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Once your automation passes validation in the workflow builder, you can move it through its full lifecycle — activating it to begin enrolling contacts, pausing it when you need to make changes, and resuming it when you are ready to continue.
Activating an automation immediately begins enrolling matching contacts. Test your workflow with a small test audience before activating it for your full contact list.

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Why incomplete automations cannot activate

Every step in the workflow must have a valid trigger, at least one action, and all required content (such as a chosen email template and a verified sender address) before you can activate. If any step is incomplete, the Activate button remains unavailable and the builder highlights the issues for you to resolve.

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Activating an automation

After the workflow passes validation, click Activate. The automation status changes to Active and SendWhale immediately begins evaluating contacts against the trigger condition and enrolling those who match.

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Pausing an automation

Click Pause on an active automation to temporarily stop enrolling new contacts. Use pausing when you need to make edits or investigate unexpected behavior without fully deactivating the workflow. What happens to currently enrolled contacts: contacts who are already mid-workflow continue progressing through their current step while the automation is paused. New contacts do not enroll until you resume.

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Resuming a paused automation

Click Resume to restart contact enrollment. Contacts who match the trigger from the moment of resumption onward will enter the workflow; contacts who matched the trigger while the automation was paused are not retroactively enrolled.

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Deactivating an automation

Deactivating stops the automation entirely. Existing enrolled contacts may complete their remaining steps or be dropped from the workflow depending on the step they are currently in — verify the expected behavior in the builder before deactivating a workflow that has active enrolled contacts.