Troubleshooting automations that don't send

An automation that says it is on, and nothing in anyone's inbox. A correct skip and a broken rule look the same from the outside, so this is the checklist, in the order the answer usually turns up. Automations covers what each rule does; this covers why one did nothing.

Start at Recent activity

Recent activity at the foot of the Automations page lists the last 25 runs: when, which automation, which portal, what happened, and a status.

Sent (or Done, for tasks). The rule ran and the email left. What happened after that is in Email tracking & log.
Skipped. The rule reached that person and correctly did nothing. The reason replaces the recipient on the row.
Failed. We tried and it did not work. The reason is on the row and in the badge's tooltip.
No row at all. The rule never ran for that person. Start with the next section.

When there is no row

The rule is off. New automations start off, and so do seven of the system emails: the document expiring, document expired, rejected upload, time to ask again, document approved, upload not reviewed and everyone has finished emails. The outstanding requests reminder and invite not opened start on, so check nobody has switched them off. If a chase has never once fired, this is the usual reason.
Nothing has triggered it yet. Most triggers wait on something a person does: finishing their requests, registering, sending a file. Joining through a self-registration link fires Self-registration, not Someone is added.
The day has not come, or has passed. The day-count triggers are checked once a day and match one day only. Switching a rule on does not catch up on people whose day has already gone by.
It already ran for that person. Each action runs once per person per portal (once per document on the document triggers). Requests not completed goes further: it starts once per person per portal across the system email and every rule on that trigger, so a rule of yours never fires for somebody the outstanding requests reminder already reached, and sending the invite again does not start it over. Its later emails come from the Wait steps inside that one rule.
The person has no email address. On Requests not completed, somebody with no address is passed over without a row.
The portal is closed. Nothing that emails the person runs on a closed portal, including the document chases, because their link no longer works. Upload not reviewed still reminds you.
The invite was never emailed. Invite not opened only watches invites that were sent by email. A link you handed over in person or by text has nothing to report.
The chase already ended. Each document chase stops for its own reason: the file was replaced, rejected, set to Ignore on the Requests screen, lost its expiry date, or the request was archived. The full list is under "When a rule stops" in Automations.
Your account is deactivated. Nothing sends while it is, whether it was closed for inactivity or is waiting out a deletion you asked for.

Why a run was skipped

A skipped row names the reason. The ones you will see:

The person has no email address. Add one to their contact record.
Your daily email limit is reached. It is 300 emails a day across the account.
Your monthly email allowance is used up.
An invite went out in the last five minutes. Send their invite waits five minutes between invites to the same person.
They no longer have an active link. They were taken off the portal.
No section by that name is limited to named people on that portal, or they were already in it (Give them a section).
They already hold that status, or the status has been archived or deleted (Set their status).
Skipped while the account was deactivated. An email that came due while the account was deactivated is not sent later, even once you restore it. Check the list when you are back in and send anything that still matters by hand.

A skip does not use up the person's one run. Fix the cause, and the next time the trigger fires for them the rule sends normally. On a day-count trigger that next time only comes when its clock starts again, such as a new invite or a new file.

Your own email address being unverified stops automations too. Nothing is emailed from an account until its address is verified, and each held send shows on Email activity as not sent, with that reason. See verifying your email address.

Why a run failed

An attached file could not be read. The email is not sent without it. Check the file is still in your Files library.
There is no recipient. A Send organizer email on a portal with no Organizer set, or an Organizer contact with no address.
The address was refused. It is on the suppression list because it bounced or reported spam before, or it failed our check that the address exists. The reason on the row says which.

A failed run counts as the person's one run, so the rule will not try them again on its own. Send to them by hand once you have fixed the cause.

If a day-count chase keeps failing to start, it tries again twice, then stops and raises a bell notification saying which automation, for whom, and why.

When a later step never arrives

A rule with a Wait checks again before each step after it, and drops the step if it no longer makes sense. This is why a two-step chase can send its first email and never its second:

The person was taken off the portal.
Requests not completed: they finished during the wait, which is the point of the chase.
Invite not opened: they opened the link.
A document chase ended for one of the reasons above.
You switched the automation off, or removed that step from it.

When it says Sent but nobody got it

Sent means the email left WorkZerk. Open Email tracking & log to see whether it was delivered, bounced or marked as spam, then check the address and the person's spam folder.

Testing a rule

Open the rule and use Send test to me on an email action. It sends the email with sample details to your account address, with [Test] at the start of the subject. That proves the wording, not the trigger. To test the trigger, put yourself on a test portal with your own email address and watch Recent activity.

Getting help

If Recent activity shows nothing, the rule is on, the person has an address and your allowance is fine, open a help ticket with the rule's name, the portal and the person's email address. We can see more than the last 25 runs, which usually settles it in one reply.