Automations in Motion.io

From the moment a client is ready to sign, through feedback and delivery, to final approval and launch, Motion.io's built-in automations help eliminate manual tasks and streamline client and team collaboration in your projects.

This article will explain how Motion.io's built-in automations work and provide instructions for creating them in your projects and templates.

How Automations Work

Motion.io's built-in automations enable you to specify an action (or actions) that automatically take place when other events (called "triggers") occur in one of your projects or templates. Whether you create automations in active projects or templates, the process is virtually identical.

How to Create Automations

To create automations in a project template, open the editor and click "Automations" in the top navigation bar. On this page, you can create new automations and view any existing automations you or your team members added.

To create an automation, click the "Add new" button to bring up the automation builder. The instructions below will walk you through each step of creating your first automation.

Step 1: Configure Trigger Event(s)

The first step to create an automation is specifying at least one "Trigger" event. Triggers are events that occur in a Motion.io project or portal that cause an automation workflow to run. To configure trigger events, you must specify:

• Whether the trigger should apply to a task, stage, form block, or project
• The specific task, stage, or form block you want the trigger to reference
• A condition that must be met in the task, stage, or form block you referenced for the trigger to fire (for example, a specific task/stage being completed, activated, or archived)

In cases where you'd like automation to run only after all of the conditions in a set of events are met, Motion.io gives you the ability to do so. When adding additional steps to a trigger, each event you specify must occur before the automation runs.

Step 2: Add a Delay (Optional)

While optional, adding delays to your automation workflows can be especially useful for projects that have a defined timeline, as delays enable you to do things like:

• Activate a task for clients to schedule a check-in call after they have worked with you for X weeks
• Archive completed tasks or stages after Y days to hide them from your client's view in their portal
• Give your team Z hours to edit or customize portal pages before clients can access them

By default, Motion.io sets the "Delay" field in new automations to "None." To add a delay, choose a number and specify the unit for that delay (hours, days, weeks, or months) with the corresponding dropdowns.

Step 3: Add Automation Action(s)

The last step before you can save an automation is to add an action. "Actions" are what you want Motion.io to do automatically in a project once your trigger event occurs.

The dropdown list on the left side of the "Actions" modal allows you to choose different automated actions for email notifications, tasks, stages, and portal pages.

Depending on the action you select, Motion.io will prompt you to specify additional details related to that action (for example, the name of a task/stage you'd like to import or the email address you'd like to send a notification to) before you can save.

How to View & Edit Automations in Project or Template

Once you've set up automations in Motion.io, you may need to review or update them within a specific project or template. Here’s how to do it:

Viewing Automations in a Template

Step 1: Navigate to the "Templates" tab in your Motion.io dashboard.

Step 2: Select the template you want to check.

Step 3: Click on the "Automations" tab to see a list of all active automations.

Here, you can see a list of existing automations, including their triggers, actions, and conditions.

Viewing Automations in a Project

Step 1: Go to the "Projects" tab and open the project you want to review.

Step 2: Click "More" in the top menu.

Step 3: Select "Automations" to view all existing automations for that project.

This will display a list of active automations and their setup details.

Editing Automations

Once you've accessed the list of automations in a project or template, you can make changes as needed.

Step 1: Locate the automation you want to edit.

In the "Automations" tab, browse the list to find the specific automation that needs updating.

Step 2: Click the three-dot menu (⁝) and select "Edit".

Next to each automation, you’ll see a three-dot menu (⁝). Click it to reveal additional options. From the dropdown menu, click "Edit" to open the automation’s settings.

Step 3: Make your changes.

Here you can modify triggers, actions, delays, and conditions. Once you've updated the automation, click "Save" to apply your edits.

How to View Automation Logs

Automation logs provide a detailed record of how, why, and when an automation was triggered. If an automation isn’t working as expected or you need to verify that it ran correctly, checking the logs can help troubleshoot any issues.

For example, automation logs allow you to:

• Confirm that an automation fired at the expected time.
• See what actions were triggered and whether they were completed.
• Identify any errors or reasons why an automation may not have worked as intended.

Step 1: Follow the steps above to view your automations.

This will take you to the list of automations associated with your project or template.

Step 2: Click the three-dot menu (⁝) next to the automation and select "History".

This will show a timeline of when the automation was triggered, what actions were taken, and whether they completed successfully.