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# Creating texting workflows


> Texting workflows send text messages to your leads automatically: you define a sequence once (the trigger, the messages, the delays) and Lineage runs it for every matching lead. This guide covers everything about building one, from a blank page or a template, through every setting, to turning it on.

Already have workflows running? Using texting workflows covers enrollments, reading workflow activity on a lead, and troubleshooting.

## The words you will see

* **Workflow**: the definition you build. A trigger, an ordered list of steps, and exit rules.
* **Step**: one message inside a workflow, along with its wait time.
* **Trigger**: what causes a lead to enter the workflow.
* **Enrollment**: one lead's run through one workflow.
* **Exit**: a lead leaving a workflow early, always for a reason (they replied, booked, changed status, or opted out).
* **Draft vs Active**: the workflow's on/off state. A Draft is saved but does nothing; only an Active workflow enrolls leads and sends texts.

The classic use case: a new lead comes in, gets a text immediately, then a follow-up two days later, then another a few days after that, and the sequence stops the moment they reply or book.

## Where workflows live

Workflows have their own page at workflows.lineagecrm.com. Two ways in:

* Go to the address directly and sign in with your Lineage account (if you are already signed in to Lineage, you land there signed in).
* From any lead's detail page in Lineage, click **Manage Workflows** in the Workflows panel.

The **Back to Lineage** button in the top left returns you to the main app.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/6/0/f/c/60fca70d990e540/a023-i01-workflows-list_ckz33f.png)

## Four ways to start

Click **+ New workflow** and pick your starting point:

* **Blank workflow**: an empty draft, built up step by step.
* **Start from a prebuilt flow**: ready-made flows you copy into your account and edit. The gallery includes **Lighthouse warm-up** (a warm-up drip for new leads over about a week), **Appointment Scheduled** (confirms a new booking right away, then reminds the day before), **Appointment Reminder** (reminders only: the day before and again two hours out), and **Monthly touch-base** (a single check-in you enroll leads into each month). Your copy is fully editable; the shared original never changes.
* **Clone with an authentication code**: paste a share code another Lineage user gave you and click **Look up**. You get your own editable copy of their workflow. (To share one of yours, see the sharing section below.)
* **Duplicate an existing workflow**: copy one of your own.

For a first workflow, starting from a prebuilt flow is the fastest way to see how the pieces fit.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/6/0/f/c/60fca70d990e540/a023-i02-new-workflow-dialog_1gxwulc.png)

## Name it, and let autosave work

Click the pencil next to the title and name the workflow something you will recognize in a list later, like "New lead warm-up". Everything saves automatically as you edit; the word **Saved** next to the title confirms it.

## Choose the sending number

The **Send from** card controls the number texts come from:

* **Smart number selection**: Lineage picks the best of your numbers for each lead automatically at the moment of sending, so you do not have to think about which number fits which lead.
* **A specific number**: every text from this workflow comes from one number you pick.

One behavior overrides both: if a lead already has a text conversation going with one of your numbers, follow-ups continue from that number so the lead's thread stays intact. Details in Using texting workflows.

## Pick the trigger

The trigger card decides when a lead enters. Click the trigger name to switch between six options:

* **When a lead is created**: enrolls the lead the moment it is created in your account. Every delay is measured from that moment.
* **When an appointment is booked**: enrolls when an appointment is saved; the first step can send a confirmation right away.
* **When an appointment is booked (reminders only)**: also enrolls on booking, but sends nothing immediately; every step is a reminder timed before the appointment. See the appointment section below.
* **When a lead's status or field changes**: enrolls when the value you are watching changes.
* **When a lead matches criteria**: enrolls every lead matching your conditions. On activation it sweeps your existing lead base and enrolls every current match; after that, new and changed leads are added as they qualify. Requires at least one condition.
* **When you add leads manually**: no automatic enrollment; you pick the leads yourself after activating. Right for one-off campaigns like a monthly touch-base.

**Narrowing conditions.** Most triggers accept optional conditions under **Narrow by** (the matches-criteria trigger requires at least one). A condition compares a lead field to a value, for example Source equals a specific vendor. Stack conditions with **+ Add condition**; a lead must match every one, exactly, to enroll.

**Re-entry.** By default a lead enters a given workflow once, ever. Where re-qualifying is possible, the workflow shows a re-entry control: an on/off switch ("Allow leads to enter this workflow more than once") or, on manual workflows, a limit on how many past runs a lead can have. Leave re-entry off for one-time sequences like a welcome drip.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/6/0/f/c/60fca70d990e540/a023-i03-trigger-dropdown_q8xkgr.png)

## Write the steps

Each numbered card on the timeline is one message. The first step sends immediately when the lead enrolls; every later step waits a number of hours or days after the previous step ("Wait 2 days after previous"). Click **+ Add step** to extend the sequence; a step can also be **Subscribe to a workflow** or **Unsubscribe from a workflow**, which moves the lead between sequences (for example, the last step of an intro drip subscribing the lead into a slower long-term nurture).

Inside each message step:

* **Insert variable** drops in a placeholder that fills with the lead's real details at send time. Available everywhere: first name, last name, spouse name, agent name (your name), city, state, zip, lead type, lead level, mortgage amount, and email. Appointment workflows add the appointment's date, start time, end date, end time, location, and title. A variable only fills if the lead has that field, so favor fields your leads reliably have.
* **+ Add attachment** attaches an image, sending the message as a picture message.
* **+ Save snippets** saves the message for reuse; saved snippets live under **Message Snippets** on the main workflows page and can be inserted into any workflow.
* The counter shows the character count and how many SMS segments the message uses. Keeping to one segment keeps texts cheap and tidy, and remember a long variable value can push a borderline message into a second segment.

**Who receives this message** (set once, applies to the whole workflow) picks which numbers get texted: **Phone 1** (the lead's primary), **Phone 2** (a second number, such as a spouse's), and optionally other US numbers that get a copy, like your own phone or an assistant's. A number the lead does not have is simply skipped.

Below the steps, a phone-style preview renders the entire sequence with sample details and the delays marked. Read it out loud once before activating; it is the fastest way to catch a message that sounds wrong.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/6/0/f/c/60fca70d990e540/a023-i04-message-step_1psnw2h.png)

## Set the exit rules

**Stop the sequence when** has three switches that pull a lead out early:

* **The lead's status changes**: any status change ends the enrollment, so the automation steps aside once real handling begins.
* **The lead replies**: an inbound text ends the enrollment; the conversation is yours from there.
* **An appointment is booked**: a lead who schedules stops getting drip messages.

Set them per workflow. In most sequences you want all three on: the goal of a drip is a reply or a booking, and the sequence should retire the moment it succeeds.

## Set quiet hours

**Quiet hours** keeps automated texts inside a sending window, applied in **the lead's local time**, not yours. The default window is 8 AM to 9 PM; change it, or set different hours per day with **Different hours each day**. A step that comes due overnight is not lost and not sent late at night; it waits until the window reopens.

The one exception: appointment reminders send at their scheduled moment even outside the window, because a reminder held until morning can arrive after the appointment. Opt-outs and do-not-contact are still always honored.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/6/0/f/c/60fca70d990e540/a023-i05-stop-quiet-hours_ar6h87.png)

## Appointment workflows

The two appointment triggers cover the booking moment and the run-up:

* **Confirmations** (When an appointment is booked): the first step sends as soon as the appointment is saved: "You're booked for Thursday at 2, looking forward to it."
* **Reminders** (reminders only): every step is timed backward from the appointment, and the step cards read "1 day before appointment" or "2 hours before appointment" instead of "wait after previous". Use the appointment variables so the reminder says the real time.

Reminder timing has two sensible behaviors worth knowing while you build: a reminder that no longer has enough lead time is skipped rather than sent late (booking an appointment two hours out gives a "1 day before" reminder no room to run, so it is skipped and the "2 hours before" reminder still sends), and reminders stay tied to the appointment itself, so changing the lead's status after booking does not cancel them.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/6/0/f/c/60fca70d990e540/a023-i06-reminder-steps_19skf22.png)

## Share a workflow with another account

Built a sequence worth spreading? Scroll to **Share with other accounts** and turn on **Make this workflow public**. That generates an authentication code you can hand to any other Lineage user; they clone it through **+ New workflow**, and their copy is entirely theirs (your edits do not affect their copy, and theirs do not affect yours). Variables travel as variables, so their agent name fills in, not yours. Anyone with the code can clone the workflow, so share it deliberately; switching it off stops future clones.

A cloned workflow arrives as a Draft. Whoever receives it should check the trigger conditions against their own lead sources, confirm the Send from number, read every message, and then activate.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/6/0/f/c/60fca70d990e540/a023-i07-share-card_1u4lbez.png)

## Activate it (the step people miss)

A new workflow is a **Draft**: saved, editable, and completely inactive. It never enrolls a lead and never sends a text, no matter how finished it looks. When you are ready, click the green **Activate** button at the top; the badge next to the title changes from **Draft** to **Active**, and that badge is the single source of truth for whether the workflow is running.

Once it is live, Using texting workflows shows you how to watch enrollments, enroll leads by hand, read workflow activity on the lead's page, and troubleshoot anything that does not behave.

## Need help?

* **Knowledge base:** [Browse all help articles](https://help.lineagecrm.com/en/)
* **Email:** [support@lineagecrm.com](mailto:support@lineagecrm.com)
* **Live chat:** Click the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of any Lineage page