Run

How-to Reviewed · not yet fact-checked

Goal

A live sequence changed without disrupting the contacts already moving through it — and a clear picture of which contacts each change reaches.

Preconditions

An existing sequence with contacts in it. Read How a sequence executes first if you are not sure where your contacts currently sit — the Current step column in the sequence's People tab shows the step each contact is waiting for.

The rule behind every live edit

Edits are forward-looking. A change to a step's content or delay applies only to the contacts that have not reached that step yet; contacts already past it keep what they received. Restructuring is narrower still: you cannot rework a stretch of the sequence that contacts have already completed, which is why steps append to the end rather than insert at the top, why switching to conditional means duplicating, and why a per-contact wording change lives in the Preview tab instead of the template. Deleting a step is the one change that reaches everyone.

Change the steps

Add a step

1. Open the sequence's Steps tab and add the new step at the end of the steps list.
2. If the sequence is finished, change the contacts' statuses from Finished to Active. This is required — the sequence will not start sending new emails unless the contacts are active.
3. To reactivate only some people, filter first and activate the result. A filter that excludes the Replied, Bounced, and Opted out contacts leaves you with just the ones worth another touch.

Once the contacts are active, the sequence resumes sending. A step appended to a running sequence picks up a default delay based on its position — the position-to-delay table is in How a sequence executes.

Delete a step

1. Open the sequence and go to the Steps tab.
2. Hover over the step you want to remove and click the bin icon.
3. Click Delete in the pop-up window.
4. Confirm the action if some contacts have already completed the step.

Deletion is allowed in almost every case — including steps that already have contacts processed through them, steps with many A/B variants (including variants beyond Z, such as A1 and A2), and bulk deletion of a step together with all steps below it. There is exactly one blocked case: deleting Step 1 when Step 2 is an email without a subject line. Step 2 would become the first email in the sequence, and the first email must include a subject, so you see the message "Cannot add step — email subject is missing. The first email in a sequence must include a subject." Add a subject to Step 2 first, then delete Step 1.

What a deletion changes elsewhere:

Switch an existing sequence to conditional

Because steps cannot be changed once contacts have completed them, the way to add conditions to a live sequence is to duplicate it and carry the untouched contacts across.

1. On the Sequences page, click the three dots next to the sequence and select Duplicate.
2. Add the condition steps to the duplicated sequence.
3. In the People tab of the original sequence, apply the "Current step is Throttled" smart filter to find the contacts who have not progressed yet.
4. Move those contacts to the new sequence.

Throttled contacts are the ones queued for Step 1 that have not received anything, so moving them loses nothing. Contacts already deep in the original sequence stay where they are and finish under the old structure. See Sequence steps for what conditions can branch on.

Change what one contact receives

Edit the email for one contact

1. Open the sequence and go to the Preview tab.
2. Choose the contact from the list.
3. Change the email body on the right — you can edit text and links, upload images, and attach files.
4. Save the changes.

The edit is not reflected in the original sequence step, so the template and every other recipient stay as they were. Three limits apply: customized emails do not support CC; variables cannot be modified here, because Reply populates them from the contact's card and any alteration is reverted; and when customizing an A/B test email, only one variation can be changed. See Templates and variables.

Add CC or BCC to a sequence email

1. Open the Steps tab of the sequence.
2. Click the template you want to edit.
3. Choose the CC or BCC option.
4. Type the email address and press Enter on your keyboard.
5. Click Save.

CC and BCC are set per template. You must add them to each sequence template separately — there is no way to apply a CC or BCC to the whole sequence at once.

Add a BCC to every email in the account

1. Open the Emails tab of your Settings.
2. Expand the BCC section.
3. Choose whether the BCC applies to outgoing or incoming emails.
4. Enter at least one email address that should receive the BCCs, and press Enter to populate it.
5. Click Save.

There is also an option to exclude the Out of Office, Bounced, and Automatic emails — check the box if you want to keep those out. This setting adds a BCC to all emails, so you cannot scope it to one particular sequence. See Configure account settings.

Add a custom opt-out link to the email body

1. Go to the Steps tab of the sequence.
2. Click the step to open the editor.
3. Select the place where the opt-out link should sit.
4. Click the Insert/edit link button.
5. In the Url field, enter {opt-out}.
6. In the Text to Display field, enter the link text — for example, here.
7. Click Ok to insert the link.

Repeat for the other sequence emails that need one.

Fix contact state

Clear a Bounced status and resend

Reply assigns the Bounced status automatically once an email bounces. To let the sequence try the address again, remove the status:

1. Go to the People tab.
2. Select the contact.
3. Click the Change status icon.
4. Hit − next to the Bounced status.
5. Apply the changes and confirm.

Clearing the status does not repair the address. A hard bounce means the address is permanently rejected, so fix or enrich it on the contact record before resending — the mechanics are in What happens when an email bounces.

Find things while the sequence runs

Which mailbox sends to a contact

Each contact has a sending email attached — the mailbox the sequence sends from.

1. Go to the People tab of the sequence.
2. Click Create new filter.
3. Choose the sending-email property.
4. Pick the email account and click Apply.

The conditions available are Equals (contacts with that exact sending address), Does not equal (contacts with any other sending address), Is set (contacts with any sending email), and Is not set (contacts with no sending email assigned). Only mailboxes linked with the sequence appear in the picker — if the one you need is missing, add it in the sequence settings first. How Reply picks the account in the first place is in Mailbox selection.

Contacts who clicked

Click tracking is off until you turn it on, and it is not retroactive.

1. Open the sequence and go to the Settings tab.
2. Expand the General Settings section.
3. Turn the Link tracking toggle on.

Clicked contacts then appear in their own section of the sequence's People tab. To see clickers across all sequences, apply the equivalent filter on the People page — see Filter contacts. The Stats and Reports tabs also carry a clicks column in the Brief and Detailed views.

Manage the People-tab columns

Resize a column by hovering over its title until the resizer appears, then dragging it to the width you need. To reorder or remove columns, open the People tab, click the Settings icon, then click and hold a column to move it, or click the Delete icon to take it out of the view. The same menu has a button for adding a column back. If the columns you have checked do not fit the screen, use the horizontal scroll.

Work across many sequences

Bulk actions

Select the sequences on the Sequences page and use the action icons.

Archiving is permanent: an archived sequence keeps its metrics but only deletion remains available on it. See Sequences.

Selected sequences also have a Tracking settings panel that changes Plain Text Mode, Open tracking, and Click tracking for all of them at once. Each row carries + (enable for all) and − (disable for all) controls rather than a toggle, which avoids ambiguity when the selected sequences are in mixed states. All three rows start neutral, and a row you do not touch is left unchanged. Selecting + Plain Text Mode immediately disables the Open tracking and Click tracking rows; selecting + Open tracking or + Click tracking immediately disables the Plain Text Mode row, and saving may first ask you to confirm when a selected sequence currently has Plain Text Mode enabled. Selecting − on any row never triggers a conflict. Every changed sequence records the change in its own sequence log.

See a teammate's sequences

With Team Edition in Public mode, open the Sequences tab in the header, click the initials to expand the drop-down menu, and pick the teammate whose sequences you want to see. In Private mode, only the Team Owner can see other team members' sequences.

Without Team Edition, log into the teammate's account instead: click your initials in the header, pick the teammate, and click their profile. Only users with the Admin role can log into other team members' accounts. To check or change a role, go to Team management, open the Members tab, click the role, and pick another one. See Permissions and roles.

Verification

After appending a step, confirm the contacts you want to continue show Active rather than Finished, and watch the Current step column advance. After deleting a step, check that the Steps tab shows the structure you expect and that no trigger points at the removed step. After a Preview-tab edit, reopen the same contact and confirm the custom body is still there and the template is unchanged.

Common mistakes

• Appending a step to a finished sequence and expecting sending to resume on its own — the contacts stay Finished until you set them back to Active.
• Reactivating everyone in a finished sequence, including the Replied, Bounced, and Opted out contacts. Filter them out before changing statuses.
• Editing a step and assuming the change reaches everyone — it only reaches contacts that have not passed that step.
• Adding a custom opt-out link to the body while a mailbox-level opt-out text is still configured, which produces two opt-out links per email.
• Adding CC or BCC to one template and expecting it on every step — CC and BCC are per template.
• Enabling link tracking after a send and expecting historical clicks — tracking starts from the moment the toggle goes on.
• Archiving a sequence you still need. Archiving cannot be undone; move the contacts to a list first.

FAQ

Can I add a step to a sequence that has already finished?

Yes. Add the step at the end of the steps list, then change the contacts' statuses from Finished back to Active — that second part is required, or the sequence will not send anything new. Filter first if you only want to reactivate part of the audience.

Can I insert a step before Step 1 while the sequence is running?

No. On an active sequence with contacts in progress the insert-before-Step-1 control is hidden and steps can only be appended at the end. See How a sequence executes.

What happens to contacts when I delete a step they already completed?

They keep their history in Reports, but the step stops appearing in the People History and Preview tabs and in the Current Step column, and it shows as (Deleted) in filters, integrations, triggers, contact activity, and tasks. Contacts that were moved into the sequence and had not reached the step skip it and go to the next one.

Can I change the wording for a single contact?

Yes, in the Preview tab. Pick the contact, edit the body, and save — the original step is untouched. CC is not supported in customized emails, variables revert to the contact card's values, and only one A/B variation can be customized.

Can I BCC a single sequence?

No. Per-template CC and BCC are set on each step individually, and the account-level BCC in Settings → Emails applies to all emails, so it cannot be scoped to one sequence.

How do I let a bounced contact receive email again?

Select the contact on the People tab, open Change status, hit − next to Bounced, apply, and confirm. Fix the address itself first — clearing the status does not make an invalid address deliverable. See What happens when an email bounces.

Why can't I archive an active sequence in bulk?

Archiving requires the sequence to be paused and error-free. Pause the selected sequences first, then archive them. Sequences with errors also cannot be activated — hover the toggle to see what needs fixing.

Related

• How a sequence executes · Sequence stopping
• Sequences · Sequence steps
• Filter contacts
• Launch a sequence · Create a sequence
• Statuses · Permissions and roles
• Why is a campaign not running?

Build with Reply

• REST API: docs.reply.io — sequence, step, and contact-status endpoints
• MCP: agents.reply.io/mcp — agents inspect and adjust running sequences
• CLI: agents.reply.io/cli — scripted sequence maintenance