Inside an automated outreach batch: the send steps, statuses, preview, and stopping it
When you open a single automated outreach from the list, the Outreach Schedule panel on the right shows the ordered steps Essential will send. Each step is one message on one channel, either an Email or an SMS, shown with the date and time it is set to go out.
Steps run in order, working toward the service's due date. Alongside each step is a status. Scheduled means the step has not gone out yet. Sent means it was delivered. Bounced, Spam, or Failed mean the message did not reach the recipient and appear in red.
Once the whole batch is done, steps that never needed to send show as Cancelled. Job approval, quote, and invoice outreach also add a final follow-up task step if no one responds, shown as Created once that task exists.
At the top, the batch shows its overall status (Scheduled, In Progress, or Complete) and the next send time. If outreach is still pending, a Preview link opens the exact email or text content that is about to go out. To halt a batch that is still running, use the Stop Automation button on the right.
It appears for quote and invoice outreach, and for job approval once at least one step has sent. Stopping prevents the remaining steps from sending. For job approval it also expires the customer's approval link: anyone who opens it afterwards sees that the link has expired and who to contact, instead of a form.
If you follow a Job Approval form link while signed in to Essential, it opens the live form. Viewing it or entering answers does not lock an unsent form to a version. Using Organize these details or submitting starts the normal live response flow and pins the form; submitted responses are real. Customer-portal visits still count as customer visits.
Where to find it: Automated Outreach, then click any row to open its detail page. The Outreach Schedule panel is on the right; the Preview link and Stop Automation button appear there.
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