Rehearse and control a workflow

A workflow is a saved sequence for a lead. Open Automations, arrange the steps and save the draft. Published versions remain separate from later edits and from runs already in progress.

Simulate the saved version

Use Rehearse before activation to enter sample contact details, tags and answers. The preview shows the selected branch, elapsed waits, rendered text, proposed recipient and work awaiting review. Try representative answers for other branches too: one example does not demonstrate every path.

Simulation saves a private preview receipt. It creates no client, task, personal form link, email, payment or provider request. Placeholder form links in the preview cannot be opened. A missing answer or merge field stops that sample path visibly instead of guessing.

Review the trace and approve the exact revision. The approval receipt expires after 24 hours and cannot activate another workspace or a changed draft. Existing runs keep their original published version. Enabling an older version without a simulation requires a fresh reviewed publication.

Start a deliberate run

Choose the lead under the active workflow. The request pins the published revision you reviewed. A workflow can create private task artifacts, email drafts, unsigned contract drafts and personal form requests. Those drafts keep their own review actions. Only a configured Queue email automatically step can enqueue an email without a separate per-message approval; its automatic-message permission is part of the published version.

A queued automatic email puts the run into Waiting delivery. Here the name refers to waiting for the send outcome: the next step proceeds after provider acceptance or an authoritative delivered callback. Sent does not prove the recipient received or read the message. Email provider activation is still a separate deployment gate.

Pause, resume or skip

Each control requires a reason and checks the current run revision. Its durable history records the action, prior and resulting state, step and time. Retrying the same request does not apply it again. If another operator or worker changed the run, reload and review before continuing.

Pause this run leaves unsent work available for later review. A send already claimed may still finish; pausing cannot recall it. Resume continues the same saved version. An elapsed-hours wait keeps its original deadline, so a deadline that passed during a pause may continue immediately.

Pause first to Skip unexecuted step. A delay or local draft/task/form step can be skipped only before it creates an artifact. External email steps, branch decisions and unknown delivery outcomes cannot be skipped. Cancelling stops remaining work and keeps its history; it does not delete already-created drafts or retract an accepted email.

Resolve a hold without inventing an outcome

A missing conditional answer creates an information hold. Supply only the reviewed answer for that held condition, using a JSON string, number or boolean. Missing record details can be corrected in the lead before resuming. An initially absent email requires an explicit review of the current contact address. An already-pinned recipient cannot be changed inside the run; prepare a separately reviewed run instead.

An uncertain or failed email creates a delivery hold. Resuming never creates a replacement email. Check the original provider record and recovery path; the run can continue only after authoritative recovery confirms the original send outcome. A permanent rejection may require cancelling the remaining run and preparing a new reviewed communication. Never mark an unknown message as delivered merely to clear a queue.

Choose stop rules deliberately

A version can stop after an authenticated reply, a closed lead, a newly booked appointment or a newly recorded project payment. These rules are checked again before automatic email dispatch. A booking or payment that predates the run does not stop the new run. Historical legacy payment flags are not treated as a fresh receipt.

For selected event, appointment, fully signed agreement or payment dates, add a date-relative wait. Explicit approval checkpoints and pipeline stage actions are also available; see Workflow dates and approval checkpoints. The builder also supports condition waits, reviewed SMS steps, selectable proposal drafts and private team notices. Project-client enrollment is described in Project client workflows. Archived or merged contacts stop remaining work regardless of the optional stop rules.

Pause all business automation together

Workspace owners and administrators can use Automations → Review workspace pause. Review the current active runs, pending workflow emails/texts and inquiry follow-ups, enter a reason, and approve the control. A revision and content hash protect the reviewed scope; if pending work changes, refresh the review before deciding. The same command recovers an interrupted save without recording a second decision.

The workspace switch prevents new workflow steps, workflow email/text dispatch admission, and legacy inquiry follow-up progression. It keeps each run’s original publication, cursor, deadline and individual status. Events and new enrollments can still be retained while paused; their steps wait. The switch is independent of provider activation and spending limits.

Reply, booking, payment, archived-contact and changed-date checks continue. For example, a reply received during a pause can cancel an applicable follow-up; resuming the workspace does not revive it. A newly confirmed mini-session place also satisfies a configured booking stop, including when its initial paid/paperwork hold existed before the workflow started.

Review workspace resume before enabling execution again. Due and overdue work may continue immediately after its current authority and stop checks. Deadlines are not shifted by the time paused. Individually paused, failed, missing-information, approval-gated or uncertain-delivery runs keep their own recovery requirements. An SMS held during a pause needs its original delivery review; it is not silently replaced with a new send.

A pause cannot recall work already admitted or handed to a provider. Such work can finish and its original delivery receipts continue to be reconciled. The switch does not pause manually composed conversations, wedding-day coordination, scheduled invoice collection, signatures, or other independent operational services. Use their own controls when needed.

Recent control decisions retain the approving account, reason, revision and reviewed counts. The named-account /api/v1/workflows/control interface returns the same review and accepts the same approved change. Workspace API keys cannot impersonate the administrator.

Start from a complete routine

The Starter library includes eleven editable routines: inquiry welcome, consultation preparation and follow-up, booking handoff, client onboarding, final-month planning, session preparation, vendor readiness, gallery delivery, reviews and referrals. Filter by Book, Prepare, Deliver or Grow, or search for your specialty.

Choose Make this workflow yours to open an unsaved draft. Read its setup notes, customize the copy and save it. Every starter begins with a manual trigger, no automatic email permission and no recipient enrollment. Choosing or saving a starter does not send messages. Date-based routines use your workspace timezone; verify the event or selected appointment before starting. A project routine does not stop simply because an acquisition lead was marked won.

Open individual step panels to edit without scrolling through every field at once. Double-click a canvas step, or press Enter while it has keyboard focus, to open its corresponding editor. Source versions, simulations, publishing and existing-run isolation work exactly as they do for a workflow built from scratch.

Wait for work to finish, not merely to exist

Add Wait for earlier work to finish and select a previous task, email draft, form request or document draft. That source must be reached on every branch before the wait; a future step or a step that another branch skips is rejected.

A task must actually be marked complete. An unsigned document draft must actually be saved; this does not mean it was signed. An email or form invitation must have its original provider send receipt. A draft, a queued email and a message with an unknown outcome cannot start a follow-up clock. The wait never sends a message or creates a replacement.

For example, A warm first hello prepares a personal welcome, waits while you review and send it, waits for the original send receipt, and only then starts its 48-hour follow-up delay. The next check normally happens within a minute when the workflow worker is active. Sending remains subject to provider setup, workspace pause, recipient checks and the saved stop rules. Simulation shows the assumed continuation explicitly; it does not pretend to know how long a real human review will take.

A dismissed source holds for information. An unavailable, failed, uncertain or cancelled original email holds for delivery review. Use the original conversation receipt and the existing resume/cancel controls. Do not send another copy merely to advance the workflow.

Find the work that still needs you

Needs your care brings paused, blocked, failed and approval-waiting runs together across your business. It separately lists unfinished tasks and drafts, including items from a run whose steps are already complete. A completed run is not proof that all its messages were sent or tasks finished.

In motion shows running work and date/delivery waits. History retains completed and cancelled runs. Search by client or workflow, then open the exact run or item; older runs can be opened directly without paging back through unrelated history. All queues are scoped to the active business and require current full-access membership. Shared wedding participation alone does not expose these private records.

Connect an inquiry workflow to its project when it is ready

A workflow containing a Prepare private booking journey step normally requires a linked project before enrollment. If your process starts at the inquiry stage, enable Allow this inquiry workflow to start before a project exists and publish that explicit policy in the workflow review. Existing published versions retain their original requirement.

The run still pins the original recipient and published booking experience. When it reaches booking without its project, it holds for information. In that run, an owner or administrator opens Review project handoff. If the inquiry has no project, Prepare a project for this inquiry uses the ordinary proposal-preparation flow, including project entitlements, without marking the inquiry booked. Otherwise, the review shows only the project already explicitly linked to this exact inquiry.

Review the client, email, project, workflow version and reason, then approve the handoff. No similar name or email is used to merge or choose another project. A changed recipient, project, run revision, lost membership or applicable stop rule prevents approval. Retrying the same saved approval recovers its original result.

The same run continues from its held booking step. Earlier artifacts, signed records, payments and the published workflow version remain unchanged. The booking action prepares one private invitation to the original reviewed experience; sending or copying that invitation still uses its separate controls. This handoff does not sign terms, create a charge or send a message.

The named-account /api/v1/workflows/project-link GET and POST endpoints use the same preview and approval services. Workspace API keys cannot impersonate the approving owner or administrator.