Set up an automation

Work through General, Configuration and Overview, then activate the automation.

Open Automations in the sidebar, find the automation you want and press Edit. Setup has three steps, and you can move between them freely. Nothing is saved until you press Save.

Before you start, check the project selector in the navigation is showing the Google Ads account you mean. Settings are stored per account.

Step 1: General

General holds the schedule. Choose how often the automation should run:

Hourly runs every hour and takes no time of day.
Daily runs once a day at the time you pick.
Weekly runs once a week, on the day and at the time you pick.
Monthly runs once a month, on the day of the month and at the time you pick.

Times use the timezone of the Google Ads account, so a daily automation set to 09:00 runs at 09:00 in the account's own timezone rather than yours.

Leaving the schedule unset is allowed while you are still configuring. An automation with no schedule cannot be activated, so this is the one setting you have to complete before you finish.

Step 2: Configuration

Configuration holds everything that decides what the automation looks at and what it does. Settings are grouped into sections, and an automation only shows the sections it uses:

Filters narrow down which campaigns, keywords and search terms are included.
Date range sets how much history each run reads.
Thresholds are the gates something has to clear before the automation acts on it.
Analysis shapes the analysis itself.
Execution decides what the automation does with what it found.
Alerts decides whether a finished run emails anyone.

Every setting has a short description under its name explaining what it does, so you can work through a section without leaving the page.

Standard values

Most settings arrive already filled in with a sensible standard value, so an automation is usable without you tuning anything. Change the ones that matter for the account and leave the rest.

Once you save, those values belong to this account. Later changes we make to the standard values do not reach an account that has already been saved.

A field left empty means the setting is off or unrestricted. An empty campaign label means every campaign is included, and a threshold of 0 means that gate is not applied.

Turn on Email notifications to have a finished run email the people watching this account when there is something to report. Recipients are managed separately, under Notifications on the Automations page, so several automations can share one list.

Step 3: Overview

Overview is the summary. Each section is listed with the values currently in force, so you can read back the whole setup in one place before committing to it. Every row has an Edit button that takes you to the step that holds it.

At the top is the activation panel. A grey dot means the automation is not active. A green dot means it is.

Activating

Press Activate automation. From then on the automation runs on its schedule.

Two things have to be in place first:

A schedule. Without one, the button reads Set a schedule and takes you back to General instead. An automation with no schedule has nothing to run on.
A Flowboost plan. Without one, Flowboost tells you and offers to show you the plans. Your settings are kept.

Activation applies immediately and does not wait for you to press Save, so you can activate without first saving unrelated edits. Anything you did change is still unsaved until you save it.

Deactivating

Press Deactivate automation. Scheduled runs stop straight away. Settings, run history and any proposed changes from earlier runs are all kept, so activating again picks up where you left off.

Running it once, by hand

Run now runs the automation immediately against the selected account, whether or not it is active. This is the quickest way to see what an automation would do before you let it run on a schedule.

Run now needs a Flowboost plan. It is also disabled while you have unsaved changes, so the run always reflects the settings you can see.

Runs by hand are rate limited. If you trigger several in quick succession, Flowboost asks you to wait a moment.

What happens next

Each run is recorded. For an automation that proposes changes, the run is also where you review and apply them: see Review and apply changes.