Turn on an automation and apply it to existing records

Turning on is a window, not just a button: it shows everything that blocks turning on all at once, then offers to run the automation once on existing records too.

Steps

The checklist blocks turning on when there’s

A deleted WhatsApp line in a sending step or a trigger, a template that isn’t approved, the tasks unit turned off while there’s a create-task step, a channel not linked to a unit with an action that needs a record, a disconnected mailbox, an invalid schedule, and more. They’re all in Why didn’t my automation run? Every error and its fix.

Which existing records?

The unit’s current records that match the conditions, and that the automation hasn’t run on before, with any result. So turning on a paused automation only reaches the records that arrived while it was paused.

How does it run?

When the automation sends on WhatsApp, the included records are always spaced out, with gaps between the messages, so the number doesn’t send them all at once. Others run with a 2-second gap between records.

Pausing, publishing a new version, or running out of executions stops including existing records.

Each run shows “included when the workflow was turned on”. A record created after you turn it on is handled by the trigger itself.

Pausing

Pausing stops new runs. Waiting runs end as Skipped when they wake up, unless they reached the goal.

Turning on an automation that has a draft turns on the current version, not the draft.

If something goes wrong

A real example

Good to know