Activity Designer
The Activity Designer controls how activities are grouped in the Activities tab of the dashboard overview panel. Out of the box, Aeon automatically buckets activities by their activity type (Class, Tour, Exhibit, and so on), so most sites never need to touch this. You open the Activity Designer only when that automatic grouping isn't how you want staff to see activities — for example, you'd rather group by department, by semester, or by team rather than by type, or you want a handful of high-traffic activities pulled into a category of their own at the top.
This is a layout tool, not an activity editor. Nothing you do here changes an activity's data, status, or requests — it only changes the headings activities are displayed under and the order they appear in. To change the fields on an activity, use the Form Designer (Activity Form) instead; to change activity records themselves, open the activity.
- You want activities grouped by something other than their type — by department, location, term, or your own scheme.
- You want certain activities surfaced in a named category at the top of the Activities list (for example, "Active Exhibits").
- You're an administrator or customizer setting up how the dashboard reads for your reading-room staff.
The categories you build here drive the Activities tab inside the dashboard's overview panel (the same card that lists queues). Staff see your categories as collapsible headings with an activity count beside each one. Viewing that panel requires the View level (or higher) of the Activities permission, so staff with no activities access won't see it at all.
Opening the Activity Designer
- Open the Customization Manager from the main navigation.
- In the Designers group, select Activity Designer.
The page opens with a toolbar across the top (template selector and Save controls) and the layout canvas below it, where your categories and activities are listed.
The Activity Designer lives under the Designers configuration group. You can only open it and save changes if your role grants the Designers configuration capability. If your role doesn't include it, the Activity Designer won't appear in the Customization Manager. See Editing a Role: Configuration Capabilities for how that access is granted.
Working with templates
Activity layouts are saved as named templates, so you can keep more than one arrangement and assign different ones to different roles. The toolbar at the top of the page manages them.
- Template selector — the dropdown on the left shows every saved activity layout template. The one currently in effect for new staff carries a small default badge.
- Template actions menu — the ⋯ button next to the selector opens a menu with New Template, Duplicate, Rename, Set as Default, and Delete.
Creating a template
- Click the ⋯ menu and choose New Template.
- In the New Template dialog, enter a name (for example,
By Department) and click Create. - The new template opens on the canvas, seeded from the built-in default layout, ready for you to arrange.
Duplicating a template
To start from an arrangement you've already built rather than from scratch:
- Select the template you want to copy in the dropdown.
- Open the ⋯ menu and choose Duplicate.
- The dialog pre-fills the name as
<name> (Copy); adjust it if you like and click Duplicate.
Renaming, setting the default, and deleting
- Rename — open the ⋯ menu, choose Rename, edit the name, and confirm.
- Set as Default — makes the selected template the one applied by default. This option is disabled when the selected template is already the default.
- Delete — removes the selected template after a confirmation prompt.
The delete confirmation reads: "This will also remove any role assignments that reference this template." If a role was pointed at the template you're deleting, that role falls back to the default layout. Deletion can't be undone.
Building your categories
The canvas lists each category as a collapsible group, with the activities inside it underneath. Drag-and-drop is how you arrange everything.
Adding a category
- Click Add Category at the top right of the canvas.
- A new group named New Category appears at the top with its name ready to edit — type the name you want (for example,
Spring 2026 Classes) and press Enter.
Moving activities into a category
- Find the activity you want to move — either in another category or under the Uncategorized divider at the bottom.
- Drag it by its handle and drop it onto the target category. While a category is empty it shows a Drop activities here placeholder so you can see where items land.
- Drop an activity onto another activity to position it precisely within that category; the order you arrange them in is the order staff see.
Any activity that isn't placed in one of your categories collects under an Uncategorized heading at the bottom of the canvas. That's normal — it just means those activities haven't been assigned a home yet. Drag them into a category whenever you're ready.
Reordering, renaming, collapsing, and deleting categories
Each category header has its own controls:
- Reorder — drag the category by its grip handle to move it up or down. Category order on the canvas is the order staff see on the dashboard.
- Rename — click the pencil icon, edit the name, and press Enter (or click the check). Press Escape to cancel.
- Collapse / expand — click the chevron to fold a category closed. The collapsed state is saved, so a category you fold here starts folded for staff too.
- Delete — click the trash icon to remove the category. The activities that were in it aren't deleted; they move back to Uncategorized.
If you leave the layout in its default state, Aeon fills the Activities panel automatically by grouping activities under a heading for each activity type, and it keeps those groups current as activities are added, retyped, or removed. Once you drag an activity into a category yourself, Aeon treats that as a deliberate choice and leaves it where you put it. So you can let the automatic type grouping handle most activities and still pin a few into custom categories of your own.
Saving your changes
The right side of the toolbar shows the current state — Saved, Unsaved, or Saving... while a save is in progress.
- Make your changes on the canvas.
- Click Save. The status returns to Saved once it completes.
To throw away unsaved edits and return to the last saved version, click the discard (circular-arrow) button next to Save, which appears whenever you have unsaved changes.
If you pick a different template in the dropdown while you have unsaved edits, Aeon asks "You have unsaved changes. Discard and switch templates?" Choosing to switch discards the edits on the current template. Save first if you want to keep them.
A few things an SME should confirm on this page:
- Default grouping field: the code groups activities by
activityType("Class," "Tour," etc.). Confirm "activity type" is the right customer-facing term and the example types are realistic. - Templates vs. live default: the page edits named layout templates (assignable per role) while the dashboard reads an activity layout that auto-reconciles by type. Confirm this two-path behavior is intended and that "Set as Default" is what staff without a role-specific assignment receive.
- Screenshots needed: (1) the Activity Designer canvas with a couple of custom categories and the Uncategorized divider; (2) the template actions (⋯) menu open.
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