> This page is part of the [Customer.io documentation](https://docs.customer.io). For the complete index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.customer.io/llms.txt).
> Last updated: July 15, 2026

# Change the state of an automation

Automation states determine whether your customers can enter your automations.

Automations can have one of four statuses:

*   `running` - active
*   `draft` - inactive; all automations start in a draft state.
*   `stopped` - inactive
*   `archived` - inactive

`Running` is the only *active* status. This means customers can enter your automation and move through your workflow, which could include messages, update actions, and more. You can edit these automations while they’re live, but make sure you understand [how live edits impact your customers](/messaging/send/automations/edit-live/changes/).

`Draft`, `stopped`, and `archived` are *inactive* statuses. Customers cannot enter your automation. You can make changes to draft and stopped automations, but not archived ones. You can [unarchive an automation](#unarchive-an-automation) to change the state to `stopped` and continue editing. You can [restart](#restart-an-automation) any automation in a `stopped` state.

## Scheduled automations

[Scheduled automations](/messaging/send/automations/schedule-automations/)display a `scheduled` label alongside the automation status. The `scheduled` label shows that a start and/or stop time is set, while the status (like `running`, `draft`, or `stopped`) shows the automation’s current state. For instance, an automation with the status `running` and the label `scheduled` means the automation has started and profiles may be moving through your workflow.

## Stop an automation

To stop an automation, click the automation and select **Stop now** or [**Schedule stop**](/messaging/send/automations/schedule-automations/#scheduling-a-running-campaign) from the *Actions* dropdown. You can also access this from inline with the automation name on the list page.

[![On a running automation page, the automation actions dropdown is open. It shows five options - Stop now, Schedule stop, Archive, Duplicate, and Delete.](https://docs.customer.io/images/campaign-actions-dropdown.png)](#8759e1b0a09f5e86f7aadb5ba0c0d672-lightbox)

Stopping an automation prevents profiles from entering the automation. While the automation’s stopped, you can edit it. And messages that were already sent from the automation will continue to generate metrics normally.

### What happens if profiles are in the automation?

**If the automation has active journeys in progress,** you can either:

1.  Force profiles to **exit immediately**. In this case, we stop sending messages to anybody who has an active journey and recall in-app messages that haven’t been seen (opened) yet. See [What happens to messages when profiles exit immediately?](#what-happens-to-messages-when-profiles-exit-immediately) for more information.
2.  Allow profiles to **finish their journey** and exit the automation naturally. Your automation will sit in a *Stopping* state until all profiles have exited the automation, and then it’ll switch to *Stopped*.
    
    [![The modal shows that 48 profiles are currently in progress and you can either select Exit immediately or Finish their journey.](https://docs.customer.io/images/stop-campaign.png)](#730dfcec4966afaafa45a51d35b4ad85-lightbox)
    

### What happens to messages when profiles exit immediately?

When you stop an automation using the *Exit immediately* option, we’ll stop sending messages immediately. But all **emails, SMS messages, push notifications, webhooks, and Slack messages** that are already *Sent* are likely to be delivered to your audience. We don’t control the delivery providers for these message types, so we can’t recall these messages after they’re sent.

**In-app messages** native to Customer.io are an exception to this rule: any in-app message that has been “Sent” but not “Opened” is recalled. We control the delivery mechanism for these messages, so we can stop them before they make it to your audience.

## Restart an automation

To restart an automation, click the automation and select **Restart** or [**Schedule**](/messaging/send/automations/schedule-automations/#rescheduling-a-stopped-campaign) from the *Actions* dropdown. You can also access this from inline with the automation name on the list page.

[![On a stopped automation page, the automation actions dropdown is open. It shows five options - Restart now, Schedule, Archive, Duplicate, and Delete.](https://docs.customer.io/images/restart-campaign.png)](#189d47b3cda958211a829b62fd3d9e78-lightbox)

When restarting an automation triggered by an attribute, segment, object, or relationship, you must also decide who will enter the automation:

1.  **Current profiles and future additions**: choose this option if everybody who currently matches your trigger conditions should enter your automation. This includes anyone currently in any trigger segments but will also take your automation [frequency settings](/messaging/send/automations/triggers/#condition-trigger) into account.
2.  **Future additions only**: choose this option if only profiles that match your automation trigger conditions *after* the automation is restarted should enter.

[![After Restart is clicked, a prompt appears asking you to choose to start the automation for all current and future additions or just future additions.](https://docs.customer.io/images/restart-campaign-prompt.png)](#e08778b736e44eeee65e5aa72954dda8-lightbox)

## Archive an automation

You can archive an automation to preserve historical data and copy the structure or content of the automation for future use. Archiving moves automations from your list of *Active* automations to *Archived* on the automations page.

To archive an automation, click the automation and select **Archive** from the *Actions* dropdown. You can archive `stopped` and `running` automations, not `draft`.

[![On a running automation page, the automation actions dropdown is open. It shows five options - Stop now, Schedule stop, Archive, Duplicate, and Delete.](https://docs.customer.io/images/campaign-actions-dropdown.png)](#8759e1b0a09f5e86f7aadb5ba0c0d672-lightbox)

After you archive an automation:

*   Profiles can no longer enter the automation.
*   We end active journeys.
*   We delete unsent drafts.
*   We pause A/B tests.
*   You can no longer edit the automation’s workflow, trigger, goal, and exit criteria.

You can still search for and copy workflow items from an archived automation as well as start new emails from those in archived automations (under “Start from existing email”).

To remove archived content and prevent archived workflows from being reused in the future, [delete the automation](/messaging/send/automations/overview/#delete-a-campaign) instead.

## Unarchive an automation

To unarchive an automation, click the automation and select **Unarchive** from the *Actions* dropdown.

[![On an archived automation page, the automation actions dropdown is open. It shows two options - Unarchive and Delete.](https://docs.customer.io/images/campaign-actions-unarchive.png)](#95d6c6c1001e11727fbecebf55a0662b-lightbox)

After you unarchive an automation:

*   The automation moves back to the *Active* tab, and its status updates to `stopped`.
*   Any archived segment used in the automation’s trigger, filters, goal, or exit criteria becomes active. (You can filter for active vs archived segments on the segments page.)

## Duplicate an automation

Duplicate an automation to create your next automation faster or to run automations in parallel for experimentation. You can duplicate entire automations to preserve [settings](/messaging/send/automations/overview/) like trigger conditions, goals, and exit criteria in addition to their workflows. However, if you duplicate a webhook-triggered automation, we will generate a new webhook URL for the copied automation.

 You can only duplicate automations *within* a workspace

While you can’t duplicate an automation across workspaces, you can [copy your workflow](/messaging/send/workflows/copying-workflow-items/#copying-between-workspaces) to another workspace.

You can duplicate an automation that is in a state of `running`, `draft` or `stopped`. To duplicate an archived automation, you must first unarchive it. **No matter the state of the automation you’re copying, you must activate the duplicate automation before anyone can enter it.**

You can duplicate an automation from the automations page or an individual automation’s overview.

From the automations page:

1.  Click automation settings  inline with the automation you want to copy.
2.  Click **Duplicate**.

[![duplicate-campaigns.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/duplicate-campaigns.png)](#26801fdffe3a8b0a718874408d59e53f-lightbox)

From an individual automation’s overview, click the *Actions* dropdown and select **Duplicate**.

[![duplicate-campaigns-overview.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/duplicate-campaigns-overview.png)](#7ec321881877cba427d6adf7f67fed01-lightbox)

The duplicate automation uses the original automation’s name prefixed with `[COPY]` and appears at the bottom of the automation list in a `draft` state. You need to activate it before profiles can enter the duplicated automation.

[![duplicate-campaigns-entry.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/duplicate-campaigns-entry.png)](#a137f4059580b624ca2c39426b4e4cc9-lightbox)

### Duplicate legacy segment-triggered automations

In April 2025, we introduced the [attribute or segment trigger](/messaging/send/automations/triggers/#triggers-with-segments) as a more flexible version of our legacy segment trigger. If you duplicate an automation that uses the legacy segment trigger, the copy continues to use the legacy trigger, which is processed differently than the latest trigger type. [Learn more about the differences](/messaging/send/automations/triggers/#differences-between-triggers-attribute-or-segment-vs-segment-change) to determine if you want to keep the old behavior or switch to the new one.

You can change a legacy segment trigger to the latest trigger by selecting the trigger on the canvas, clicking **Change trigger type**, and selecting **Attribute or segment**.

If you keep the legacy segment trigger, here are the options for editing it.

Segments are based on audience criteria—[attributesA key-value pair that you associate with a person or an object—like a person’s name, the date they were created in your workspace, or a company’s billing date etc. Use attributes to target people and personalize messages.](/journeys/people/manage/attributes/) your audience has, events they’ve performed, messages they’ve received, etc.

You can choose one or more segments that your audience is **in** or **not in**. If you haven’t created a segment yet, you can click **Create a new data-driven segment** to set conditions for a new segment.

[![An image of the right hand panel that appears after you click Choose Segment on step 1 of creating a segment-triggered automation. The panel is titled Segment conditions and shows a dropdown selection of 'in' followed by an empty field with dropdown options including Create a new data-driven segment and a list of existing segments like Signed up.](https://docs.customer.io/images/segment-trigger-conditions.png)](#a592f9a3121813e22cc0ba8c1c8e7160-lightbox)

 You cannot create automations with only a *not in* condition

A segment-triggered automation must have at least one ***in*** condition for you to save it. We do not trigger automations solely off of profiles not belonging to a segment.

You can set multiple segments using *and* or *or* conditions. Use **and** to trigger automations only when profiles meet all of your conditions. Click **\+ Add segment condition** to create an *and* condition.

[![segment-triggers-and-conditions.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/segment-triggers-and-conditions.png)](#6d1b660c6afee287d8a8c7aa6cffbc3d-lightbox)

Use an **or** condition to trigger an automation based on a profile belonging to *any* of the segments. Add segments to the same field to create an *or* condition:

[![segment-trigger-or-condition.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/segment-trigger-or-condition.png)](#007583d9f2a853f67f9a875cf7d7801a-lightbox)

**Filter**

With segment-triggered automations, you can also add a segment filter. You should weave your segment filter criteria into your segment trigger conditions as much as possible, but if you find you cannot accomplish what you need without a segment trigger AND segment filter, [please let us know](mailto:win@customer.io)! We want to account for this use case as we develop the next generation of automations.

## Delete an automation

To delete an automation, click the automation and select **Delete** from the *Actions* dropdown menu.

[![On a running automation page, the automation actions dropdown is open. It shows five options - Stop now, Schedule stop, Archive, Duplicate, and Delete.](https://docs.customer.io/images/campaign-actions-dropdown.png)](#8759e1b0a09f5e86f7aadb5ba0c0d672-lightbox)

 Deleting an automation is a permanent action

When you delete an automation, we delete all message content, settings, and metrics. Consider [archiving](#archive-an-automation) instead of deleting if you want to save any part of the automation.

*   *   [Scheduled automations](#scheduled-automations)
    *   [Stop an automation](#stop-an-automation)
        *   [What happens if profiles are in the automation?](#what-happens-if-profiles-are-in-the-automation)
        *   [What happens to messages when profiles exit immediately?](#what-happens-to-messages-when-profiles-exit-immediately)
    *   [Restart an automation](#restart-an-automation)
    *   [Archive an automation](#archive-an-automation)
    *   [Unarchive an automation](#unarchive-an-automation)
    *   [Duplicate an automation](#duplicate-an-automation)
        *   [Duplicate legacy segment-triggered automations](#duplicate-legacy-segment-triggered-automations)
    *   [Delete an automation](#delete-an-automation)

Copy page

Copy page [Download .md](/messaging/send/automations/statuses.md)

Is this page helpful?

![](https://docs.customer.io/images/export-success.png) ![](https://docs.customer.io/images/export-failure.png)

# How can we make it better?

Close

Do you need help from Customer.io support?  No  
 Yes

What part of Customer.io do you need help with? 

How can we improve this page?

Email (optional):  Please provide a valid email address

 I am not a bot

 

We appreciate your feedback!

Our support team will contact you as soon as possible