Editing Automation (section)

= Automation =

== About Automation Settings ==
*Last updated October 17, 2025 at 5:50 PM*

The Automations Settings tab lets you create key workflow-level configurations for your automation. This article shows you how to use the Automation Settings tab.

== How it works ==
Every automation in your account has a Settings tab. This tab allows you to set a description, control when a contact can enter your automation, how they will exit it, and set email unsubscribe configurations. Note that what you configure in the Settings tab overrides your trigger settings.

=== Accessing the Settings tab ===
To access the Settings tab for an automation:
# Click '''Automations''' on the left menu.
# Edit or create a new automation.
# Click the arrow located on the top right of the automation canvas.
# The Settings tab will expand and display automation-level settings.

== Settings tab options ==

=== Description ===
Use this space to add context about your automation to other account users. You can provide a description, summary, notes, and links to external assets. You can only access the description from the Settings tab.

=== Track the progress of this automation ===
You can measure how well your automation works by linking it to an existing Business Goal or Conversion. You can only have one business goal or one conversion linked to an automation from Automations Settings. However, an automation can be an asset in multiple business goals.

* '''Add to Business Goal''' - This allows you to track when contacts achieve any conversion assigned to the business goal in the automation. [[Learn more about business goals|business goals]].
* '''Add to Conversion''' - This allows you to track when contacts achieve the conversion in the automation. [[Learn more about conversions|conversions]].

Once a business goal or conversion is linked to an automation, two stats will show on the right-hand side of the panel:
* '''Contact Count''' - Total number of contacts who have achieved the conversion. You can click on the Contact Count to see the contacts.
* '''Conversion Rate''' - Contact count divided by the contacts that entered the automation.

=== A contact can enter this automation (concurrency) ===
This is how many times a contact can enter an automation. You can choose from:
* '''Any number of times''' (default) - The contact can enter through any trigger any number of times if they meet the conditions.
* '''Only once''' - The contact can enter the automation once across any number of triggers. If you select this option and have a trigger set to run multiple times, the contact can enter the automation only once.
* '''Only after they have exited''' - The contact can re-enter the automation as often as they meet the trigger conditions, but not simultaneously. They can re-enter after they complete your workflow.

This gives you greater control around contacts entering automations who might match multiple triggers and if you want to restrict their entry or allow them to enter after completing the automation.

=== Exit criteria ===
You can set the automation to end for a contact when:
* They unsubscribe from an automated campaign.
* Any tracked conversion occurs (if you have added tracking in automation settings).

Otherwise, contacts will end the automation when they reach the last action in your workflow. The contact history UI will show if a contact ended an automation due to an unsubscribe action or if a tracked conversion occurred.

=== Unsubscribes and list associations ===
Choose the lists a contact will unsubscribe from when they click the unsubscribe link in your automated campaign. [[Learn more about unsubscribe actions and list associations with automations|unsubscribe actions and list associations]].

=== Automation permissions ===
Users in the Account Admin permissions group can choose the user groups that can view and edit the individual automation. [[Learn how to set automation permissions|set automation permissions]].

== See Also ==
* [About Automation Settings](https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/18819387236508-About-Automation-Settings)
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