The Opportunity Timeline
The whole story of an opportunity in one place: a description you keep current, notes you write, the history PrimeTask records, and every activity linked to it.
Open any opportunity and the largest part of the page is Notes and history. It has two views, and one switch between them:
- Description answers where does this stand right now? One piece of text you keep current
- Timeline answers how did it get here? Dated entries that build up as the sale progresses
Both are part of the Pro tier, alongside the rest of PrimeCRM. To use them, upgrade from License Settings.
Two different things, deliberately
The description is a standing summary you rewrite as the situation changes. Notes are a record you add to and do not go back and rewrite. A sale that has been running for months has one description and many notes.
What you can do
Keep a current summary
of where the sale stands, in your own words
Write dated entries
as things happen, and mark what kind of entry each one is
Mention people, companies and tasks
so anyone reading can jump straight to them
Reply to an entry
quoting what you are replying to
Pin what matters
so it sits above everything else
Search and filter
a long history down to what you are looking for
See what PrimeTask recorded for you
including how the sale was created and every time it changed hands or state
See every call, email, meeting, demo and proposal
attached to the sale, in date order alongside your own notes
The description
Choose Description and write where the sale stands. If it is empty, the page invites you to fill it in.
You can mention a person, a contact or a company here, and the mention becomes a link a reader can follow. Formatting works the same as in notes.
The description is also what the board card shows underneath the sale's name, so keeping it current means the board reads properly without opening anything.
The timeline
Writing an entry
Type into the box at the top of the timeline. Each entry can be marked as one of five kinds, so a reader can tell at a glance what they are looking at:
| Kind | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Note | Anything worth recording |
| Update | Progress since last time |
| Decision | Something that was agreed and should not be relitigated |
| Blocker | Something stopping the sale moving |
| Reference | A link or a pointer to material elsewhere |
Entries support the same writing tools as task comments: headings, lists, tables, checklists, callouts and attachments.
Mentions
Type @ to mention a person in your space, a contact, or a company. Mentioning a task links to it too. Each mention becomes a chip a reader can click to go straight there.
Mentions here are for reading, not linking
Mentioning a contact on the timeline does not attach them to the sale, and does not put anything on their record. It is a link for whoever reads the entry. To actually attach someone to the sale, use People and companies on the same page. See Opportunities.
You cannot mention another opportunity from here. That is deliberate rather than missing.
Mentioning someone in your space tells them
In a shared space, mentioning a member does more than link to them. When the note reaches their machine, they get a notification naming you and the sale it was written on, and opening it takes them to the note. This is how a pipeline becomes something a team works on together rather than something one person keeps to themselves, and it behaves the same way Task Comments already do.
Only the person you name is told. Everyone else in the space sees the note when they open the sale, without being interrupted by it.
Three things deliberately never notify anyone:
- Your own notes coming back to you. A note you wrote on another machine arrives quietly.
- Automatic entries. Stage changes, state changes and pipeline moves are recorded, not announced.
- A space with only you in it. There is nobody to tell.
Sharing a Space with people carries everything
On a Space shared over File Sync, timeline notes travel to every member automatically along with the rest of the workspace. There is nothing to switch on. See File Sync Collaboration. Linking one Space to another Space works differently: there you tick which collections flow across, and Opportunity Notes is its own tick box, separate from Opportunities. That lets you pass a pipeline to another Space without the internal commentary written on it. See Space Sharing Between Spaces.
Replying, pinning and organising
- Reply to an entry and the entry you are replying to is quoted above your answer
- Pin an entry and it sits above the feed, so it is there without scrolling
- Bookmark an entry to find it again later
- Entries are grouped by day, with Today and Yesterday named
Editing and deleting
You can edit and delete the entries you wrote. A space owner or admin can also act on anyone's, so a shared space cannot fill with entries nobody is able to remove.
Deleting a note cannot be undone
It is removed from the timeline on every machine you use. If you only want it out of the way, unpin it or leave it where it is.
Finding things in a long history
Search the timeline, and filter by kind, by status, by whether an entry is pinned, bookmarked or has an attachment.
While a filter is on, a System control appears. Turn it on to keep the automatic entries visible alongside your filtered notes, rather than only seeing what you wrote.
Focus mode
A long history is easier to read at full size. The expand control gives the timeline the whole page, and collapses back when you are done.
What PrimeTask records for you
Some entries appear on the timeline without anyone writing them.
Where the sale came from
Every opportunity opens with how it began: created directly, or created from the call, email, meeting, demo or proposal it grew out of. When it came from an activity, the entry links to that activity.
This never changes. It is where the sale started, and it stays true however the sale ends.
State changes
Every time the sale is won, lost, put on hold or reopened, the timeline records it, along with the reason you gave and the date. That is what makes a closed sale still worth reading months later.
Moving between pipelines
Moving a sale to a different pipeline is recorded too, so a sale that changed sales process does not look as though it was always where it is now.
Linked activities
Every call, email, meeting, demo and proposal attached to the sale appears here in date order, mixed in with your own notes, so the whole story reads in sequence. Opening one opens the activity itself. See Activities and Opportunities.
Proposals also get their own short summary further down the page, so what you have offered is readable without scrolling the history.
Removing an automatic entry
Automatic entries can be taken off the timeline if they are not useful to you. Doing so changes nothing about the sale: its current state stays exactly as it is, and any replies to that entry keep their quoted text.
Removing a linked activity unlinks it, it does not delete it
The activity is kept. It stays on its contact, on its company and on the Deal Pipeline, and you can link it back to the sale at any time.
Things worth knowing
The timeline keeps itself current
Notes written on another machine, by a teammate in a shared space, or by an AI agent appear without you reloading the page. Anything half-written in the box stays where it is.
An unreadable timeline says so
If the history cannot be read, the page tells you and says nothing has been lost. It never shows an empty timeline in that situation, because empty and unreadable are different things and confusing them would suggest your notes had been deleted.
Notes belong to the opportunity
They are part of the sale, not of a contact or a project. Deleting the opportunity deletes its notes with it. If you want the record kept, mark the sale Lost instead of deleting it. See Opportunities.
These are not task comments
They look and behave the same, deliberately, but they are a separate record on a separate thing. Comments on a task live with that task. See Task Comments.
Common questions
"Should I write in the description or add a note?"
Write in the description if you are answering where does this stand now, and expect to rewrite it later. Add a note if you are recording what just happened, and expect it to stay true.
"I mentioned a contact. Are they on the sale now?"
No. A mention is a link for the reader. To attach someone to the sale, use People and companies on the opportunity's page, which is also where you record what part each person plays.
"Can I mention another opportunity?"
Not currently. Mentions cover people, contacts, companies and tasks.
"Someone else wrote a note. Can I edit it?"
You can edit and delete your own. In a shared space, owners and admins can act on anyone's.
"I removed an automatic entry. Did that change the sale?"
No. Removing one takes it off the timeline and nothing else. The sale's stage, state and value are untouched.
"Why is a call showing on my timeline that I did not add here?"
Because it is attached to this sale. Activities linked to an opportunity appear on its timeline automatically. Removing it here unlinks it from the sale and keeps the activity itself.
Where to go next
| If you want to… | Read this |
|---|---|
| Work the board and manage sales | Opportunities |
| Attach a call, email, meeting, demo or proposal | Activities and Opportunities |
| Set up pipelines, stages, categories and roles | Opportunity Settings |
| Discuss a task with the same tools | Task Comments |
| Understand how CRM records link to each other | CRM Connections and Backlinks |