Actions Reference
Sidebar > CRM > [Entity] > [Status Group] > ⋮ Menu on stage column > Stage Automation > Add Action
2 min read · By Stefan Köhn
An automation is built from 21 triggers and 22 steps. Each one has its own article with the setup, the catches and the questions people ask. A step that belongs to a module appears only while that module is booked.
Triggers
21What starts a run. A trigger is not an action but its occasion.
Record createdStarts as soon as a new record of this type appears: through the form, the API or by hand. The trigger for everything that comes first: greet, assign, move into the opening stage.Field changedStarts when a particular field takes a new value. The trigger for everything that depends on a detail arriving later: a document handed in, a date entered, a status set.Started by handDoes not start on its own but on a click at the record. Meant for anything somebody should decide: a reminder, a handover, a document that must not be produced for every case.Date reachedChecks once a day which records have passed the set threshold on a date field: optionally with an offset before or after. A deadline is thereby nothing more than a date in a field.Stage enteredStarts as soon as a record arrives in a given stage: dragged, through an automation or through the API. The most used trigger: the state on the board is the natural place for something to happen.Stage leftStarts as soon as a record leaves a given stage: regardless of where it goes. The trigger for everything that should be tidied up on the way out.Sitting too long in stageChecks once a day which records have been sitting in a stage longer than allowed. The trigger against quietly going nowhere: it works exactly where nobody does anything and so no event occurs.No buyer foundStarts when a distribution found no matching partner. The way to still make something of an unsold record instead of letting it sit.Delivery returnedStarts when a partner returns a delivery: through the portal, the link in the delivery email or the API. The trigger for anything beyond taking it back.Distribution completedStarts when a distribution has finished and the delivery status is settled. The trigger for anything that needs the final state: a confirmation to the customer, a note, a stage change.Form submittedStarts as soon as someone submits a form and a record comes out of it. It fires in addition to “Record created” and answers a different question: which form the enquiry came from.Reply receivedFires when an incoming email could be matched to a record. Mail is fetched every five minutes from the configured mailbox: the account's, your own, or both.SignedFires once every document of a request is signed and the finished PDFs sit in their fields. There is no partial completion: whoever signs, signs all of them.Signature declinedFires when the recipient explicitly declines on the signing page, with whatever reason they gave. Without this route the process waits fourteen days on someone who said no long ago.Signature deadline passedFires when an open request's deadline passes without a signature. Checked every five minutes: an expiry happens because nobody acts, so somebody has to notice.Appointment bookedStarts as soon as an appointment is added to a record. A typical follow-up is a stage change, for instance to "Appointment set".Appointment movedStarts when an appointment gets a new time. The old one stays on the record as "Moved", and the new one points to it.Appointment cancelledStarts when an appointment is cancelled, by the guest or by you. Who cancelled is recorded on the appointment.Appointment took placeStarts when an appointment's outcome is set to "Took place". It never happens on its own; a person sets it.No-showStarts when an appointment is marked "Guest did not show" or "Host did not show". One trigger covers both.Appointment outcome missingStarts the day after an appointment when nobody has entered how it went. At the same time the host gets a task "Set outcome".
Flow
6Where the run goes next, and whether it goes on at all.
FilterLets the run continue only when a condition holds, and ends it otherwise. This narrows an automation down to the cases it was meant for, without building a second trigger for them.WaitPauses the run and continues later. Two settings, freely combined: how long, a fixed duration, a date from the record, or no limit, and what for, a condition on the record. That is how follow-ups, reminders and deadlines are built without a second trigger.EndEnds the run here and records why. It matters most inside branches: a path that stops without a note looks like one where somebody forgot the last step.BranchSplits the flow into named paths, each with its own condition and its own steps. This lets one automation answer several cases instead of one: documents present or missing, budget approved or not.Change stageMoves the record along the pipeline: by the same route as dragging a card by hand. A case then moves on by itself once it is settled that it belongs further along.Distribute to partnersHands the record to distribution: rules decide which partner gets it, and delivery then proceeds on its own. The step has no configuration: which distribution applies follows from the record type.
People
5Who gets told, who gets it on their list.
Add noteLeaves an entry on the record, visible in the history and recognisable as written by the automation. The usual way to record what happened automatically.NotifyPoints somebody on the team at something without giving them a task. A notification is read and thereby done: it suits hints, not work that has to be ticked off.Create taskPuts something on somebody's list for good, with a due date. Unlike a notification a task stays open until somebody ticks it off: the way for anything that actually has to be done.Set assigneeDecides who looks after the record. Two independent settings: which pool the person comes from, and how the choice is made among several: so work can be handed out in turn, by load, or fixed.Assign to hostMakes the person who runs an appointment the assignee of the record. Meant for invitations to several people: there, the time the guest picks decides who gets the appointment, and the record should sit with the same person.
Out of the house
4What leaves the system and reaches someone.
Send emailSends a message to the contact, to the team or to both. To, cc and bcc are text fields with variables: so the same mail can go to the address on the record and in blind copy to your own inbox.Send SMSSends a text message to the record’s phone number. This is the step for the point where email stops working: someone who ignored three emails will ignore the fourth: a text lands in a different inbox and is almost always read.Request signatureBuilds the documents from your templates, sends the recipient a link, and files the signed PDFs into the fields you name. One signing session, any number of documents: whoever signs, signs all of them.Invite to bookSends the contact an email with a link to pick an appointment themselves. It offers the free times of the hosts you select.
The record itself
6What changes on the record while the run passes through.
Set fieldsWrites one or more values into fields of the record: in one step, not three. This records what the automation decided: a marker, a calculated date, a status.CalculateWorks with numbers or with dates and writes the result into a field. The second case is the more common one: delivery date plus fourteen days gives the deadline that governs everything after it.Reformat textReshapes a value before it is used further: strip spaces, fix capitalisation, reduce a number to digits, turn a date into the spelling that belongs in a letter.ArchiveTakes the record out of the board and the list without deleting it. The typical last step of an automation: case closed, view tidied. The same step also brings a record back.DeleteMoves the record to the bin and ends the run. The one action that running again cannot heal: which is why it only takes effect once it has been confirmed explicitly.Generate documentFills a document template with the values of the record and files the finished PDF in a file field. Letters, contracts and quotes come into being without handwork: and sit where the next step finds them.
Your own systems
1The step that leaves the building and comes back with an answer.