# Managing automations

Activate, pause, resume and archive an automation, clone or delete one, and understand what happens at each state. Which actions are available depends on the automation's state.

**Language:** en
**Audience:** platform
**Translation key:** platform.automations.managing
**Search keywords:** manage automations, automation list, automation status, automation state, draft, active, paused, in pause, archived, unpaid, activate automation, pause automation, resume automation, reactivate, archive automation, clone automation, duplicate automation, delete automation, unsaved changes, discard changes, lifecycle
**Related pages:** /platform/es/automations/managing, /platform/en/automations, /platform/en/automations/sequences, /platform/en/automations/analytics
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Once an automation exists, you run it through its **states** — from draft to
active, pausing and resuming as you need, and archiving it when it's done. What
you can do to an automation depends on the state it's in. This page covers the
lifecycle and the actions available at each step.

## The automation lifecycle

An automation moves through a small set of states, shown as a status badge on the
list and in the builder header.

```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Draft
    Draft --> Active: activate sequence
    Active --> Paused: pause
    Paused --> Active: reactivate
    Active --> Archived: archive
    Paused --> Archived: archive
    Draft --> Archived: archive
    Active --> Unpaid: balance runs out
    Unpaid --> Active: top up balance
    Archived --> [*]
    class Active success
    class Paused destructive
    class Unpaid destructive
    class Archived destructive
```

| State        | What it means                                                                                                    | Editable?                            |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| **Draft**    | Being built — *"Awaiting for the required automation steps to be completed."* Not yet listening for its trigger. | Yes                                  |
| **Active**   | Running — *"Automation activated and ready to receive events that trigger messages."*                            | Limited — save changes to apply them |
| **Paused**   | *"not listening for events. No messages will be sent."* Can be reactivated.                                      | Limited                              |
| **Archived** | Terminal — *"cannot be edited or resumed."* Kept as a read-only record.                                          | No                                   |
| **Unpaid**   | Blocked because the project ran out of balance — *"Not enough funds. Please add credit to resume."*              | No                                   |

> **Warning**: **Archiving stops an automation for good.** The archive dialog reads *"It will
> stop running and move to your archived automations. You can restore it later."* —
> but restoring only clones it into a new **Draft** (without its results); the
> archived automation itself stays read-only and can't be reactivated in place. If
> you expect to resume the same automation later, **pause** it instead of archiving.

## Actions

The lifecycle actions live in the builder header and the list's actions menu:

| Action                  | What it does                                                   | Available when                               |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| **Activate sequence**   | Starts listening for the trigger.                              | Draft (and after the activation checks pass) |
| **Pause sequence**      | Stops enrolling and sending; can be reactivated.               | Active                                       |
| **Reactivate sequence** | Resumes a paused automation.                                   | Paused                                       |
| **Archive**             | Sends it to a terminal, read-only state.                       | Any non-archived state                       |
| **Clone sequence**      | Copies it into a new **Draft** — without its results.          | Any state                                    |
| **Delete**              | Removes it permanently — *"All configured data will be lost."* | Draft only                                   |

The activation checks (a trigger event, at least one active message with content,
and no active message exceeds its channel length limit) are covered in
[Sequences](/platform/en/automations/sequences#activate-the-sequence).

### Contacts already in the sequence

When you pause, archive or cancel an automation, contacts who are partway through
the sequence (waiting between messages) are affected differently from new ones.

{/* VERIFY: exact behaviour for in-flight contacts on pause / archive / cancellation — confirm whether their remaining messages are dropped, held or resumed */}

## Unsaved changes

The builder does **not** autosave. When you have pending edits, a banner appears
with the option to save them or **Discard changes**. Save before leaving the
editor, or your changes are lost. On an **Active** automation, your edits take
effect once you save.

To read what an active automation is doing, see
[Analytics](/platform/en/automations/analytics).

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