Automations Overview

From the moment a client is ready to sign, through feedback and delivery, to final approval and launch, Motion.io's built-in automations eliminate manual tasks and ensure your team gets the information needed from clients without following up. 

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

How Automations Work in Motion.io

Motion.io's built-in automations enable you to specify an action (or actions) that automatically take place when another event (called a "trigger") occurs in one of your projects or client portals. 

While later sections of this guide provide an in-depth explanation of the automation actions and triggers available in Motion.io, the quick start guide below explains the basic process for creating automations.

Quickstart Guide:

1. Open a project (or project template) and select the task, stage, or portal page to which you'd like to add an automation. 
2. In the modal that opens after clicking the option to create an automation, select the action you want to happen by selecting it from the dropdown under "Action to Take."
3. In the "Trigger Event" dropdown that appears, choose an event that will trigger the automation, and click "Save."

Automation Actions

Because the way you create automations and the actions you can automate is slightly different for tasks, stages, and portal pages, the sections below will break down each option to explain how they work.

Task Automations

To create automations for client tasks, select a portal from your dashboard.

Then, on the Tasks page for that project, click three dots on any task within the project. In the dropdown, select "Automations."

In the automation modal, specify an action you want to take for the task you have selected. The three options available are:

• Send email notification - notifies a person (either a client or team member) that the task you specified has been completed immediately upon its status changing to "Complete."
• Activate this task - sets the task's status to "Active" as soon as the event trigger you specify occurs. If a client or team member is assigned to the task, they will be notified immediately. 
• Archive this task - sets the task's status "Archived" and hides it from clients in their portal once the specified trigger event occurs.

Stage Automations

To create automations for project stages, click three dots in the upper right corner of any stage within a project. From the dropdown, select "Automations."

In the open modal, specify an action you want to take for the task you have selected. The three actions available for project stages are:

• Send email notification - notifies a person (either a client or team member) that the specified stage has been completed immediately upon its status changing to "Complete."
• Activate this stage - sets the stage and all tasks within it to "Active" as soon as the event trigger you specify occurs. Upon activation, team members or clients assigned to tasks within the stage will be notified via email.
• Archive this stage - sets the stage's status to "Archived" and hides it from clients in their portal once the specified trigger event occurs.

Portal Page Automations

To create automations for portal pages, select a project from your dashboard and click "Edit Client Portal" in the upper right corner. In the portal editor, choose the page which you want to create an automation and click the "star" icon in the upper right corner.

In the open modal, choose your automation action. The two automation actions available for portal pages are:

• Show this page - when your specified trigger event occurs, the page will be accessible to the client in their portal.
• Hide this page - when your specified trigger event occurs, the page will be hidden from the client's portal and become accessible only to team members/account admins.

Trigger Events

As described earlier in this guide, you must choose a trigger event to fire the automation after adding an automation action to a task, stage, or portal page. 

The trigger event options remain consistent across tasks, project stages, or portal pages and are as follows:

• A task is completed - selecting this trigger event will automatically execute an action when the task you specify is completed. This applies to both client tasks and internal tasks.
• A stage is completed - selecting this trigger event will automatically execute an action when all tasks in a project stage are completed or when a team member sets a stage to "completed."
• The project is created - selecting this trigger event will automatically execute an action when a project is created.