryable via [SELECT Id FROM EmailMessage WHERE ...]. On legacy EAC they are not. On Sync Email as Salesforce Activity they are — the opposite mistake (still querying ActivityMetric only) builds on a retiring surface.
• Supported read surfaces: On legacy EAC, ActivityMetric (aggregate, retiring Spring '27) and, where already provisioned, UnifiedActivity. On Sync Email as Salesforce Activity, standard Task / EmailMessage are the long-term surfaces.
• Read-only by design: ActivityMetric and EAC-managed synthetic objects cannot be written through production Apex DML. Sync Email records follow normal Task/EmailMessage DML rules.

Core Concepts

EAC Data Lives Outside Standard Salesforce Storage (Legacy EAC)

Before Sync Email as Salesforce Activity, synced email and calendar activity resided in a Salesforce-managed external store. The Activity Timeline UI reads from that store using internal APIs, which is why the timeline looks populated even when SOQL returns nothing. Standard objects like Task, Event, and EmailMessage do not contain EAC-originated records in this model. This is not a permission issue — it is a storage architecture boundary.

Sync Email as Salesforce Activity (Summer '25+)

When enabled, captured email syncs into standard Task and EmailMessage records. Auto-captured emails appear in standard activity report types and are visible to ordinary SOQL, flows, and Apex triggers. This is the documented replacement path for legacy Activity Metrics / A360 reporting before the Spring '27 retirement.

ActivityMetric: Legacy Aggregate Surface (Retiring Spring '27)

ActivityMetric holds aggregate engagement counts per Who target (Lead or Contact). It remains queryable on legacy architectures but is on a published retirement path — fields stop populating and references return null ahead of removal. Do not start new designs on Activity Metrics; audit existing Apex, flows, and reports that reference it.

A360 Objects (Retiring Spring '27)

The Activity 360 object family retires with A360 Reports. Salesforce Help enumerates exactly six objects: UnifiedEmail, UnifiedEmailParticipant, UnifiedMeeting, UnifiedMeetingParticipant, UnifiedTask, UnifiedTaskParticipant. Existing A360 report types stop returning data when retired.

UnifiedActivity is not on that published list — it is a separately documented object representing an activity captured from EAC or another source. Treat it as neither confirmed-retiring nor confirmed-safe: it is gated on Activity 360 Reporting having been enabled before Summer '25, so verify availability in the target org rather than assuming either way, and do not start new designs on it.

EAC Reporting Constraints

EAC data is available in a dedicated Einstein Activity Capture report type in the Reports tab, separate from the standard Activities report type. The two report types cannot be joined in a single report. EmailMessage records from EAC cannot be joined with Task or Event in one report type even in Write-Back-enabled orgs because EAC EmailMessage and standard EmailMessage are logically separate. Reports on ActivityMetric are possible through the dedicated EAC report type.

Common Patterns

Querying Activity Engagement Counts via ActivityMetric (legacy EAC only)

When to use: Legacy EAC org that has not migrated, and the goal is aggregate email or meeting counts. Do not start new designs here — Activity Metrics retires Spring '27 and fields return null before removal. For Sync Email as Salesforce Activity, aggregate Task / EmailMessage instead (see Decision Guidance).

How it works: Query ActivityMetric filtering by WhoId (the Lead or Contact ID) and optionally ActivityDate. Aggregate the metric fields your use case needs. Because this is a standard SOQL query the governor limit rules apply normally.

// Fetch last 30 days of email activity counts for a set of contact IDs
Set<Id> contactIds = new Set<Id>{ '003...', '003...' };
Date cutoff = Date.today().addDays(-30);

List<ActivityMetric> metrics = [
    SELECT WhoId, ActivityDate, EmailCount, MeetingCount, EmailOpenCount
    FROM ActivityMetric
    WHERE WhoId IN :contactIds
      AND ActivityDate >= :cutoff
    ORDER BY ActivityDate DESC
];

Map<Id, Integer> emailCountByContact = new Map<Id, Integer>();
for (ActivityMetric m : metrics) {
    Integer current = emailCountByContact.containsKey(m.WhoId)
        ? emailCountByContact.get(m.WhoId) : 0;
    emailCountByContact.put(m.WhoId, current + (Integer) m.EmailCount);
}

Why not the alternative: On legacy EAC, querying Task or EmailMessage for synced data returns empty results. ActivityMetric is the interim aggregate surface there — not a long-term one. On Sync Email as Salesforce Activity, Task / EmailMessage aggregation is the replacement.

Surfacing EAC Data in a Custom Component Without Write-Back (legacy EAC only)

When to use: A Lightning Web Component needs engagement totals for a record on legacy EAC (no Sync Email architecture). Treat this as migration debt.

How it works: Build an Apex controller that queries ActivityMetric filtered to the record's related contacts or leads. Return aggregate totals to the component. Never attempt to query Task WHERE ActivityType = 'Email' expecting EAC records on legacy EAC — that returns empty.

Why not the alternative: The Activity Timeline UI already surfaces raw timeline entries. On Sync Email architecture, query Task / EmailMessage instead of ActivityMetric.

Decision Guidance

Security note for trigger-driven Sync Email designs

The sharing declaration on a trigger is fixed; the outcome of each database operation is not. Do not treat these as two independent axes.

• Declaration (undeclarable): Apex triggers cannot have an explicit sharing declaration. They always run implicitly in a without-sharing context — Trigger.new may include captured email the running user cannot otherwise read.
• Outcome (per operation): Database operations in the trigger body — SOQL, SOSL, DML, Database methods — run in user mode unless system mode is explicitly specified. User mode enforces the running user's sharing rules, FLS, and object permissions, and overrides the trigger's implicit without-sharing context for that operation. Qualify this by apiVersion in .trigger-meta.xml, not by org release: at 67.0+ a bare query already runs in user mode. WITH SYSTEM_MODE / AccessLevel.SYSTEM_MODE opts out — FLS and object permissions are skipped, and record sharing falls back to the trigger's without-sharing context.

Set the access mode explicitly on every query in the trigger and its handler. This is not "triggers always run in system mode", and it is not "sharing and access mode are independent."

Recommended Workflow

Step-by-step instructions for an AI agent or practitioner working on this task:

1. Confirm EAC storage architecture — legacy external store vs Sync Email as Salesforce Activity. Check EAC settings / admin skill; this determines every SOQL and trigger decision.
2. Audit retirement exposure — search Apex, flows, and reports for Activity Metrics fields, A360 / Unified* objects, and Recommended Connections. Run scripts/check_einstein_activity_capture_api.py.
3. Identify required data shape — aggregate (legacy ActivityMetric, retiring) vs individual records (Task / EmailMessage on Sync Email architecture).
4. Write and test SOQL against the confirmed surface — never assume Task/EmailMessage contain EAC data on legacy EAC; never assume ActivityMetric is a long-term surface on Sync Email orgs.
5. Guard against empty results and null metrics — unconnected accounts yield no rows; retiring Activity Metrics yields null without exceptions.
6. Validate in an org with EAC connected accounts — sandboxes often lack live connections.
7. Document architecture assumption — comment which EAC model the code targets.

Review Checklist

Run through these before marking work in this area complete:

• Confirmed legacy vs Sync Email as Salesforce Activity architecture before choosing query surface.
• No new dependencies on Activity Metrics, A360 report types, or Unified* objects without a Spring '27 migration plan.
• Trigger assumptions match architecture (none on legacy EAC; valid Task/EmailMessage triggers on Sync Email — with explicit access mode).
• No production DML against ActivityMetric.
• Report requirements use Activities with Accounts/Opportunities (Sync Email) or documented legacy interim types with retirement date.
• Code handles empty SOQL and null Activity Metrics gracefully.
• Test classes seed ActivityMetric only in @isTest; live validation requires connected accounts.

Salesforce-Specific Gotchas

Non-obvious platform behaviors that cause real production problems:

1. Activity Timeline looks populated but SOQL returns nothing — The timeline UI reads from the EAC external store using internal APIs. SOQL against Task/Event/EmailMessage returns zero EAC rows in standard orgs. These are separate data paths.
2. ActivityMetric is populated per connected account user only — Users who have not connected a Gmail or Outlook account have no ActivityMetric rows. Bulk queries across an entire org will silently skip unconnected users.
3. EAC report types cannot be joined with standard Activities — EmailMessage from EAC and standard EmailMessage records live in separate report type families. Attempting to combine them in one report is not supported.
4. Sandbox EAC behavior does not match production — Sandboxes do not replicate EAC connected account connections. Developers testing EAC queries in sandbox with no connected accounts will always get zero rows.
5. ActivityMetric is read-only in production; DML throws exceptions — DML on ActivityMetric is supported only in @isTest contexts for seeding test data.
6. Activity Metrics null before retirement — fields stop populating ahead of Spring '27 removal; engagement scores built on ActivityMetric silently read as zero.

Official Sources Used

• EAC Activity Metrics, Dashboard, Recommended Connections and A360 Reports Retirement — https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=005384640&language=en_US&type=1 — source for the Spring '27 (February 2027) date, the four retiring features, the six A360 objects, the null-return failure mode, and the Activities with Accounts / Activities with Opportunities replacement path.
• Activity 360 Reporting, Activity Metrics, Activities Dashboard Upcoming Retirement — https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=004633781&language=en_US&type=1 — source for the Summer '25 split: orgs created or enabling EAC after Summer '25 get Sync Email as Salesforce Activity automatically with no access to legacy EAC reports; earlier orgs must opt in.
• UnifiedEmail Object Reference — https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_unifiedemail.htm
• ActivityMetric Object Reference — https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_activitymetric.htm
• Using the with sharing, without sharing, and inherited sharing Keywords — https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_classes_keywords_sharing.htm — "Apex triggers can't have an explicit sharing declaration"; "Triggers always run implicitly in a without sharing context"; "Database operations within trigger bodies ... run in user mode unless system mode is explicitly specified"; "User mode overrides the trigger's without sharing context and effectively enforces a with sharing context in the trigger body." Qualify by apiVersion, not org release.
• Set an Access Mode for Database Operations — https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_classes_enforce_usermode.htm — user-mode database operations always respect sharing; system mode defers sharing to the trigger/class sharing context.

Output Artifacts

Related Skills

• apex/soql-fundamentals — use for general SOQL query optimization and governor limit guidance alongside EAC queries.
• apex/platform-cache — use when ActivityMetric query results should be cached to reduce repeated SOQL calls per page load.
• agentforce/einstein-copilot-for-sales — use when the broader Einstein for Sales feature set (Opportunity Scoring, Pipeline Inspection) is in scope alongside EAC.