Finding automations that need attention

When an automation stops sending, Letterhead marks it Error and names the reason. One table shows every automation across your company that needs attention, so you can see what stopped, why, and what to do next.

Where to look

1. From your Company Dashboard, go to System Monitor → Automations.
2. The table opens filtered to Error. If nothing needs attention, you’ll see “There is nothing here, yet.”

Each row shows the automation’s Title (with its ID underneath), Channel, Status, Template, Target Segment, Latest Send and Next Send. Send times are in UTC, and each one says so: the table brings together channels that may sit in different timezones, so one shared clock is the fair way to compare rows. Seeing the time and the segment side by side is usually the quickest way to tell whether an automation ran when you expected, and went to the people you meant. The Target Segment column and the time of day on the send columns appear in most accounts.

Find one automation

Use the search box above the table when you know which automation you’re after. It matches the title, the template, the channel and the automation’s ID, across every status rather than just Error — so if the automation turns out to be running fine, you still see it. While you search, the Status filter reads All; clearing the search puts you back on Error.

Click an automation’s ID to copy it. An ID belongs to exactly one automation and never changes, which makes it the detail to share with a colleague or with support. If a search for an ID finds nothing, the automation has usually been deleted, or it belongs to a different company than the one you’re signed in to.

Your search, status and channel filters stay in the page’s address, so the back button returns you to the same view and you can bookmark or share a filtered table. Opening the page fresh from the menu starts from the Error view again.

What each label means

Did not finish in time

The automation started putting its newsletter together but didn’t finish, so it was stopped before sending. That edition was usually unusually large or slow to build, and the next run often works. Open the automation, review it, turn it back on and set the timing for the next run. If a partly built draft was saved, you’ll find it with your other newsletter drafts to use or discard.

Email service unavailable

The email service that sends this channel’s newsletters couldn’t be reached, so Letterhead paused every running automation on that connection rather than letting each one fail. You’ll have had a separate notice about the connection. Once it’s working again, these automations turn themselves back on — there’s nothing to restart.

Template missing, invalid or deactivated

The automation’s template can no longer be used: it’s been deleted, deactivated, or isn’t one this automation can send. Choose Select Different Template on the row, then Reactivate.

Other labels

A label such as Segment deleted names the thing the automation needs and no longer has. Put it right — here, by pointing the automation at an existing segment — then Reactivate. Reactivating clears the error and puts the automation back on its normal schedule; it doesn’t send anything right away.

Unknown reason

Something stopped the automation that we don’t have a more specific explanation for yet. Reactivate it once.

When it’s ours to fix

Contact Letterhead Support with the automation’s ID if an automation stops again with Unknown reason, keeps stopping with Did not finish in time, or stays paused with Email service unavailable after your connection is working again. Those point at something on our side, and we’d rather look at it properly than have you restart it over and over.

To see how a single running automation is doing, see Monitoring a running automation.

Prefer to have it done for you?

Penpal can check your automations for errors in conversation — try “do any of my automations have errors?” See how Penpal works.