This article covers the reasons why an automation might be deactivated and ways to resolve the issue.
Why is my automation deactivated?
There are several scenarios that may result in a failed automation:
- Deactivated User
- Unauthorized User
- An assignee in a template no longer has board/item access
- Chosen Group/Column/Subitem/Board/Workspace Was Deleted
- Automation Loop
- Item Limit Reached
- Rate limit reached (too many automations were triggered at once)
- Deactivated Account
Jump to one of the sections above to learn more about how you can enable your automation again.
Deactivated User
In this case, the automation was set up by a user who has since been deactivated from your account.
How do I know when an automation has been deactivated for this reason?
You will not receive a notification stating that the automation was deactivated, but you can check which of your templates have been impacted by looking at your board's Automation page.
The inactive automation error will say: "The automation owner was deactivated from your account."
How can I enable this automation again?
Reactivate the team member
You have the option to reactivate the deactivated team member. To do so, first click on your profile picture and then click on Administration.
Click on Directory and then click on Users. Use the filter option to select just the Inactive users.
Then scroll to the right of the user's name to open the three dot menu. From there, click on Activate user.
Transfer ownership of the automations
To transfer ownership of automations from one user to another, the deactivated user needs to be reactivated in the account first.
After you have reactivated the user, you can navigate to Administration, click on the Directory tab on the left pane, and then click on Automations ownership:
Choose the current owner under the first dropdown menu and the new owner under the second drop-down. Click on Transfer ownership to complete the transfer.
Once you successfully transfer ownership, your automations will be reactivated.
You can also transfer ownership directly from an automation by clicking on the three dot menu and choosing the Transfer ownership option:
Set up a default owner
You can set up a default owner under the Keep automations running when users are deactivated in order to avoid any broken automations. Select a default owner from the dropdown meny and click on Save changes.
Create a new automation
You can create the same automation from scratch. Go to the board you want to use the automation on and follow the usual steps of creating an automation. To learn more about setting up automations, check out the Get started with monday automations article.
Unauthorized user
In this case, the user who created the automation:
- has been unsubscribed from the board that has permissions enabled, where they previously created an automation
- has had their permissions revoked from a column involved in the automation template,
- was changed from a team member or guest to a viewer, OR
- has had their ability to create automations revoked.
How do I know when an automation has been deactivated for this reason?
You will not receive a notification that informs you of this change. You can check which of your templates have been impacted on the board's Automation page.
The inactive automation error will say: "The user who created this automation doesn't have permissions to make changes on this board."
How can I enable this automation again?
Resubscribe the user to the board or give them permission to edit the requisite column
If the user has been removed from the board, you can resubscribe the team member to the board by clicking on the Invite button and then entering in their name or email:
You can learn more about the subscription option in the Board members article.
OR, if you're facing a column permission issue instead, you can change the column permissions. Click on the three dot menu of the column and then click on Settings.
Next, click on Restrict column editing, and then make the necessary changes from there. You can also click on Restrict column view to manage who can see the column.
Create a new automation
As mentioned above, you can also simply recreate your automation to start over. To learn more about setting up automations, visit the Get started with monday automations article.
Change the user back to a member or guest
If you changed the user to a viewer, thereby removing their ability to create or edit automation, you can change the user back to a member or guest. To do so, please follow these steps:
Click on your profile picture at the top right of the screen and then click on Administration. Click on Directory and then the Users tab. Click on the dropdown menu in the User role column and choose either Member or Guest.
Transfer ownership of all user automations
This action can only be completed by an account Admin and it is not board-specific. Admins have the ability to transfer all of the user's automations across all boards to someone else.
To transfer ownership of automations from one user to another, navigate to the Administration section and then click on Directory and then the Board ownership tab.
Choose the current owner under the first drop-down and the new owner under the second drop-down. Click on Add new owner to complete the transfer.
From here, you can also manage boards without owners.
Assignee no longer has board/item access
In this scenario, a user who is assigned in the "assignee" field of an automation template is no longer subscribed to the private/sharable board that it is on, or they do not have the item viewing permissions needed for this automation to run properly.
How do I know when an automation has been deactivated for this reason?
If a user who is assigned to the "assignee" field of an automation no longer has access to that Private or Shareable board, or they do not have the item viewing permissions needed for this automation to work, you will see a notification that will let you know that board permissions have changed.
You can also check which of your templates have been impacted in the board's Automations page.
How can I enable this automation again?
Resubscribe the user to the board/item and turn the automation back on
If the automation was deactivated due to the template assignee not having access to the needed board or item, according to your specific scenario, you can either:
- Resubscribe them to the Private or Shareable board
- Change your item viewing permission settings so that they can access the item needed for the automation to work
Once you've made either of these changes so that the template assignee has proper access to the board/item needed for the automation to run, you then need to reactivate the automation by toggling it back to On on the board's Automations page.
Edit the automation, reassign it to another team member, and turn it back on
In the board's Automations page, click on the three dot menu to edit the automation template, assign it to a different team member who currently has the needed access to the board or item, and then toggle the automation back to On.
Your chosen target was deleted
If your automation depends on a group or column that has been deleted, your automation will be deactivated.
If you're using a cross-board automation and the board selected in your automation template is deleted, your automation will be deactivated.
If you're using a template that creates a new board and a workspace was targeted and then deleted, your automation will be deactivated.
How do I know when an automation has been deactivated for this reason?
After the targeted workspace/board/column/Subitem/group is deleted and the automation is triggered, you will receive a notification that informs you of this change.
The notification will specify what the change was. You can also check which of your templates have been impacted in the board's Automation page.
For example, for a deleted board, the error message will say: "The selected board no longer exists."
How can I enable this automation again?
Restore the deleted workspace/board/column/group from the trash section
You can check your trash section for deleted elements. Deleted elements will be stored in the trash section for 30 days. To recover a deleted element, locate it in your trash section, click on the three dot menu next to the item you want to recover, and click on the Restore button.
Choose a new workspace/board/column/group
Click on the notification to view the impacted automation. This will allow you to edit the automation. Select a new workspace, board, column, or group (as required) to reactivate the automation.
Automation loop detection
If you are about to create an automation that will cause an endless loop, you will see the following warning:
You will have the ability to create the automation anyway, but know that it will cause an endless loop, which will cost you many automation actions and may cause slowdown amongst other issues. Proceed with caution!
Item Limit Reached
If your automation tries to create an item and the item limit has been reached, the automation will be deactivated.
How do I know when an automation has been deactivated for this reason?
If you've reached your item limit and the automation attempts to create an item, you will receive a notification that informs you that your automation is no longer active.
How can I enable this automation again?
For a review of how actions are defined, please check out the Automation and Integration Actions article. Once the limit is reached, if the automation has been triggered, it will not run. Instead, it will retry in the next minute. In this case, wait to see if the automation runs successfully at a later time.
Overall, each individual board has an item limit. Your limit per board is based on the tier of your account, whether Standard, Pro, or Enterprise. If you have reached your account's limit, delete or archive some items from the board and reactivate the automation in the board Automation page.
Rate limit reached
How do I know when an automation has been deactivated for this reason?
At the moment, we have a limit in place in which each automation/integration template can perform a certain amount of triggers and actions per minute.
This limit may be reached if:
- you have an automation loop in place causing automation templates to continue triggering
- you are using the API or webhooks to trigger your automations
- you use Batch Actions to trigger many automation templates at once
If you have an automation template that reached this limit, that template will be disabled and you'll see an error message appear in the board's Automation page.
How can I enable this automation again?
To enable this automation again, simply toggle it back on in the board's Automation Center. Additionally, we highly recommend identifying the reason the automation was triggered this many times in one minute (whether it was through API, webhook, automation loop, or batch actions) and adjusting your workflow accordingly so that this limit will not be reached in the future.
Deactivated Account
If your account has been deactivated for two or more weeks and you decide to reactivate your account, upon your return you will find that all of the automations on your account have been deactivated.
How do I know when an automation has been deactivated for this reason?
If your account has been disabled for two or more weeks, your automation will be deactivated. If the account is reactivated, the automation creator will see that their automation is Off and that there is a red message at the bottom of the automation. The error message reads: "Your automation was disabled due to your account being deactivated."
How can I enable this automation again?
To enable your automation, turn your automation On from the board Automations page.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our team right here. We’re available 24/7 and happy to help.