The "Then" step defines what happens when your automation triggers. This is where you specify the actions, like sending a Slack message, creating a task, or updating a field.
You can add multiple actions to a single automation rule.
Check out our Automations: Examples and Best Practices article for tips and practical examples to optimize your automation workflows.
Adding an Action to an Automation
2) Select the "Then" option and select Next.
3) Choose the desired action type (described below).
4) Customize the action parameters as required (depending on the action).
5) Save the action when you're finished, and your automation is ready to be saved and published.
Action Types
There are several actions available for your automation. Let's explore each one:
Send Slack Message
Sends a message to a Slack channel when the automation triggers.
📌 Requirements: The organization-wide Slack integration must be connected first.
Send Email
Sends an email to specified recipients to notify them of work progress.
You can customize the email content and recipients. This is useful for notifying people who don't receive Productive notifications.
📌 Note: For those in trial mode, you will only see your own email listed in the recipient field. Once you move beyond the trial, you can send emails to any address and also use relative person fields (such as the person who triggered the automation or the budget owner) as recipients.
📌 Tip: To send emails from a custom email address (instead of the default noreply@outbox.productive.io), set up a custom sender email address in your settings.
Create Comment
Adds an automated comment to a task, deal, budget, or invoice.
📌 Note: The comment action is limited to the same object type as your trigger. For example, if your trigger is task-based, you can only comment on tasks, not on budgets, deals, or invoices.
Create Task
Creates a new task with specified details. Options:
Make the task visible to everyone or private to specific subscribers (indicated by a 🔒 icon)
Set custom field values as part of the task creation
👉 Learn more about Setting Custom Field Values for Tasks.
📌 Example: Automatically create a task in Project B whenever a milestone in Project A is completed, ensuring relevant team members across projects stay informed.
Create Subtask
Creates a subtask under an existing task.
Available when: Your trigger is task-based. You can define the details of the subtask, such as:
Parent task (e.g., the one in the trigger)
Subtask assignee and subscribers
Start and due dates
Status
Title and description
Using this action can be useful when you want to break larger tasks into smaller, actionable steps automatically.
📌 Example: When a task status changes to "Revisions required," automatically create subtasks like "Review client feedback," "Update design files," and "Send updated version for approval." This ensures the revision process is consistent and no steps are overlooked.
Update Task
Updates an existing task with new values.
Available when: Your trigger is task-based or you've added a Create Task action earlier in the automation.
Options:
Update any task field, including custom fields
👉 Learn more about Setting Custom Field Values for Tasks.
Create To-Dos
This action allows you to trigger the creation of to-dos within tasks or deals.
For tasks and deals, you can specify the TO-DO content (i.e., what needs to be done) and assign responsibility by selecting an assignee.
In the case of deals, you also have the option to set a due date, including relative dates (e.g., "in 3 days" or "next Monday").
Both tasks and deals allow you to assign TO-DOs to a specific person, a relative assignee (e.g., the person who triggered the automation or the project manager), or leave them unassigned.
Create Invoice
Automatically generates an invoice based on your automation conditions.
👉 Learn more about Creating Invoices with Automations.
Send HTTP Request
Available with any trigger, this action lets you send API requests to external services or back to Productive. It can be used to share data, trigger events in other tools, or update information within Productive.
To configure this action, you’ll need to define the following:
Target URL – the endpoint where the request will be sent
HTTP Method – choose between POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE
Content Type – specifies the format of the data (e.g., JSON)
Body – the content or data included in the request
Headers are optional and can be added if needed for authentication or custom configurations.
📌 Note: If you want to use this action with Productive’s own API, refer to our Open API documentation.
Update Employee
Updates an employee's profile information.
Available when: Your trigger is employee-based.
Options:
Update any existing employee field
Change their absence approval policy
Change manager
Deliver Budget
Delivers a budget by setting its delivery date.
Available when: Your trigger is budget-based, or you use the Find action after a time-based trigger to identify specific budgets.
Options:
Set a fixed delivery date
Set a relative delivery date (e.g., "in 3 days" or "next Monday")
👉 Learn more about automating budget delivery here.
Start AI Agent
Runs the AI Assistant in the background as part of your automation.
When triggered, the AI Assistant executes the natural language prompt you define. It understands the automation context (trigger and affected item) and can perform actions like managing tasks or creating comments.
Important:
Actions are executed in the automation creator's name
Actions follow the creator's permission scope
Automations with this action are private by default (marked with a 🔒 icon) and visible only to the creator
Using Dynamic Fields
When configuring Slack messages, emails, comments, or task descriptions, you can include dynamic values from previous automation steps (like task names, deal owners, or budget amounts).
👉 Learn more about attribute mentioning here.
Note: When setting up your automation, ensure you pay attention to the numerical values assigned to tasks, deals, budgets, and projects.
This attention to detail will help you accurately specify which tasks or projects should be included in the actions and conditions of your automation rules.