Triggers and actions

The trigger is the event that starts an automation. There are four types:

• Status changes fires when a record moves to a new status, like a quote being approved or an invoice being paid.
• Record created fires when a new record is added.
• Record updated fires when a record's details change.
• On a schedule fires at times you set, with no record attached.

Record triggers watch one kind of record: clients, projects, quotes, invoices, or tasks. Add Entry criteria to narrow further, so the automation only fires when the record also matches your conditions. Criteria can combine multiple conditions with and/or logic.

Condition checks the record and sends the flow down different branches depending on the result. That lets one automation treat different records differently, instead of you building a separate automation for each case.

• Update Record changes the record the automation is working on.
• Create Task adds a new task.
• Create Record creates a new record.
• Find Records looks up a set of records to work with, usually feeding a Loop.

The communication group holds Send Email, Send Notification, and Send Team Message. Send Email is the one that reaches your clients, so it comes with a few guardrails worth knowing.

Send Email emails the client tied to the record in scope, or a fixed list of addresses. The Send to field offers two options: Client's primary contact, resolved automatically from the record, or Specific addresses, where you can enter up to 10 addresses.

Write the subject and body like a normal email, and use Insert variable to drop in placeholders that are filled from the record's live data when the automation runs. The message goes out on the same branded template as email you send from the Inbox, and addresses that previously bounced or reported spam are dropped automatically.

• Loop repeats a set of steps for each record in a list, usually one from Find Records.
• Delay waits before continuing, and Delay until waits for a specific moment.
• Aggregate and Adjust time are utilities for working with sets of records and dates.
• End and Next item control how a flow, or a pass through a loop, finishes.