How do I turn an automation on?

Updated 6 October 2026

The Short Answer

Flip the automation's switch in Extensions → Automations, or press Turn It On in its panel. Either opens a check first: when it next starts people, who it goes through, when you are charged, where it reaches you and how many people it can reach. Nothing on it blocks you — Turn On Anyway is a real button.

Every automation is saved switched off, so this check is the last look before it starts messaging people.

How do I turn it on?

  1. Open Extensions → Automations. The Off tab lists the ones not running.
  2. Flip the switch on the automation's row — or press Turn It On at the foot of its panel, or choose Turn On from its ⋯ menu. All three open the same check; none of them turns it on yet.
  3. Read the check, headed Turn On This Automation Flow.
  4. Press Turn On. It reads Turn On Anyway instead when the check cannot reach you, names nobody, or finds people it cannot reach. Cancel leaves it off.

A sequence you took from Browse is added switched off too, so it comes through this same check.

What does the check show?

Five stops, top to bottom, in the order a run happens:

  1. When — its schedule and shape, such as Starts Every Day · 9:00am · 3 Steps Over 12 Days · Once Each, and when it next starts people: Next Tomorrow, 9:00am.
  2. Who — It goes through the audience you picked.
  3. What it costs — when you are charged, and the figure once a run comes to more than 50 credits or more than your balance.
  4. Where it reaches you — This run will reach you on Telegram, or whichever channel you chose.
  5. How it reaches them — Each one goes out on the first channel that reaches that person, each channel with how many people it is the first to reach, then a line such as Nobody is left out — 40 of 40 are reachable.

On a New Leads automation the check speaks of one lead at a time: under who, Each new lead who comes in from now on goes through this once.; the cost of one lead; and each channel without a count.

Can the check stop me turning it on?

No. Nothing on it is a block. The lines about the whole list:

  • This names nobody right now. — the audience is empty today.
  • Your balance is 12 credits, so this will only send to 6 of the 20.
  • 3 of the 40 can’t be reached at all — no number and no email.
  • Each run, about 12 of them will not go out automatically, per Meta’s rules … Choose Use Template on that step to send it automatically. — WhatsApp contacts who have not contacted you in the past 24 hours, on a step that goes as a normal message.
  • 18 of 40 have a property on file. — a step needs a detail some people lack.

If the check cannot load at all, it says Couldn’t work out what this will do right now — you can still turn it on.

What do the lines about a single step mean?

A step that sends a template or your own words gets lines of its own:

  • Step 2 (Template · …): about 12 of them haven’t messaged you in 24 hours, so it goes as your template, and Meta bills your WhatsApp account for each one.
  • Step 2 (…) is waiting on Meta. Until it’s approved, about 12 of them get a link to send yourself.
  • Step 2 (…) can’t go out as a template right now, so about 12 of them get a link to send yourself.
  • Step 2’s template was deleted, so nothing goes out for it until you choose another.
  • Step 3 (…): 3 have no property on file, so their message isn’t finished — they wait in Follow-Ups for you.

The last one has Drop the Blank beside it. It takes that blank out of the step's words, saves the automation and closes the check; on a Use Template step the words are then yours, and go as a normal message. Flip the switch again to see it as it now stands.

What if it says it cannot reach me?

The fourth stop is where PropKaki reaches you: the channel under It Checks With You in the automation's panel, Telegram or WhatsApp. If that channel is not connected, the line reads You asked for this to be run on Telegram, but it is not connected at the moment, with a Connect Telegram button that opens Extensions → Connectors.

You can still turn it on. It keeps filling your queue in the app; what is missing is the message to you on that channel.

How do I know it is running?

The pill on its row changes from Draft to Live — or to Sends Itself, if it is on Send Automatically — it now appears under On, and the count at the foot of the list goes up by one — 5 automations · 3 running.

Turning it on sends nothing by itself. The first people start when its schedule next comes round — the Next line on the check. An On Command automation waits until you type its command, and a New Leads one starts each new lead as they come in.

Why did it switch itself off?

Saving any change to a running automation switches it off — Save Changes in its editor, or a new choice under Who It Goes Through or It Checks With You in its panel. The pill goes back to Draft straight away.

Flip the switch again and the check shows the automation as it now stands. Closing the editor without saving leaves it running: it asks Discard your changes?, and Discard Changes leaves it as it was before you opened it.

Still Stuck?

Ask PropKaki in the chat — it answers most of these directly — or message the team.