Stage Automations can now run after a delay instead of immediately. Open a stage's Automations settings, set “When should this run?” to After a delay, and choose a delay length in minutes or hours. Immediately is still the default, but it's worth adding a short delay to any automation that sends a message or notifies a Review Panel — it gives you a window to cancel the action if submissions were moved to the stage by mistake. While an action is waiting to run, the submission shows a pending indicator you can open to see or cancel it.
What is a delayed automation?
A delayed automation is a Stage Automation set to run a set amount of time after a submission enters a stage, rather than the moment it arrives. Every automation — sending an email, updating a score, moving a submission to a Review Panel — has a “When should this run?” setting. By default, this is Immediately, so the action fires the instant a submission lands in the stage. Setting it to After a delay holds the action for a chosen number of minutes or hours before it runs.
The delay is per automation, not per stage. You can leave one automation on a stage set to Immediately while another on the same stage runs After a delay.
How do I set a delay on a stage automation?
Open the project and go to Stages.
Select the stage that holds the automation you want to change.
Open Stage settings → Automations.
Choose the automation to edit (or create a new one).
Under “When should this run?”, select After a delay.
Enter a number in Delay and choose the Unit — Minutes or Hours.
Click Save Action.
The automation now waits for the delay period to pass before it runs. If a submission leaves the stage before the delay ends, the pending action is cancelled automatically.
Why should I add a delay instead of leaving it immediate?
A delay acts as a failsafe. If you bulk-move hundreds of submissions to a stage by mistake, an Immediately automation fires for every one of them before you can react. A delay of even a few minutes gives you time to catch the error and move the submissions back before anything sends.
Email notifications — a delay stops a mistaken bulk move from emailing every affected creator.
Sending to a Review Panel — a delay lets you undo a bulk Send for Review before reviewers are notified.
Score updates — a delay gives you a window to fix a stage assignment before a score change is applied.
It's recommended to build in a delay of at least a few minutes on any automation that emails creators or notifies a Review Panel.
What does an admin see while an automation is pending?
Open the submission and look at the header next to the status labels. A lightning bolt icon with a count — for example, “1 pending” — shows how many automations are waiting to run on that submission. Click it to open Automation activity, which lists each pending action, what it does (for example, Update score), and when it's due to run.
Can I cancel a pending automation?
Yes. Open Automation activity from the pending indicator on the submission and click Cancel next to the action you want to stop. Once cancelled, the action won't run — you'd need to move the submission out of and back into the stage to schedule it again, or trigger it manually if a manual option exists for that action.
Immediate vs delayed — which should I use?
Use Immediately when… | Use After a delay when… |
The action is low-risk if it fires by mistake, such as an internal tag update. | The action is hard to undo once it's sent, such as an email to creators. |
You're moving one submission at a time and can check it before saving. | You bulk-move submissions and want a window to catch mistakes. |
Speed matters more than a safety margin, for example an internal status change. | The automation notifies a Review Panel or triggers Send for Review. |
Best practice
Set a delay of at least a few minutes on any automation that sends an email to creators.
Add the same safety margin to automations that send submissions to a Review Panel.
Keep low-risk, internal-only automations (tag or status updates) set to Immediately if speed matters more than a safety window.
Check Automation activity on a submission before assuming an automation has already run.
Remember a pending action cancels itself if the submission leaves the stage before the delay ends — you don't need to cancel it manually in that case.
Test a new delayed automation on a single submission first, so you know exactly when it fires before relying on it for a bulk move.