Change automation settings

Three settings apply to every workflow in your account at once: who is told when a step fails, a window when nothing runs at all, and whether the "What do you want to automate?" box is offered.

Before you start

• Nothing. The settings are ready to change.

Steps

1. Go to Automations and open the Settings tab.
2. Under When a step fails, type an email address and click Add. Add up to ten. Remove one with the cross beside it.
3. Under Pause everything for a while, set From and Until to hold every workflow for a stretch, for example over Christmas. Times are in your own timezone, and the window can be at most 31 days. Click Clear to remove a pause.
4. Under AI builder, tick or untick Offer the AI builder.
5. Click Save. A message says "Saved". If nothing was changed, the page says "Nothing changed."

What happens next

• When a step fails: a step that could not run, such as a webhook that did not answer or a notification that would not send, is counted on every sweep. Each address you added gets an alert. With no addresses, failures are only in the log.
• Pause everything for a while: between the two times, no step runs. No email, no text, no tag, no webhook. People still join runs, and everyone picks up where they were when the pause ends; no step is skipped. While it is active, the page says "Paused right now. Nothing is going out."
• AI builder: when unticked, the What do you want to automate? box and the Describe it to AI option disappear from the Workflows tab. Your team can still start from scratch or from a template.

For example, Wick & Ember Candle Co. closes between Christmas Eve and 2 January. A pause from 24 December 17:00 until 2 January 09:00 stops every reminder and follow-up, and they all carry on from the morning of the 2nd.

For agencies

Settings belong to one account. To change them for a client, open the client with Sub-accounts › Open first.

Troubleshooting

Saving says "The pause needs a start and an end, in that order, no more than 31 days apart." Set both From and Until, with Until after From, and no more than 31 days between them. For a longer break, set a second pause when the first ends.

The pause did not start when I expected. Times are read in your own timezone, the one your computer is set to. Check the date as well as the hour.

No alert arrived, but a step failed. Check the list under When a step fails has at least one address and that you clicked Save. Alerts come after a sweep, not the instant a step fails.

Nobody is moving on in any workflow. Look for "Paused right now. Nothing is going out." on this page. If it is there, everything is held until the pause ends.

The AI box has vanished from Workflows. Someone unticked Offer the AI builder. Tick it and click Save.

Related

• What a workflow is and how it runs
• Create a workflow by describing it
• Why a workflow didn't run, and other problems