Workflows & automation
The Automation timeline
Follow-ups and reminders sent a set number of days after something happens — quiet leads, a status that hasn't moved, completed moves, unpaid invoices — and how to add, change or remove one.
- 5 min read
- Checked against MoveBoard
- For owners & admins
On this page
The Automation timeline sends a template a set time after one of five moments. It's where most companies keep their follow-ups and reminders.
Find it in Settings › Communication › Automation timeline.
The five moments
| Rule | Sends when |
|---|---|
| No activity status | The order was created that many days ago and is still in one of the statuses you tick (New, Follow Up, Can Book Online to start). |
| When order status is | The order's latest change into one of the statuses you tick was that many days ago. |
| After move completed | That many days after the move day of a booked move whose job is completed. |
| Invoice reminder | Regularly while an invoice is sent but unpaid. |
| Invoice overdue reminder | Regularly once an unpaid invoice is past its due date. |
Order reminders go out once a day at about 1 PM, invoice reminders at about 4 PM, on your branch's clock. A day that was missed by more than three hours is skipped rather than sent in the evening.
Read a row
Each row reads left to right: Template on (the template's own switch) · the rule · the statuses it watches · the number and Time unit · → the template · Recurring · Apply to: Move types, Services, Estimate types (empty means All; not on the invoice rows).
Every change on a row saves at once.
Add one
- Press Add new configuration.
- Pick the Automation rule.
- Tick the statuses (not asked for After move completed or the invoice rules).
- Type the number and pick the Time unit (Days, Weeks, Months or Years).
- Pick the template.
- Narrow Apply to if you like.
- Press Save.
Each row as a workflow
Under Settings › Communication › Workflows › Reminders every row is a built-in workflow, and the sentence says its timing. Once workflows are turned on, that is exactly what sends.
| Row | As a workflow |
|---|---|
| Invoice reminder after 3 days | When the office sends an invoice, delay 3 days. Only if the invoice is still unpaid and isn't overdue: send the template. |
| Invoice overdue reminder after 3 days | When the office sends an invoice, delay 3 days. Only if the invoice is still unpaid and overdue: send the template. |
| No activity status, When order status is, After move completed | When the row's moment comes (the daily 1 PM check above already counts the row's number), send the template right away. The status rows stop by themselves once the order is no longer in the ticked statuses; After move completed once the order is no longer Booked. |
The number and unit you typed — days, weeks, months or years — are the wait. Months and years are calendar months: "1 month" after January 31 is the last day of February.
Recurring
With Recurring on, the workflow goes again every that-many days (or weeks, months, years) while it's still true — the invoice is still unpaid, the order is still in the status — up to 10 more times. The first time it no longer holds, the repeats end. With Recurring off it sends once.
For example, Invoice reminder after 3 days, Recurring on reads: "When the office sends an invoice, delay 3 days. Only if the invoice is still unpaid and the invoice isn't overdue: email “Invoice reminder”. Again every 3 days while the invoice is still unpaid and the invoice isn't overdue, up to 10 more times." Sent on a Monday and paid on Saturday, the customer gets a reminder on Thursday; Sunday's repeat finds the invoice paid, and the repeats end.
When an invoice row and the invoice reminder rule use the same template, only the row sends it, so the customer never gets it twice.
Switch one off or remove it
- Template on switches the template itself off — it's the same switch as in Templates, so the template stops everywhere it's used.
- The bin removes the row. MoveBoard asks Are you sure you want to delete this automation rule configuration?
If something goes wrong
- Please select an automation rule, Please select a template, Please select order status.
- Please enter a number, Must be a whole number, Must be at least 1, Must be at most 999.
- A warning sign beside the template: Template is inactive or deleted and cannot be sent.
- Cannot update automation rule configuration / Cannot delete automation rule configuration — try again; if it keeps happening, contact support.
Related guides
- Workflows & automationBuilt-in workflowsThe messages MoveBoard already sends for your company, shown as workflows — what they are, how to change or switch one off, and how Reset puts it back.
- Workflows & automationTurning workflows onThe company switch that hands every automatic message to Workflows — who can flip it, what happens the moment it goes on, and how to turn it back off.
- Workflows & automationSet up a follow-up emailA step-by-step recipe for the follow-up every mover needs — an email a day after a quote that hasn't booked, which stops by itself once the customer books.
- Workflows & automationWorkflows: when every message goes outHow MoveBoard decides when each email, text, document and task goes out — one plain sentence per workflow, When · Wait · Only if · Do — and where to find them.
Still stuck? A person will help.
Open a ticket from Support inside MoveBoard, or email us — we usually reply within one business day.