Why a workflow didn't run, and other problems

When a workflow does not do what you expected, the answer is almost always in one of four places: its status, its trigger, its steps, or the account-wide pause. Check them in this order.

Before you start

• The name of the workflow and of one person it should have run for.

Steps

1. Go to Automations › Workflows and find the workflow. Check its Status is Running, not Draft or Paused.
2. Open it. In the header, check the step count has no "not ready" steps.
3. Click the Starts when box and read the trigger and its options. Compare them with what actually happened to the person: the exact tag, the funnel, the stage, the campaign.
4. Click Explain and read the run back in plain words. It often shows the mistake at once, such as "Nothing starts this run yet".
5. Scroll to Runs. Find the person and read Where and Next.
6. Go to Automations › Settings and check the page does not say "Paused right now. Nothing is going out."

What happens next

Once you have fixed the cause, new triggers start runs as normal. A workflow does not go back and start for things that happened while it was off. To catch up the people it missed, use Add people in the workflow, or tick them on Contacts and use Trigger automation.

Troubleshooting

The workflow didn't start for somebody. - It was a Draft or Paused when their trigger happened. Drafts never fire. - The trigger's options did not match: a different tag, a different funnel in From, or a stage other than the one chosen. - They were already on this run. Somebody already on it is not started again.

The emails were not sent. - The email step is not ready: "No subject yet." or "Nothing written yet." Open it and finish it. - The person has no email address, so their email steps are skipped one by one (text steps still run). - The person has unsubscribed. They are taken off every workflow, and their run shows Stopped. - An earlier Unsubscribe them step, in this or another workflow, took them off every sequence. - Your sending domain is not set up under Settings › Channels, so mail is going from a shared address and may be in spam.

The texts or WhatsApp messages were not sent. Until a number is connected under Settings › Channels, text and WhatsApp steps are skipped and the run carries on. The person also needs a phone number and must not have opted out. A WhatsApp message outside 24 hours of their last message may not be delivered.

Somebody is stuck on a wait. - Check Next in Runs. The gap on each step counts from the step before it, not from when they joined, so the waits add up. - Steps go out in a sweep every five minutes, so a step can arrive a few minutes after its time. - The workflow is Paused, or Pause everything for a while is active. Nobody moves on until it ends; then they carry on where they were.

Somebody got the same email twice. Two workflows share the same trigger, or the person is on a workflow and a separate sequence with the same email. Pause or change one.

A step failed and nobody told me. A failed step is not tried again: the person moves on to the next step, so they miss that one. Add your email under When a step fails in Automations › Settings to be told. Without an address, failures are only in the log.

A partner step did nothing. Make them a partner is skipped when your partner program is off or the person has no email address. Change their partner status does nothing for somebody who is not a partner.

Run an agent did nothing. The agent is paused or turned off. Only agents that are turned on can act. Check it under AI Agents › Workflow agents, where every step an agent takes is written down.

Related

• What a workflow is and how it runs
• See who went through a workflow
• Every workflow trigger explained
• Change automation settings