Your Inbox

Last update: March 5, 2025

CREATED FOR:

  • User
  • Admin
  • Developer

You can receive notifications from various areas of AEM, including workflows and projects; for example, about:

  • Tasks:

    • these can also be created at various points within the AEM UI, for example, under Projects,
    • these can be the product of a workflow Create Task or Create Project Task step.

  • Workflows:

    • work items that represent actions that you need to perform on page content;

      • these are the product of workflow Participant steps

    • failure items, to allow administrators to retry the failed step.

You receive these notifications in your own Inbox where you can view them and take action.

NOTE
Out-of-the-box AEM comes pre-loaded with administrative tasks assigned to the administrator user group. See Out-of-the-Box Administrative Tasks for details.
NOTE
For further information about the item types see also:

Inbox in the Header

From any of the consoles the current number of items in your inbox is shown in the header. The indicator can also be opened to provide either quick access to the pages that require actions or access to the inbox:

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NOTE
Certain actions will also be shown in the card view of the appropriate resource.

Out-of-the-Box Administrative Tasks

Out-of-the-box AEM comes pre-loaded with four tasks assigned to the administrator user group.

Opening the Inbox

To open the AEM notification inbox:

  1. Click on the indicator in the toolbar.

  2. Select View all. The AEM Inbox opens. The inbox shows items from workflows, projects and tasks.

  3. The default view is List View, but you can also switch to Calendar View. This is done with the view selector (toolbar, top right).

    For both views you can also define View Settings; the options available are dependent on the current view.

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NOTE
The Inbox operates as a console, so use Global Navigation or Search to navigate to another location when you are finished.

Inbox - List View

This view lists all items, together with key relevant information:

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Inbox - Calendar View

This view presents items according to their position in the calendar and the precise view you have selected:

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You can:

  • select a specific view; Timeline, Column, List

  • specify the tasks to display according to Schedule; All, Planned, In Progress, Due Soon, Past Due

  • drill down for more detailed information on an item

  • select a date range to focus the view:

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Inbox - Settings

For both views (List and Calendar) you can define settings:

  • Calendar View

    For Calendar View you can configure:

    • Group by
    • Schedule or None
    • Card size

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  • List View

    For List View you can configure the sort mechanism:

    • Sort Field
    • Sort Order

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Inbox - Admin Control

The Admin Control option enables the administrators to:

  • Customize the AEM Inbox columns

  • Customize header text and logo

  • Control the display of navigation links available in header

The Admin Control option is visible only to the members of the administrators or workflow-administrators group.

  • Column Customization: Customize an AEM Inbox to change the default title of a column, reorder the position of a column, and display additional columns based on the data of a workflow.

    • Add Column: Select a column to add in AEM Inbox.
    • Edit Column: Hover the mouse over the column title and select edit icon to enter a column display name.
    • Delete Column: Select the delete icon to delete the column from AEM Inbox.
    • Move Column: Drag the move icon to move a column to a new position in AEM Inbox.

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  • Branding Customization

    • Customize header text: Specify the text to display in the header to replace the default Adobe Experience Manager text.

    • Customize Logo: Specify the image to display in the header as logo. Upload an image in Digital Asset Management (DAM) and refer to that image in the field.

  • User Navigation

    • Hide navigation options: Select this option to hide navigation options available in the header. The navigation options include links to other solutions, Help link, and the authoring options available on tapping Adobe Experience Manager logo or text.

  • Save: Click this option to save the settings.

Taking Action on an Item

NOTE
Although it is possible to select more than one item, actions can only be taken on one item at a time.

  1. To take an action on an item, select the thumbnail for the appropriate item. Icons for the actions that are applicable to that item are shown in the toolbar:

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    The actions are appropriate to the item and include:

    • Complete action; for example, a task or workflow item.

    • Re-assign/Delegate an item.

    • Open an item; depending on the item type this action can:

      • show the item properties
      • open an appropriate dashboard or wizard for further action
      • open related documentation

    • Step back to a previous step.

    • View the payload for a workflow.

    • Create a project from the item.

    NOTE
    For further information see:

  2. Depending on the item selected an action will be started; for example:

    • a dialog appropriate to the action will be opened.
    • an action wizard will be started.
    • a documentation page will be opened.

    For example, Re-assign opens a dialog:

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    Depending on whether a dialog, wizard, documentation page has been opened you can:

    • Confirm the appropriate action; for example, Re-assign.
    • Cancel the action.
    • Back arrow; for example, if an action wizard or documentation page has been opened, you can return to the Inbox.

Creating a Task

From the inbox you can create tasks:

  1. Select Create, then Task.

  2. Complete the necessary fields in the Basic and Advanced tabs; only the Title is mandatory, all others are optional:

    • Basic:

      • Title
      • Project
      • Assignee
      • Content; similar to Payload, this is a reference from the task to a location in the repository
      • Description
      • Task Priority
      • Start Date
      • Due Date

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    • Advanced

      • Name: this is used to form the URL; if blank it will be based on the Title.

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  3. Select Submit.

Creating a Project

For certain tasks you can create a Project based on that task:

  1. Select the appropriate task, by tapping/clicking on the thumbnail.

    NOTE
    Only tasks created using the Create option of the Inbox can be used to create a project.
    Workitems (from a workflow) cannot be used to create a project.

  2. Select Create Project from the toolbar to open the wizard.

  3. Select the appropriate template, then Next.

  4. Specify the required properties:

    • Basic

      • Title
      • Description
      • Start Date
      • Due Date
      • User and role

    • Advanced

      • Name
    NOTE
    See Creating a Project for full information.

  5. Select Create to confirm the action.