Adding conditions to your automation rules

In this article, you'll learn how to add conditions to an automation rule so it only sends when the details of a job match what you pick. That's how one rule can text a reminder for inspections and skip everything else, or chase only the invoices that still have money owing.

Automations come with every account. There's nothing to switch on first.

To open your automations:

  1. In the menu, click Automations.
  2. Click the My Automations tab.

On the phone app, tap the lightning bolt at the top of the Home screen, next to search, or open the menu and tap Automations.

How conditions work

A rule with no conditions runs every time its trigger happens. Each condition you add is a short "Only if…" line under the rule, like Only if job type is Inspection. When the trigger happens, the CRM checks the conditions first. If they don't match, nothing gets sent.

You can build a condition from five things:

  • job type
  • job source
  • job tag
  • job status
  • amount due

A rule can hold up to 10 conditions.

Add a condition to a rule

  1. To change an existing rule, click ••• on its card and then Edit, or click any underlined word on the card. To start a new one, click + Add automation.
  2. If it's a new rule, set the When line and the action line first, so the rule knows what it's reacting to.
  3. Under the rule, click Add condition. The Only if… panel opens.
  4. In the first box, pick what to check, like job type or job tag.
  5. Click an operator: = is, ≠ is not, > greater, < less, ∋ contains or ∌ doesn't contain.
  6. Pick the value. For job type, job source, job tag and job status, you choose from your company's own lists. For amount due, you type a number.
  7. Click ✓ Apply. The condition shows under the rule as a sentence.
  8. Click Add automation (or Update automation on a rule you're editing) to save. Conditions aren't saved until you do.
Adding a condition to a new rule

To change a condition, click its sentence and the panel opens again. To remove one, click the trash icon at the end of its line.

The phone app works the same way. The Only if… panel opens as a sheet from the bottom of the screen.

Tip: Each rule's card on My Automations says This rule contains N conditions, so you can see at a glance which rules are narrowed down.

Which operators make sense

  • Job tag: is and contains both mean the job has that tag. is not and doesn't contain both mean it doesn't.
  • Job type, job source and job status: use is, is not, contains or doesn't contain. Capital letters don't matter.
  • Amount due: use greater, less, is or is not. For example, amount due is greater than 0 only sends when something is still owed.

Using "and" and "or" together

When you add a second condition, it joins the first one with and, so both have to be true. You'll see a small and pill at the start of its line.

Click that pill to flip it to or. You can also click + Add "or" condition in the Only if… panel. That applies the condition you're on and opens a fresh one that's already joined by or.

Here's how the CRM reads them. Going down the list, each or starts a new group. The rule sends if every condition in at least one group is true.

For example:

  • Only if job tag is Part pickup
  • and job type is Inspection
  • or job tag is Service plan

That's two groups. The rule sends for an inspection tagged Part pickup, or for any job tagged Service plan. A job tagged Part pickup that isn't an inspection gets nothing.

Tip: Want "any of these tags" on one rule? Join them with or. Want to rule several tags out? Use is not and join them with and, so the rule only sends when none of them are on the job.

Things to know

Note: Job type, job source and job tag only exist on jobs. On a rule triggered by an invoice or an estimate, use amount due, which is read from that invoice or estimate.
Note: If a rule sends later (say, a day before the job), the conditions are checked again right before it goes out. If the job changed in the meantime, or you edited the rule's conditions, the message follows what's true at that moment.
Note: On the review request rule, only job tag conditions count, and every one of them has to be true. and and or don't apply there.

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