> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.salesfinity.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sequences and steps

> Creating a sequence, the four step types, timing, templates and merge fields, sending windows, reply actions, throttles, and enabling or pausing a sequence.

A sequence is a named cadence with an owner, a policy, a sending schedule and an ordered list of
steps. Open **Sequencer › Sequences › New** to create one, or duplicate an existing sequence to start
from its steps and settings.

## Step types

| Step                | What happens when it comes due                                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Automatic email** | The engine sends the email from the rep's mailbox inside the sending window. No task is created.                                                                            |
| **Manual email**    | A task lands in the rep's inbox with the email drafted from the template. The rep edits and sends it, or skips it.                                                          |
| **Call**            | A call task lands in the inbox and the prospect is added to the rep's dial list. Completing the call, or logging a call to that person from the dialer, completes the step. |
| **Task**            | A to-do with a note. The rep completes or skips it.                                                                                                                         |

Each step carries a display name, an optional note for the rep, and a priority (high, medium,
low) that orders the inbox. A call step can also carry a purpose, which the dialer shows on the
card.

<Note>
  A sequence needs at least one step before it can be enabled, and a sequence that contains any
  email step needs a working mailbox pool. See [Mailboxes](/sequencer/mailboxes).
</Note>

## Timing

Sequences run in one of two modes:

* **Interval** (default): each step waits a set time after the previous step completed. The wait is
  stored in seconds and shown in the editor as days and hours.
* **Date**: each step has a fixed date. Useful for event-driven campaigns where every prospect
  should get the same email on the same day.

Whatever the wait says, an automatic email is never sent outside the sending window. If a step
comes due at 2 AM in the prospect's timezone, it rolls forward to the next open hour.

### Sending window

The sending window is the days of the week and the start and end hour that automatic emails may go
out. The default is Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM.

| Setting                       | Meaning                                                                                                                                                           |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Timezone source: prospect** | Use the contact's own timezone when we have one, so the email lands in their morning. Falls back to the sequence timezone when the contact's timezone is unknown. |
| **Timezone source: account**  | Always use the sequence's configured timezone.                                                                                                                    |
| **Days of week**              | Which days are open.                                                                                                                                              |
| **Start and end hour**        | The open hours in local time, on a 24-hour clock.                                                                                                                 |

A sequence with no schedule of its own uses the team default from **Sequencer › Settings**.

### Manual steps that nobody gets to

A manual email, call or to-do can carry an **auto-skip delay**. If the task is still open that long
after it came due, the engine skips it and moves the prospect on, so one busy week does not stall a
whole cohort. Snoozing a task moves its auto-skip deadline with it.

## Templates and merge fields

Email steps use templates. A step can hold more than one template with a **weight**; the engine
picks by weight, which gives you an A/B split without a separate sequence. Template counters
(opens, clicks, replies, bounces, opt-outs) are tracked per template and per step.

Merge fields are written in double curly braces and are filled from the contact at send time:

| Field                             | Source                                      |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| `{{first_name}}`, `{{last_name}}` | The contact's name                          |
| `{{account}}`                     | The contact's company                       |
| `{{title}}`                       | The contact's job title                     |
| Custom fields                     | Any custom field on the contact, by its key |

A missing value renders as empty rather than as the raw tag. Preview a template from the template
list to see it filled with a sample contact.

**New thread**: by default a later email step replies in the same thread as the first email, so the
prospect sees one conversation. Turn on **New thread** on a step to start a fresh subject line.

## Reply actions

Two settings on the sequence decide what a reply does to the enrollment:

* **Primary reply action** (default: finish) applies to a reply from the prospect.
* **Secondary reply action** (default: pause) applies to a reply from someone else on the thread,
  such as a colleague or an assistant.

Each can be **finish**, **continue**, or **pause** for a number of days. Rules of engagement can
override these per outcome; see [Rules of engagement](/sequencer/rules-of-engagement).

## Tracking

Open tracking and link tracking are on by default per sequence. Turn either off for a sequence that
should send plain, untracked email. A custom tracking domain is set per mailbox, not per sequence.

## Throttles

A sequence can limit how fast it takes on people:

* **Max adds per day** caps how many new enrollments the sequence accepts in a day.
* **Capacity** caps how many people may be active in the sequence at once.

Enrollments that exceed a throttle are refused with a throttle reason in the enrollment preview,
and the sequence shows as throttle-paused until there is room. Neither throttle affects people who
are already active.

## Enabling, pausing and deleting

* **Enable** starts the engine for the sequence. Enable is refused if there are no steps, or if an
  email step exists and no usable mailbox is available to the sequence.
* **Disable** pauses every active enrollment with the reason "sequence disabled". Enabling again
  resumes exactly those enrollments. An enrollment a rep paused by hand stays paused across a
  disable and enable.
* **Duplicate** copies the steps and settings into a new draft sequence with no people.
* **Delete** removes the sequence. Enrollments are finished first; nothing keeps sending from a
  deleted sequence.

## Analytics

Every sequence has an analytics view with per-step delivery, open, click, reply, bounce and
opt-out counts, and a people view that lists each enrollment with its state and last event. The
**enrollment attempts** list shows everyone who was refused and why, which is the first place to
look when "my list of 200 only enrolled 140".