📩 Learning 6 - Understanding JobIDs in SFMC Journey Email Sends

Recently, while walking one of my team members through the value of Query Studio, I stumbled upon something interesting - and a bit puzzling.

We were exploring how to use SQL to pull JobIDs from the _Sent data view using a TriggerSendDefinitionObjectID. It was meant to be a quick demo to highlight how useful Query Studio is in day-to-day Marketing Cloud work.

But the result surprised me:

Two JobIDs were returned for a single send.

Naturally, I wasn’t convinced and had to dig deeper.

🚧 Seeking Answers - First Stop: Salesforce Support

Confused by the two JobIDs, I initiated a chat with Salesforce Support. The response was unexpected but insightful:

"An Email Activity is assigned one JobID when it is added to the Journey (while in draft), and another one after the Journey is activated."

I asked if there was official documentation.

Answer: No. They acknowledged it’s not documented on Salesforce Help.

🧪 Challenge Accepted - Testing It Myself

At my manager’s suggestion, I decided to verify it firsthand with a quick test.

🧱 Test Setup

I created:

• A dummy email
• A data extension with one test record (my own email)
• A simple journey to send the email

Then I ran four different scenarios.

🔍 Scenario 1: Add Email to Journey Canvas (Draft)

JobID created? → NO

I confirmed this using SQL queries on _Job and _Sent.

Nothing showed up when the email was merely added to the journey canvas.

🔍 Scenario 2: Validate and Test Journey (Still in Draft)

JobID created? → NO

Validation and test sends from the Journey (in draft mode) didn’t generate any JobIDs.

🔍 Scenario 3: Preview and Test Email Activity (Still in Draft)

JobID created? → NO

Even when testing directly from the email activity, no JobID was recorded.

🔍 Scenario 4: Activate the Journey and Send

JobIDs created? → YES - Two

As soon as the journey was activated and the send occurred:

• Two JobIDs appeared in the _Job data view:
  • One with null pickup time
  • One with a valid pickup time (indicating the actual send)

💡 Bonus Insight from the Community

During my second support interaction, the agent referred me to an external blog by Nobuyuki Watanabe.

His post explained this behavior clearly, with real SQL examples that validated my observations. Huge thanks to him for sharing such valuable insights!

👉 Read his article here

SFMC Tips #40 : How to Check the Job ID in Journey Builder

Have you ever wondered where to find the “Job ID” assigned to email sends in Salesforce Marketing Cloud? For emails sent from Email Studio…

MediumNobuyuki Watanabe marketingcloudtips

Also referencing:
👉 Salesforce Help Article (not very clear on the below, feedback submitted)

Help And Training Community

Salesforce

📌 Takeaways for SFMC Practitioners

• Simply adding or testing an Email Activity in a Journey does not generate a JobID.
• A JobID is only created when the Journey is activated and an email is actually sent.
• You might see two JobIDs:
  • One is likely a placeholder with null Pickup time; and
  • The other represents the actual delivery job with a valid Pickup time.

🧭 Conclusion

This small investigation turned into a valuable learning moment. It reminded me how powerful Query Studio can be in surfacing unexpected insights — and the importance of testing and validating assumptions in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

If you're ever unsure, don't hesitate to experiment, reach out to Salesforce Support, or tap into the SFMC community. That’s where the real learning happens.

Note - these are just my observations and the official help documentation should always be referenced for accurate information.

I hope you found these insights and resources helpful. If you have any questions or want to share your own learnings, feel free to leave a comment below!