Workflow Automation Limits, Safety Nets and Troubleshooting in CrmLeaf
All editions. Requires the Workflow Automation add-on. Your plan sets how many active rules, conditions and actions you can have.
Availability: All editions. Requires the Workflow Automation add-on. Your plan sets how many active rules, conditions and actions you can have.
Overview
Workflow Automation has built-in limits and safety nets that keep rules from running away, and every failure is recorded on the Activity tab rather than shown to the person saving the record. This article lists them and what to do when something goes wrong.
How It Works
| Limit | What happens |
|---|---|
| Active rules, conditions per rule, actions per rule (set by your plan) | Saves and switch-ons that exceed them are refused with a message naming the limit. Rules over a newly lowered limit keep what they have and stay editable, but cannot grow |
| Rules triggering rules | An action that changes a record (Update a field, Assign, Create a task) is itself a record save and can fire other rules. A rule is never run twice for the same record in one chain, and a chain stops at three rules deep. Past that, nothing more runs and a Skipped - Automation chain too deep row is recorded |
| Bulk changes | If one bulk update changes more than 200 records, no rules run for them; a Skipped - Too many records changed at once row is recorded for each active rule |
| Time | One run stops starting new actions after about 45 seconds; the current and later actions are recorded as failed or not run |
| No retries | A failed run is recorded and not repeated, so a notification or webhook is never sent twice |
| Webhooks | Public addresses only; a few seconds per call |
| Which records | A rule limited to a workspace ignores records from other workspaces and records a Did not match - Record is in another workspace row |
What rules cannot do. There is no delay, wait or schedule: a rule fires when the save happens. There is no OR between conditions. A rule does not act on deletions, on Employees, or on records that already existed before the rule was made. There is no duplicate button.
Prerequisites
- Access to the Activity tab (the view permission).
For Administrators
Step 1: Check the basics first
What to do: If a rule never runs, check in order: the add-on, whether the pause banner is showing, whether the actions you need are switched on, your permissions, and the record type (see Getting Started with Workflow Automation). Then check that the rule is Active, and that the record was saved after the rule was made.
What to verify: No banner is showing and the rule is switched on.
Step 2: Open Activity and read the Why column
What to do: Find the run and match its reason to the table below.
What to verify: You know which limit or failure you are dealing with.
Expected Result
You can tell whether a rule did not run because of a limit, a setting that is off for your account, a condition that did not match, or a failed action, and know what to change.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- Failures never interrupt the person saving the record. Open the Why column on Activity.
- Rules run in the background, so a busy company may see a few seconds' delay between a save and its actions.
Troubleshooting
| Why (as shown on Activity) | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| Nobody to notify | The recipient resolved to no one (the record has no owner, or the role has no active users). Choose a specific user or fix the record |
| Webhook address refused | The address is private, unresolvable, or not an http or https address. Use a public address |
| Webhook returned an error | The other system answered with a failure code. Check it and its headers |
| A step failed | An unexpected error; details were recorded for support. Tell support the rule name and time |
| Ran out of time | Too much work or a slow endpoint in one run. Split the rule |
| Automation chain too deep | A ring of rules triggering each other. Review them |
| Too many records changed at once | A bulk edit above the limit; nothing ran |
| Record type switched off | Unticked in the settings, or off for your company |
| Record is in another workspace | The rule is limited to a different workspace |
| Rule has no conditions | A rule set to "matching conditions" has none, for example because it was edited elsewhere. Add one, or set it to every record |
| Paused by the platform | Automations are not switched on for your account. Contact CrmLeaf support |
| Action switched off by the platform | That kind of action is switched off for your account, so it did not run; the rest of the rule still ran. Contact CrmLeaf support to switch it on |
| Record was deleted | The record was deleted before the rule could run |
| Record type or action unavailable | The record type or the action no longer exists |
Frequently Asked Questions
I created a rule and nothing happened. What do I check?
Is it Active? Is the pause banner showing? Was the record saved after the rule was made? Rules do not act on records that already exist. Then open Activity: a Did not match row means the rule ran and the record did not qualify; no row at all means the trigger never evaluated (wrong trigger, or an "updated" rule whose field did not change).
Can two rules loop forever?
No. A rule is never run twice for the same record in one chain, and a chain stops at three rules deep.
Will a failed notification or webhook be sent again?
No. A failed run is recorded and not repeated.
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Our support team answers on business days. Reference WFA-07 so we can jump straight in.