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Automations can listen for comments, DMs, story replies, internal contact events, digital product events. They can send DMs, Links, public comments, no-link responses, emails, custom workflow steps.

Leave the name blank and build your workflow. If a trigger keyword is set, LinkStack uses it exactly: youtube becomes youtube, and 238 becomes 238. With multiple keywords, it uses the first one. Without a keyword, AI chooses a short name of one to three words based on the whole automation, such as Hiking guide or Cart recovery. Names update in the background after meaningful saved changes, without slowing down editing or publishing. Enter your own name to stop automatic naming, or click the sparkle icon beside the name in the editor to regenerate it from the current canvas. Regeneration follows the same keyword-first rule, and that name stays fixed until you edit or regenerate it again. Keyword names need no AI call, and naming never uses your AI credits.

Click + on the workflow canvas. Browse Messaging, Contacts, Flow control, AI, or Integrations, or return to Recently used. Add note is a separate button at the bottom. Search actions checks names, descriptions, categories, apps, and aliases across every available category. Try DM, spreadsheet, or start. Social message names follow the workflow’s Instagram or Messenger channel. Clear the search to return to the previous category. Results include only actions available for the current workflow.

Yes. To use a saved group, open Audience → Segments and apply the segment, then select its matching contacts. Open a contact in Audience or Inbox and choose Subscribe to automation, or select contacts in Audience or conversations in Inbox and use Subscribe to automation. Use the Inbox checkboxes to select loaded conversations, or select across pages and snapshot all matching results in Audience; 500 selections are processed in batches of at most 250 with progress and individual outcomes. Choose a published, active automation and start immediately, after a delay, or on their next message for Instagram and Messenger. Instagram defaults to On their next message. An optional delay after the next message starts when that message arrives. Starts are processed by the scheduler, usually within a minute. Existing enrollments are kept unless you choose Restart from the beginning. Social contacts need only a saved identity on the automation's connected account, not a name or email. Unavailable or paused contacts and conflicting handlers are skipped with individual reasons. Retry failed items from the same dialog. Instagram and Messenger DMs wait for a reply when the 24-hour messaging window is closed, even if it was open when you subscribed. The dialog warns you before subscribing. Choose how long each start/window reply wait can last, or Never. Open the dialog again to see subscriptions and unsubscribe; this stops pending work, including unfinished linked paths. One incoming message resumes only the oldest matching wait. Enrollment does not grant email consent or bypass delivery rules, and automations needing purchase/order message variables or product matching require their original event.

Yes. Add a Start Automation step, select another workflow, and connect Then to keep the current path going. The selected automation starts for the same contact using its published steps, without requiring its normal comment, keyword, or other trigger. Publish and turn on the selected automation first. Its Triggers list shows the workflows that can start it, including unpublished and paused connections. Social targets must use the same connected account. Messaging windows and manual contact pauses still apply; the automatic competing-trigger cooldown does not block this explicit start. Loops are blocked, and retries do not create duplicate runs. If both workflows wait for a reply, one reply resumes only the first matching wait. Starting a new test of the source workflow for the same contact stops unfinished runs from its previous tests, including linked automations and their delays. Live runs and unrelated tests stay unchanged.

Instagram comment, DM, and story workflows need a connected Instagram account before they can go live. Digital product purchase and checkout-started workflows use LinkStack product events instead.

Yes. Create nested Collections in Automations, then drag automations into them or select several and choose Move to Collection. Each automation has one direct Collection. Parent Collections roll up automations, triggers, clicks, and analytics from every nested Collection. Deleting a Collection leaves its automations unassigned and moves its child Collections to the top level.

Connect a professional Instagram Business or Creator account. In Inbox or Automations, choose Connect account or Connect Instagram, then select Instagram in the account picker and approve profile, comment, and message access. The picker shows only messaging integrations: Instagram and Facebook for accounts with Facebook messaging enabled. You can also connect through Settings → Integrations. Personal accounts need to switch to a professional account first. Disconnecting keeps your saved connection and history. Reconnecting the same Instagram account refreshes that connection and keeps its conversations attached. Any old revoked duplicate is consolidated into the active connection. Failed messages are not automatically resent, and existing pauses stay in place.

Open Automations → New automation to browse workflow templates such as Send link on keyword, Send link on story reaction, Require follow before link, and Auto-reply to DMs plus AI-assisted workflow creation.

Yes. Use specific keywords like link, shop, or price, or let the automation respond to any word depending on the workflow.

Yes. Choose selected content and add the post, reel, story, or live IDs you want the automation to watch.

Yes. Attach a Link so routing and analytics stay connected after the DM. In an Instagram or Messenger Send Message step, choose Card for an image, title, short description, and up to 3 buttons. Add up to 10 cards to send a swipeable carousel. Each button can Open Link, Open website, or Perform actions. Use a product copies a published product into an editable card; later product edits do not change it. For comment triggers, send an opening text and wait for a reply before the Card while initial card private replies await provider verification.

Choose Create an Instagram automation on Home. First choose Connect Instagram or Continue without Instagram; a ready account shows Continue to workflow. Then the editor opens a draft at Share. Choose a Smart Link or a published, shareable product, set comment keywords and posts in the trigger settings, and edit the message and button. Try the conversation preview, choose Review & publish, then confirm Publish workflow. Instagram must be connected before publishing. Continue on my own hides the guide; Continue setup reopens it. Save & finish later keeps your draft. Failed Instagram connection returns let you retry or continue without it. Preview sends nothing; live Test in the normal editor sends real DMs using a one-time code.

Yes. Use a single audio block in the first Send Message step; no text is required before it. Upload MP3, M4A (including Apple Voice Memos), WAV, AAC, Ogg, or WebM up to 25 MB. LinkStack prepares uploaded recordings as AAC/M4A for Instagram automatically, including files already saved in workflows. Pasted external URLs must already use an Instagram-compatible audio format; upload the file if Instagram reports an unsupported attachment format. The first comment private-reply step must contain one text, image, or audio block. Put additional messages in a later Send Message step. Later steps continue when the person's 24-hour DM window is open, or wait until they reply or use a qualifying quick reply or message button. Opening a website link does not open that window.

LinkStack queues comment-triggered private replies per connected Instagram account instead of firing them all at once. It uses a conservative 600-per-hour pace with short burst headroom, then automatically requeues a reply if Meta still asks it to slow down. Replies also stay paced after a temporary interruption, even when their scheduled times have passed. Queued replies stay Pending and send while Meta's seven-day private-reply window remains open; expired replies are skipped instead of forced through. The trigger's public confirmation waits until Instagram accepts the DM; failed or skipped DMs do not post it. If Instagram explicitly rejects that confirmation with a temporary server error, LinkStack retries just the public reply up to three times, after one, five, and fifteen minutes. It does not resend the DM. Missing comments and uncertain send outcomes are not automatically retried.

For post and Reel comments, each person can trigger the same automation once per post for each configured keyword. That allowance has no time reset, and only a qualifying comment uses it. Another post or a different keyword has its own allowance. Any-comment triggers allow one trigger per person, post, and automation. Incoming DM keyword triggers allow one start per person, automation, and keyword every five minutes. Extra comments or DMs are silently suppressed: no error, extra reply, queued send, or monthly trigger charge. Suppression does not extend a DM cooldown. Capitalization and extra text do not reset an allowance. A comment or DM matching several keywords uses all matched allowances and is suppressed if any is unavailable. Existing conversation pauses and active-workflow rules still apply; replies, button taps, and delivery retries inside an existing workflow continue normally.

Yes. Use different keyword paths in a custom workflow, or create focused automations for separate offers. Keep the words obvious so people do not have to decode your caption.

Yes. Story reply workflows can send DMs, Links, tags, fields, or quick replies. Use keyword matching when a story is likely to get casual replies.

Yes. Add a data collection question inside a Send Message step, set the reply type to Email, save it to the contact profile, and optionally tag the contact after a valid reply.

Yes. Save the answer to a User Field, then add a Condition to choose a path based on its value. Conditions can also check tags, tracked link clicks, Instagram follower count, follow status, and verification. On Growth, open a Condition in an Instagram workflow and choose Verification, then Verified or Not verified. Combine it with Follower count in the same card using All conditions or Any condition. Missing verification data matches neither Verified nor Not verified; use Verification status is unavailable to handle it explicitly. Draft changes apply to live runs after publishing. Quick replies and buttons can also send people down different paths.

On Growth, connect Send Message to Wait for link click, choose the Open Link or Open website button, then connect Clicked to Add Tag. The branch resumes once when that button is clicked in the same workflow run, including a click recorded before it started waiting. Set a timeout in minutes and connect Timed out for a fallback, or use 0 for no timeout. Publish your changes for new runs. Existing completed runs and historical clicks are not backfilled. The Was clicked condition only checks clicks already recorded when it runs. A link click does not reopen Instagram's messaging window.

Runs are times a trigger started the automation. Sends are messages LinkStack attempted and the provider accepted as sent. On Home, the Automations section shows Runs, Clicks, CTR, and Leads for the selected date range. Leads counts email and phone details collected by automations, not every new Audience contact. Choose View analytics for the full report with the same date range. The Automations table shows runs, link clicks, and CTR across all versions for the selected Results range: Today, 7 days, or 30 days, with 30 days selected by default. Collection totals and the analytics icon use that same range. Monthly automation usage remains a separate billing count. An individual workflow report defaults to All versions, showing combined step history on its current published layout. Moving or editing the same step retains its clicks and other results across versions. Deleting and recreating a step or button starts separate history. Use Version to select an earlier published version and see its saved diagram and results, including removed steps. Headline triggers, sends, clicks, CTR, replies, leads, and drop-off stay combined across all versions for the selected date range. The version selector only filters workflow details. The date range stays selected, drafts are excluded, and changing the report does not change running automations. Home, All automations, and individual reports keep combined totals, including leads collected by steps removed from later published versions. Older activity without a reliable version reference appears only in combined reporting. CTR is total tracked link and button clicks divided by total runs, falling back to total sends when no runs were recorded; version percentages are never averaged. Collection CTR uses the same calculation. Repeated clicks can make CTR exceed 100%. If runs are high and sends are low, check permissions, trigger setup, review rules, and the messaging window.

Common causes are inactive automation status, stale Instagram connection, the wrong selected post or Reel, a keyword mismatch, an expired 24-hour window, paused contact automations, or an inactive Link.

A public comment alone does not give LinkStack access to that person's Instagram messaging profile. LinkStack keeps the comment and available username, and waits for a DM, story reply, or message-button interaction before requesting the profile. Previously available profiles can still be used. Missing profile details do not prevent an eligible comment-triggered reply. If Instagram denies profile access, LinkStack pauses repeated lookups and tries again when the person sends a new message.

LinkStack saves an available reel or post thumbnail when a new Instagram comment enters your Inbox, then displays that saved copy after Instagram's image URL expires. This happens automatically. Older comments are not updated, and an image that is already unavailable when the comment arrives may still be missing. If saving the thumbnail fails, the comment still arrives with the original image URL.

Yes. In the web Inbox, use the image button to attach a GIF up to 8 MB; LinkStack keeps the original animation. Incoming GIFs and stickers display inline when Instagram supplies their media. If Instagram marks a message unsupported without providing the media, Inbox keeps a placeholder with View in Instagram instead of hiding the message. Older saved GIF attachments can display too, but previously omitted messages are not restored automatically.

When Instagram returns a structured message, LinkStack shows its saved text, optional image, and button labels in the conversation instead of calling it a file. Images and buttons are display-only in Inbox, so reviewing a sent message cannot register an automation click or act as the contact. Empty or malformed provider messages keep a generic attachment fallback.

If Create in the AI composer times out or cannot finish a draft, choose Create again, or Recreate if a suggestion is already shown. Your prompt and current draft stay in place, and generating a suggestion does not send it. For a failed sent reply, read the error under it, fix the connection or pause, then choose Retry message beside it. Saved manual and AI direct replies can be retried after refreshing Inbox. The retry uses the current connection and updates the original message with its saved text, attachments, and buttons. AI retries still respect automation pauses and messaging windows. Reconnecting or resuming does not automatically resend old failures. Workflow delivery retries remain in Activity. If the retry cannot be confirmed, check Instagram or Facebook before sending again.

Automated message bubbles show Automation followed by the automation name. AI-generated replies sent from an AI workflow step show AI agent followed by the automation name. LinkStack also repairs older Instagram sent-message echoes when they match a saved automation delivery exactly. Manual replies and messages sent directly in Instagram stay unlabeled, and an older message without a reliable match is never guessed.

Likes are temporarily unavailable in LinkStack Inbox because reactions are not working reliably. The heart controls are hidden. You can still read and reply to messages as usual.

Open the conversation's contact sidebar and choose Manage tags under Contact Tags. Choose Remove beside an assigned tag, or search for an existing tag or create a new one and choose Add tag. Each change saves right away; choose Done when finished. Removing a tag only removes it from this contact and keeps the tag available for others.

Yes. Select conversations in Inbox, then choose Add tag or Add custom field. Check individual conversations or use the header checkbox to select all loaded conversations. Scroll to load more; existing selections stay checked. Changing filters clears the selection. Tags use the existing tag and folder picker and keep other tags in place. For a custom field, choose an active field, enter a value, and choose Apply; this replaces that field's value on the selected contacts. Each contact is included once, even if you select several of their conversations. Changes save in batches of up to 250 contacts. For bulk tag and field edits in Inbox or Audience, changes and pending automation events save together. Automations run in the background, and temporary processing failures retry automatically. If a request fails, keep the dialog open and retry the same change to skip completed batches. Each batch saves completely or stays unchanged. If the connection drops after saving, the batch may already be complete.

Open Inbox → Filter and choose General filters, System fields, Custom user fields, or Instagram. Search finds fields across all categories. Add up to eight conditions, enter values, then Apply filters; every condition must match. General filters includes Contact tag. Custom numbers support greater than and less than, dates support before and after, and fields support empty checks. Choose Tag A–Z or Tag Z–A in the sort menu to order conversations by each contact's first alphabetical tag. Untagged contacts come last; matching tags use newest messages first. Sorting applies across every page. Contact tags are separate from conversation labels.

Yes. Apply your filters, labels, channel, search, status, and sort order, then choose Save view. Enter a name and optionally check Use as my default inbox view. Views are saved to your account across browsers. Choose one from Inbox view. Edit saved view lets you rename it, update it with your current settings, change the default, or delete it. An edited indicator means the current settings have not been saved to that view. All conversations clears the view, and explicit filters or direct conversation links take precedence over your default. Deleting a view leaves all conversations and tags in place.

Open Settings → Inbox, then use Inbox sources to turn a connected messaging account On or Off. Changes autosave. Analytics-only and disconnected accounts are not listed. Turning a source Off removes that network from Inbox and its attention counts, but it does not disconnect the account, delete conversation history, or stop automations. Turn it On again to restore those conversations.

System events start hidden and load only when Events is on. Choose Events beside the reply controls to load recent events, then Load earlier events for more history. Choose Events again to hide them. LinkStack remembers your choice across chats, refreshes, and later visits in the same browser until you change it. Clearing site data resets Events to off; the preference does not sync between devices. Messages and automation behavior stay the same.

Visible Inbox tabs update automatically. Returning to a tab or reconnecting catches up messages, conversation lists, and counts. Inbox starts with 10 conversations and loads more as you scroll. If updates are interrupted, choose Retry in the status notice. Contact details load when their panel is visible; event history loads when Events is on.

Open the conversation and choose Hide chat. To hide several at once, select them with the Inbox checkboxes and choose Hide chats. Confirm to hide each selected contact and all their chats. Bulk hides save in batches of up to 250 unique contacts; if a batch fails, keep the dialog open and retry to skip completed batches. Inbox opens the next visible conversation in your current list, or the previous one if you reached the end. If none remain, the conversation panel clears. The chat and contact leave your normal Inbox and Audience views and stay hidden when that person messages again. Find them with the Hidden filter in Audience when you want to unhide them. Select Don't show again before confirming a hide to skip this warning for later hides in the same browser; clearing LinkStack's browser data restores the warning.

In Inbox and Automations, the account picker shows Facebook only for approved messaging beta accounts, and selecting it connects the Page for messaging. Under Settings → Integrations, most creators can choose Analytics only for Facebook Page profile, content, and Insights in Media Kits; it does not add Messenger access. Approved accounts can also choose Messaging & automations for Messenger Inbox, replies, and Facebook comment/DM workflows when enabled for the account, or Messaging + analytics when the same Page should do both. Existing access remains until you disconnect the account.

For accounts with Facebook automations enabled, connect a Page under Settings → Integrations → Facebook → Messaging & automations. Create a blank workflow, choose a Facebook comment or Messenger trigger, add your reply, and Publish. Comment workflows can send one opening private reply within seven days and an optional public reply. Further DMs wait for the person's response and its 24-hour messaging window. Reconnect if LinkStack asks for comment permissions or Page events. Facebook profiles and Groups are not supported.

Yes. A message sent to a connected Facebook Page creates or updates that person in Audience, even when no automation matches. Open Audience, choose Filter by, then Integration → Facebook to find them. A contact with both Facebook and Instagram identities appears under either integration. Hiding Facebook under Inbox sources does not remove the contact or stop future capture.

Facebook sent the message but did not return the sender's profile. Open Settings → Integrations and confirm the Page has Messaging access. Approved messaging beta accounts can reconnect and choose Messaging & automations or Messaging + analytics; other accounts can connect Facebook for analytics only. LinkStack shows Facebook contact instead of Unknown contact as a safe fallback and retries the saved conversation when you open it after reconnecting. If the name stays missing, LinkStack's Meta app may still need Business Asset User Profile Access.

By default, a manual Inbox reply pauses new automations for that contact for 30 minutes. Change the toggle or cooldown under Settings → Inbox → Conversations. Pause automations is the only persistent hold for a contact or conversation. Taking over or removing an AI agent stops its current work without blocking future eligible triggers. Older AI takeover holds appear as pauses; use Resume automations in Inbox to clear them. Unsent queued Instagram and Facebook workflow replies also wait while the contact is paused and recheck about once a minute. Pause checks do not consume additional sending capacity. They can resume after the pause ends or you resume the contact, provided the messaging window is still open. A public reply blocked while approving it stays in Review; resume the contact and approve it again. Messages already accepted by the provider cannot be recalled.

Open Settings → Integrations and find Comment Memory under the connected Instagram account. If it is locked, click Unlock with Growth to open the in-app upgrade prompt without leaving Settings.

Product workflows can start after payment is completed or when a customer begins checkout before payment. Use purchase triggers for delivery and customer tagging. Use checkout-started triggers with a delay for abandoned-cart follow-up.

Open Email → Flows → New email flow. Choose a digital product purchase, abandoned checkout, specific date, or contact tag as the trigger. Add emails, pick a built-in starter or saved reusable template from Email → Templates, or write each message inline. The same saved templates work in broadcasts and workflow Send Email steps. Advanced editor is the default; Simple editor changes the toolbar while preserving the full layout and undo history. Selecting a template copies it into the step, so edits do not overwrite the source template. Timing is relative to the trigger for the first email and the previous email after that. Save draft keeps changes private; Publish flow starts new enrollments. Open workflow editor saves your draft and opens the same automation for branches, conditions, and other actions. Flows with advanced steps stay in that editor so nothing is lost. Emails require subscribed contacts and sender details in Settings → Email. A scheduled audience is selected once when the date becomes due; publishing the same date again does not enroll it again.

Yes. Open Integrations in the workflow action picker and browse the Google Sheets actions. Browsing does not require a connection. Select an action to check the connection; if disconnected, LinkStack saves your draft and opens the Google connector. After connecting, choose the action again under Integrations. An existing Sheets step also has Connect Google Sheets or Reconnect Google Sheets; sign-in returns you to that step. Insert row adds contact details, custom fields, tags, or typed values to a worksheet. Get row by value finds the first exact match in a lookup column and saves selected columns to contact fields; blank cells preserve existing fields. Update row changes only mapped cells in the first matching row and never inserts a new row. Lookups search up to 10,000 data rows. Use the Spreadsheet dropdown to select an authorized file, Choose another spreadsheet to browse Google, or Paste spreadsheet URL from the same menu. With no authorized files, opening the dropdown launches Google's picker directly; cancel the picker to reach the URL option. Select a worksheet with row-1 headers, configure the mappings, and publish. Older connections may need reconnection and approval of each workflow spreadsheet before browsing. Workflow tests skip Sheets actions. After header changes, refresh columns, review all mappings, and publish again.

LinkStack queues Sheets steps when the connected Google account or shared Google project needs more capacity, then resumes them automatically. The workflow stays on the same step, and waiting does not use up its retry allowance. If Google still returns a rate-limit error, LinkStack retries up to five times with increasing delays. You do not need to restart a workflow while it is waiting.

Yes, if each visit starts a new workflow run. Insert row prevents repeat writes for the same step within one run, including retries, but does not deduplicate separate runs by contact ID or email. Update row can change an existing row using a unique value such as Contact ID or email; it does not insert a row when no match exists.

Get row by value brings spreadsheet data into LinkStack. For example, match a contact's email and save the row's membership tier into a custom field for later workflow steps. Set the lookup first, then add only the columns you want to save. Update row uses the same setup and changes only the columns you select. Sources include core contact details, social profile details, timezone, locale, subscription status, contact dates, tags, custom fields, and workflow values. Get row can save names, email, phone, social username, social platform, timezone, locale, and custom fields. IDs, profile image URLs, subscription status, and activity dates are read-only; use tag actions to change tags. Help icons explain matching and empty-value behavior.

Yes, on Growth. In the workflow builder, click +, open Messaging, and choose Send Email, or search for it. It is available for Instagram and Facebook conversation triggers, product triggers, and supported contact triggers. You can collect an email in Send Message and follow it with Send Email in the same workflow. The contact must have a saved email and an active email subscription. Save complete sender details, including your mailing address, under Settings → Email before publishing or sending. LinkStack adds the sender footer and unsubscribe link automatically. Email → Flows provides a simpler email sequence editor.

The Send Email step is skipped when sender details are missing, the contact or email cannot be found, the contact is unsubscribed, blocked, or deleted, the address is suppressed after a bounce or complaint, or a checkout recovery no longer applies because the purchase completed. Open the run to see the recorded reason.

Product workflow emails can use tokens such as {{product_title}}, {{product_url}}, {{download_url}}, {{order_id}}, and {{first_name}} when the event context includes those values.

Use Purchase follow-up to email the download and tag a customer after a paid order. Use Abandoned cart recovery to wait after checkout starts, then email the product page link if the buyer did not finish.

Yes. Create a custom workflow from a plain-English prompt, then use the AI workflow assistant on the canvas to add steps. It can draft Instagram messages and product or contact-event email workflows. You can combine these triggers in the editor. Review, validate, and test the draft before publishing.

Use Contact Events for a tag added or removed, a custom field set or cleared, or a contact deleted. For tag triggers, search your saved tags in the Tag dropdown, or choose Create new tag to save and select one. Any tag matches all tag changes of the selected kind. Select a specific tag or field to keep the trigger scoped. Add them to an existing Instagram or product workflow, or create a new workflow. Any matching trigger starts the workflow; the triggers do not all need to happen. DMs still require an open conversation, and emails require a subscribed contact. New-contact, system-field, sequence subscription, and calendar/date triggers are not currently available.

Yes. On Automations, open the automation's More actions menu and choose Unpublish. Inside an automation, choose Unpublish beside its status or publishing controls. Active and paused automations return to Draft and stop starting new live runs. Your saved steps, draft edits, activity, and analytics stay available. Open the editor and publish when ready, even if the workflow has no changes. Messages already sent cannot be recalled.

Yes. Archiving removes it from the active list without pretending it never existed.

Your plan allowance counts automation trigger starts, rather than the number of saved workflows or individual messages in a run. The dashboard and pricing page show the current monthly allowance. An unlimited allowance removes the monthly trigger cap; Instagram messaging windows and rate limits still apply. AI credits and email availability are separate.