Add a post automatically when a case reaches a stage

A milestone automationMilestone automation An automation that posts a chosen feed template on a case each time the case moves into a chosen stage. tells clients their case has moved forward. You pick a stageStage A step a case moves through, such as Intake or Demand sent, which the firm names and describes and which shows on the case page., and each time a case moves into it, the Virtual AssistantVirtual Assistant An automated team member that posts welcome messages, check-ins and stage posts for the firm; its posts carry a Virtual Assistant badge. adds your post to the case.

1. 1

   Write the post

   Create a feed template for the stage and publish it, such as "We've sent the demand to the insurance company." The post doesn't name the stage, so write one template per stage. The starter template Case Milestone Reached has a placeholder to fill in: duplicate it and edit the copy.

2. 2

   Open the Milestone tab

   Go to Automation › Milestone. It lists each automation's Stage, Case type and Feed template.

3. 3

   Add the automation

   Choose NEW. In New milestone automation, choose the Stage, the Feed template and the case typeCase type A category for cases, such as general, used to aim automations at the right cases. under Case type, which starts at All case types, and choose Save. Each stage and case type can have one: if one already exists, Automation already exists says so and nothing is saved.

4. 4

   Try it on a sample case

   With an All case types automation in place, move one of the two sample cases into the stage. The post appears, and nobody is emailed or texted.

What happens next

Each time a case moves into the stage, from another stage, from no stage or back from a later one, the post appears on its feed. That holds wherever the stage changes: the Admin Panel, the case page, an import or the API. An import that moves 200 cases posts on all 200.

Nothing posts when a case is created at the stage, saved again at the same stage, taken off its stage, or already closed. A case closed and moved in the same save still posts. So a case created at Intake never gets Intake's post; to greet new clients, see Welcome clients automatically when they join a case.

The post notifies the people it mentions, or else everyone on the case: by email, or by a text without the post's words for people who have only a phone number, unless they've turned off notices of new posts. It's written in the language of whoever made the template, and readers who use another language see a translation.

An All case types automation and one for the case's own type both post, so the case gets two posts; use one unless you want both. Adding an automation doesn't post on cases already at the stage. To change one's stage, case type or template, choose Edit on its row; to stop it, choose Remove.

If something goes wrong

• Your template isn't listed. Publish it, and keep Bots in its Who can use this template?. See Fix a template that's missing from an automation.
• "Can't delete this stage yet", with "1 milestone automation uses it". A stage an automation uses can't be deleted. Choose View automations, and change that automation's stage or remove it first.
• "This template is used by an automation. Remove it from the automation first, then delete it." Give the automation that uses the template another one with Edit, or remove it, first.