Workflows & automation
Skip an automatic message that was already sent by hand
Optional — when someone in the office already sent the customer the same email or text by hand, the automatic one is not sent again. One switch for emails, one for texts, each with its own time window. Off unless you turn it on.
- 3 min read
- Checked against MoveBoard
- For owners & admins, sales
Sometimes the office sends a customer an email by hand — for example the estimate — and a little later the automatic email for the same moment goes out too. The customer gets the same email twice. This setting stops the second one.
It is optional and off for every company until you turn it on. Off, MoveBoard sends exactly as it always has.
Where
Settings › Communication › Workflows, the bar at the very top: Skip an automatic message if the same message was already sent by hand. Anyone who can open Settings can change it. Each branch has its own: switch to the branch first if you have several.
There are two switches, each with its own time window:
- Emails: skip an automatic email if the same one was sent by hand within the last [1–24] hours.
- Texts: skip an automatic text if the same one was sent by hand within the last [1–24] hours.
Pick the window from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 or 24 hours (24 until you pick another). The two are separate: for example, emails on with 24 hours and texts on with 2 hours, or emails on and texts off. A change is saved the moment you make it and is in force within a minute.
What it does
Right before an automatic email or text goes to the customer about an order, MoveBoard checks whether someone in the office already sent the same message to the same customer on the same order within the window. If so, the automatic one is not sent.
The order's log then says, for example: Skipped: already sent by hand by Eugene Lee at Oct 25, 11:01 AM. The automatic email 'Local Move – Can Book Online' to customer@example.com was not sent.
The workflow's run log shows the same reason on that run, and the run is skipped, not sent.
What counts as "the same message"
- The same template. When you pick a template in the email or text box, MoveBoard remembers which automatic message it belongs to. An automatic message for that same moment counts as the same, even if you changed some words before sending.
- Or the same words. For a message written by hand (or a template with no automatic moment): an email counts as the same when its subject is the same; a text when its words are the same. Capital letters, extra spaces and links don't matter (links are made fresh each time).
- A different template is never skipped, even if its subject looks alike.
What it never does
- It never stops anything you send. A hand-sent email or text always goes.
- It never skips messages to your office or crew (team alerts, the estimator's copy, crew notices).
- A hand send that did not go (the mailbox refused it, or the text failed) doesn't count: the automatic one still goes.
- A hand send on another order, or to another address or number, doesn't count.
- A hand send older than the window doesn't count.
Turn it off
Switch it off on the same bar. Automatic messages send as before.
Related guides
- SettingsWorkflows settingsThe page that lists every automatic email, text, document and task as a plain sentence — and the company switch that lets workflows send them.
- Workflows & automationThe run log — why something did or didn't sendEvery run of a workflow — sent, done, waiting, skipped, stopped or failed — with the reason in plain words, on the Workflows page.
- OrdersWhat ran on this orderSee every workflow that sent, skipped, stopped or is still waiting on an order — and why.
- Email, texts & callsDid my email arrive?Check whether an email went out and whether the customer opened it — the copy kept on the order, the open indicator, and what to do when it didn't arrive.
Still stuck? A person will help.
Open a ticket from Support inside MoveBoard, or email us — we usually reply within one business day.