Once you’ve built an automation, it will not begin running until you activate it. Because automations can automatically send emails, forms, tasks, and other actions to your contacts or matters, it's essential to review your entry conditions before activation. This helps prevent unintentional actions from being triggered.
✅ How to Activate an Automation
Navigate to the Automations tab in the side navigation.
Locate the automation you'd like to activate.
Click the toggle switch on the right side of the automation row.
⚪ A grey toggle indicates the automation is inactive.
🟢 A green toggle means the automation is active.
When you click the toggle to activate an inactive automation, you’ll see a confirmation modal like this:
When you click the toggle to activate an inactive automation, you’ll see a confirmation modal like this:
⚠️ Important: Activation Options
When the activation confirmation modal appears, you will see two options:
Run Immediately on X Matches
This means the automation will run instantly on all existing matters/contacts who currently meet the entry conditions.Run on Future Matches Only
Select this option if you only want the automation to trigger moving forward, ignoring anyone who currently matches the entry conditions.
🧠 Example
Let’s say you’ve created an automation that triggers when an initial consultation is booked, sending an email with the attorney’s bio. If you choose Run Immediately, anyone who already has a consultation booked (even in the past) will receive the email. To avoid this, choose Future Matches Only so only new consultation bookings will trigger the automation.
✏️ How to Deactivate and Edit an Automation
If you need to make changes to an active automation:
Toggle the activation switch to turn it off.
The automation status will change to inactive.
Make your desired changes.
Toggle the switch again to reactivate the automation.
🔄 What Happens When You Deactivate an Automation?
Matters currently in progress will pause at their current step.
Upon reactivation, they will resume from the same point.
They will not restart from the beginning of the workflow.
For instance, if a matter is in the middle of a time delay, it will remain there during the pause. Once reactivated, it will continue through the workflow once the delay ends.
✨ Note: If you edit a step and re-enable the automation:
Matters that haven’t reached that step will see the updated version.
Matters that are past that step will continue unaffected.
Also, targets will only trigger once per automation. If someone has already completed an automation, deactivating and reactivating it will not trigger it again for them.
FAQs
❓ Can any of my staff activate or deactivate automations?
You can control user access to automations by adjusting user roles:
Go to Settings > Manage Users > Manage Roles.
Edit permissions to restrict or allow access to automations.
If a role does not have automation access, users with that role won’t see the Automations tab at all.
❓ Will I be able to see when an automation was activated or deactivated?
Yes. This information is logged in the stats page for each automation:
Go to the Automations tab.
Click the graph icon on the right side of the automation row.
You’ll see:
When the automation was Paused
Which user paused it
When it was Resumed
Which user resumed it
❓ Will my client know they're in an automation?
No. Contacts and matters will not see any indication that they are receiving automated content. From their perspective, emails and other actions will appear to be personally sent.