Frequently asked questions
Limits of automations, an explanation of pausing and changing, and what to do when nothing happens
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Who can use automations?
Anyone with View automations sees the automations and their runs. Anyone with Manage automations can also create, change, enable and delete them. Administrators with All permissions can do everything. You give these permissions to the members of your organisation.
Be careful with Manage automations: an automation works with all the permissions of your organisation. Anyone who may build flows can therefore do anything through a flow. Give it only to people you trust with that. Anyone with neither permission does not see the menu item Admin > Automations.
Why does my automation not start?
Go through these points.
- Is it on? An automation whose switch is off (filter Paused) does not start. If there are issues, you could not enable it. See Issues and enabling
- Is it the right event? A new reservation is
reservation:created, a change isreservation:updated. Also check that the event really occurs with the action you take - Is the filter holding it back? Events that do not pass the filter under Only when leave no run behind. Use the Test run tab with the data of a real case to see which condition does not match. Pay attention to the values of choice fields: an invoice status is, for example,
BOOKED - Is Run once per record on? Then the automation does not start again for an invoice or reservation for which it has already run. See Run once per record
- Is it a schedule? Then it starts in the minute in which it is due. A fixed time and a schedule use your organisation's time zone
- Did you just enable or change it? It can take half a minute before everything notices
- Are many events coming in at once? Then the runs are processed one by one and it can take a while before yours is up
If the automation does start but something goes wrong afterwards, look at the Runs tab to see what happened and where the run got stuck.
Why does my schedule start late?
Schedules are checked every minute. An automation that starts on a date, an hour or according to a schedule begins in that minute. An event starts immediately.
Can an automation keep starting itself?
Not within one flow. If you connect an exit so that the flow would jump back to an earlier step, Tillor refuses that line. You cannot enable a flow with such a loop. If a run does reach a step it already did, it stops, instead of doing that step again.
Not via events either. What a step does happens as the user Workflow, and events that Workflow causes do not start automations. An automation that starts on task:created and does a Create task therefore does not start again on the task it made itself. That also applies between automations: one cannot start another.
If many events come in within a short time, for example because of a large mailing, every event starts a run. Tillor handles a few at a time. Nothing is lost, but it can take a while.
What limits apply?
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Steps in one automation | 100 |
| Branches in a Switch | 8, besides Default |
| Connections from one exit | 1 step. If you connect again, the new line replaces the old one |
| Length of the name | 120 characters |
| Length of the description | 500 characters |
| Notes and containers on the canvas | 50 together |
| Options with Ask for a decision | 8 |
| Wait time of an API request | 15 seconds |
The response in {response.body} | The first 4000 characters |
The response in {response.data} | Up to 100,000 characters, larger is empty |
| Delay in seconds | Not exact, can be a few seconds later |
| Schedules | Checked every minute |
| Items in a For each | 100 at a time |
| Check with Wait until | At most every 5 minutes |
| Content of an incoming webhook | 100 KB |
| Runs on the Runs tab | The last 20 |
Can several automations start on the same event?
Yes. Every enabled automation whose trigger and filter match starts its own run. Do not count on a fixed order.
Can I have two things done at once after one exit?
No, an exit leads to one step. Put the actions one after the other, or make a second automation with the same trigger.
What happens to running runs if I change something?
| What you do | What happens to runs |
|---|---|
| Change the flow and save | New runs use the new flow. Runs that are already busy or waiting finish with the flow as it was |
| Pause the automation | Runs that are waiting in a delay stop as soon as the wait time is over and get the status Canceled. What is already busy at that moment finishes. If you turn it back on before the wait time is over, the run simply continues |
| Delete the automation | The runs and the history are deleted. Waiting runs stop |
What happens if a step fails?
The run stops with the status Failed and the steps after it are not carried out. Whoever made the automation gets an email about the failed run, at most one per hour per automation. Tillor does not retry the step. With Send webhook and API request you can catch a failure with the Failed exit. With other actions you turn on Continue when this step fails: the step then gets an Error exit and the flow continues there. See When a step fails.
Is anything really sent during a test?
No. A test run sends nothing, creates nothing and changes nothing. See Testing and runs.
Is my data stored safely?
Your flows and the run history, including headers with keys or tokens, are stored encrypted. For addresses on the internet, only https is allowed and internal addresses are refused.
I am missing an event, condition or action
Use Request a step in the editor. See Requesting a step or event.
Can I also manage automations from my own system?
Yes, if your integration has all permissions. See For developers.
Start small
Start with one trigger and one action, let it run along for a few days and review the runs. Only then build it out with conditions and delays.
Example: checking a rental caravan
Build step by step a flow that creates a check task with subtasks after departure, or raises the priority of the open task
Custom fields
Store information that Tillor does not know itself, such as deposit numbers, number of dogs or winter storage, as an extra field on a record