Salesforce Activity Sync — Test Run should indicate when related-object filters aren't reflected in the count
Problem:
When setting up a Salesforce Activity Sync job (Administration > Timeline > Integrations) that uses a related-object filter (e.g., a lookup object with its own filter condition), the Test Run count can be wildly inflated compared to what actually syncs on the real run — with zero indication in the UI as to why.
Example we hit:
- Job filters: Task Filter (Type = Email, Created Date >= 1/1/2026) + Related Object filter (a custom object's status field IN 5 specific values)
- Test Run: ~30,000 matching records
- Real run: only 910 synced
- Activity log showed 910 successes, 0 failures — no skip reasons for the other ~29,000, since those records were excluded before processing even began
Root cause (confirmed by Gainsight Support):
Test Run only evaluates the base Task Filter layer. It does not apply related-object joins or any filter conditions on those related objects. The real run applies both layers (Task Filter, then join + related-object filter), so only records passing both actually sync. This is expected/by-design behavior today, not a bug — but the gap is invisible until after the real run completes.
Feature request:
Test Run should either:
- Apply related-object filters so the count is a true preview of what will sync, or
- If that's not feasible, surface a clear UI indicator/warning when a job has related-object filters that aren't factored into the Test Run count, so admins aren't caught off guard by a large discrepancy between test and real run volumes.
Why it matters:
Without this, admins have no reliable way to validate sync scope before running a job live, especially on large orgs where a 30x+ discrepancy can go unnoticed until data is already in Timeline (or conspicuously absent from it).