All 12 ways an automation can start, grouped by what they react to.
A trigger is the entry point — it decides which records enroll, and when.
Every automation starts with exactly one trigger, fixed when you create it. You first choose a record type — company, person, opportunity, project, task, activity, product, quote, or ticket — then the event on that record that should fire the flow.
The picker is an editorial list grouped into three categories so the right trigger is easy to find. All 12 triggers below are reachable.
React to records being created or edited.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Record created | Fires the moment a new record is added. |
| Record updated | Fires whenever a record is edited. |
| Field changed | Fires only when one specific field changes. You pick the field from an inline list when you choose this trigger. |
React to how contacts interact with your forms and campaign emails.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Form submitted | Fires when a lead-capture form is submitted. |
| Email opened | Fires when a campaign email is opened. |
| Email clicked | Fires when a campaign email link is clicked. |
| Email replied | Fires when a campaign email is replied to. |
| Email bounced | Fires when a campaign email bounces. |
| Email unsubscribed | Fires when a recipient unsubscribes. |
Run on a schedule or ahead of a date, with no record-level event needed.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Time based | Runs on a schedule you set. |
| Inactivity | Fires when a record goes quiet for a while. |
| Date approaching | Fires a set number of days before a date on the record. |
A trigger can fire for the same record more than once — re-enrollment decides whether it actually enrolls again.
By default an automation is set to Once ever, so a record runs through it a single time even if the trigger keeps firing. If you want it to run again — say, every time a field changes back and forth — switch the re-enrollment setting to Every time it matches or Once per period. Re-enrollment is covered in Building an Automation.