Can't enable an automation rule? Here's why that might be.
When our system automatically disables an automation rule and prevents you from enabling it, it’s usually doing so to avoid problems as a result of that rule being enabled.
How to enable a rule
If one of your rules is disabled, you can tell from the 'Status' column on the Rules page:
You can try enabling it by clicking into it, then clicking 'enable' near the top left of the rule's page:
If your rule gets enabled, great! If not, keep reading for the potential cause.
Common reasons why rules are automatically disabled
The following are the most common causes for a rule being automatically disabled by our system. These are the types of conflicts you should check for within your account if you aren't able to enable a rule!
NOTE: While most issues occur among automation rules, visual automations may interfere as well. Don't forget to check those in your account for conflicts also.
Enabling the rule will create an infinite loop
An infinite loop is a set of actions that will repeatedly trigger each other in an endless cycle. Our system will automatically prevent a rule from being enabled if enabling it will cause infinite loop(s) to occur.
The following is an example of two rules that would cause an infinite loop if enabled simultaneously (note how the second rule is disabled—our system did that automatically):
In this example, if the tag Cooking Community gets added to a subscriber, then the tag Newsletter will be removed from that subscriber, as per the top rule.
However, if the bottom rule were also enabled, then the removal of the Newsletter tag would trigger an infinite loop by causing the Cooking Community tag to be re-added. This would, in turn, cause the top rule to get triggered again... and so on.
If one of your rules can't be enabled, make sure you check whether doing so would cause an infinite loop if it were to be active alongside any of the other automations in your account.
NOTE: We share a simple example above, but the system sometimes identifies very complex and/or nuanced infinite loops. If you have a number of rules that reference the same tag(s), form(s), or sequence(s) but can't identify the loop, please reach out to us for help. We've gotten very good at identifying these loops!
Too many automations are trying to do the same thing
If you have too many automations attempting to perform the same action(s), this can also cause issues within your account.
If your rule can't be enabled, make sure you check your other automations to see if the action you're trying to configure is already being handled elsewhere. If so, it would be better to set it up so that the repeated action is being handled separately in its own automation.
NOTE: When checking for duplicates, it doesn't necessarily have to be exactly the same—any set of triggers leading to the same actions could cause a potential conflict.
Still having trouble?
If the system is keeping one of your rules disabled and none of the above reasons apply, please reach out to us and let us know which rule it is in your account that you can't enable.