Tips for using the Automation editor
Here you can find a few useful tips about the Automation editor:
- You can drag and drop nodes to the canvas:
- To connect two nodes, drop a node on the other one.
- To insert a node between two nodes, drop it on the arrow connecting the two nodes.
If you hover your mouse over the Undo or Redo icon, then your last action will be displayed.
- The Finish node is added to the last nodes automatically, so you don’t need to add it to the program manually.
Canvas Action bar
On the canvas Action bar, you can:
Bulk actions
You can easily select a branch or multiple nodes and perform bulk actions in the Automation editor such as:
Selecting a branch or nodes
After selecting a branch or multiple nodes, you can perform the following bulk actions at the same time.
Notes:
- You cannot separate child nodes from parent nodes. Although you can select a child node without moving the parent node on the canvas, you cannot delete or copy it. Parent and child nodes in Interactions: Decision splitter node and its Yes and No nodes, A/B test node and its A, B, etc. nodes, Participation check node and its Yes and No nodes. Parent and child nodes in the Automation Center: Recurring filter entry point and its Segment node, Entry from program entry point and its Wait node, Filter switch node and its Include and Exclude nodes, A/B splitter node and its A, B, etc. nodes.
- When you select a parent node only, you can move it on the canvas without moving its child nodes but when you copy or delete it, then the child nodes will be copied or deleted, too.
- You can undo or redo multi-node actions.
Moving the selected branch or nodes
- To move the selected branch or nodes, drag and drop them as you need.
Copying and pasting a branch or nodes
Notes:
- You cannot copy entry nodes.
- Copied nodes keep their original settings and the selected resources. If you would like to copy the branch structure, we recommend copying it before selecting the resources or configuring the settings. If you copy the Send email node in an Automation Center program, then it will keep the selected email campaign instead of copying it. As a result, the Email campaigns cannot be used multiple times in the same program. validation message will appear and you need to select another campaign.
- You can copy and paste nodes only within the same program.
- Copied nodes are available on the clipboard, so you can paste them multiple times.
- You can only copy nodes that are directly connected to each other. For example, if you have the nodes A-B-C-D in your program, then you can copy the following variations at the same time:
- A-B-C-D
- A-B-C
- A-B
- B-C-D
- B-C
- C-D
Before pasting a branch or nodes, you need to select a node where you would like to insert the copied nodes.
Deleting a branch or nodes
Notes:
- Bulk deletion is only available in In design programs.
- When you delete branches of the A/B splitter or A/B test node, please keep in mind that these nodes need to have at least 2 branches.
Deselecting a branch or node
- To deselect a node, click it again.
- To deselect a branch or multiple nodes, click X next to the line displaying the number of selected nodes or click an empty spot on the canvas.
Hotkeys
| Action | Mac hotkeys | Windows hotkeys |
|---|---|---|
| Select nodes | Hold Command + click the node | Hold Ctrl + click the node |
| Delete nodes | Backspace | Backspace |
| Copy nodes | Command+C | Ctrl+C |
| Paste nodes | Command+V | Ctrl+V |
Adding comments to nodes
You can easily share your thoughts with your colleagues or take notes by adding comments to nodes in the Automation editor.
Notes:
- Before adding a comment, you need to save your program.
- Comments cannot be longer than 500 characters and a comment thread can contain up to 100 comments.
- When you copy a program, the comments will not be copied to the new program.
- Comments can also contain links. If you click a link, it will open in a new tab.
- If a user has been deleted, then deleted is displayed next to the comment.
- You can add comments and change the node settings at the same time.
The comment badge above the node shows you the number of comments in the thread. You can view the comments by clicking the comment badge. The comment badge is frequently refreshed so you can see whether colleagues added new comments during the session without reloading the page.
If you would like to receive email notifications when another user mentions you, check the Also in Email checkbox under Mentioned in an Automation Program comment on the Notification Center > Other Notification Settings page.
- Edit your comments by clicking the Edit icon next to the comment and selecting Edit. If you hover your mouse over the timestamp, then you can see the last time when the comment was edited.
- Delete your or others’ comments by clicking the Delete icon next to the comment and selecting Delete.
You can check the commenting permissions of a user role as follows:
- Navigate to Management > User Management.
- Select the Roles tab and click the Edit icon next to the role you would like to view.
- To display the permissions, click the Commenting tab.
Giving custom names to nodes
You can give custom names to your nodes. It may come in handy when the selected resource has a long or less descriptive name and you would like to understand your program at first glance. Another scenario might be that the asset you want to use is not yet ready. In this case, you can give the node a custom name, and you'll see in the validation message that there is no resource selected yet.
Notes:
- If you would like to see the node’s original name (i.e. segment or campaign names), just delete the custom name.
- If you have not selected a resource yet and not given a custom name to your node, then its name will be displayed in grey italics.
- Custom names will appear in copied and distributed programs, as well.
To rename nodes in the canvas, select a resource, then double-click the node and give it a name.
To restore the node’s original name:
- double-click its name and delete it,
- click the Undo icon.
Disabling or enabling nodes
You can easily disable channel nodes in Interactions and Automation Center regardless of the program’s status. As a result, contacts will skip the deactivated nodes without triggering a message. You can reactivate disabled nodes anytime.
To disable or enable a channel node, proceed as follows:
- Double-click the channel node you would like to disable or enable.
- Click the node status button in the top-right corner, then select the required action.
- Click OK, select Save to finalize the changes, then confirm the updates if your program’s status is Scheduled, Active or Finished by clicking Save & Apply.
If you do not save your program, then the changes will be lost.
Result
Disabled nodes will become light-blue:
- on the canvas,
- on the Program Reporting page and the “This node is disabled” message is displayed in the Node Details widget when you click the node.
Overriding conflicting changes
When changes are made to your program in the background (e.g. you modify something in another browser tab or someone else updates the program), then the following confirmation message appears.
In this case, you can choose from the following options:
- Discard My Changes - Your recent changes will be lost.
- Review Changes - You can check the changes that were made in the background.
- Override Changes - Your recent updates will be saved and the changes that were made in the background will be discarded.
Keyboard shortcuts
You can see the most important keyboard shortcuts for the Automation editor in the following table.
| Action | Windows keyboard shortcut | Mac keyboard shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Delete the selected item | Backspace | Delete |
| Undo last action | Ctrl+Shift+Z | Command+Shift+Z |
| Redo last action | Ctrl+Shift+Y | Command+Shift+Y |
| Move node selection to the left | Left Arrow | Left Arrow |
| Move node selection to the right | Right Arrow | Right Arrow |
| Move node selection up | Up Arrow | Up Arrow |
| Move node selection down | Down Arrow | Down Arrow |
| Save program | Ctrl+S | Command+S |