# Why is a campaign not running?

> The sequence toggle is the diagnosis — what gray, red, orange, yellow, and blue mean, the 24-hour auto-stop for blocked accounts, and the 8% bounce suspension.

**Read the sequence toggle first: gray means never launched, paused, or archived; red means action required; orange means warnings; yellow means a limit was reached; blue means every contact finished. Then check for a provider block on a sending account — a 24-hour auto-stop — and for the 8% bounce-rate suspension.**

_Status: Reviewed — human-edited, facts not yet confirmed against the product._

## Symptom

The sequence ("campaign" — the [former name](/specifications/campaigns)) looks like it
should be running, but deliveries are flat and contacts do not advance. The fastest
diagnosis is the sequence toggle: its color reports the current state, and hovering over
it shows a tooltip with details.

## Most likely causes

| Toggle | State | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Gray** | Inactive | The sequence is not running: newly created and never launched, paused, or archived |
| **Red** | Action required | Missing or invalid settings block the run: the sending email account was removed or disconnected, the connected LinkedIn account was removed, there are sending errors, there are no contacts in the sequence, the sending schedule is missing, or the sequence is under review and suspended after reaching an 8% bounce rate |
| **Orange** | Issues detected | Attention needed: some contacts have no sending email account assigned, some have no LinkedIn account assigned, contacts are missing required data, sending from some email accounts stopped due to a provider block, the sequence reached a 4% bounce rate, or a voice profile is missing |
| **Yellow** | Limits reached | Temporarily paused: the email account's daily sending limit, the active contacts limit for the billing period, the sequence daily limit, LinkedIn's weekly connection request limit, or the provider's daily sending quota was reached |
| **Blue** | Completed | All contacts finished the sequence — there are no active contacts left. Completion, not failure |
| **Green** | Active | The sequence is running — planning, checking conditions, sending emails, generating tasks, or executing LinkedIn actions |

Two sequence-wide stops sit behind the colors. If a mail provider (Office 365 or Google
Workspace) blocks a sending account, Reply detects the first block bounces and immediately
pauses sending from that account for 24 hours or until you resume it manually — every
sequence sending from the suspended account shows a pop-up on its toggle. And per Reply's
Usage Policy, a sequence that reaches an **8% bounce rate per 24 hours** stops sending its
first step while follow-ups continue; see [Sequence stopping](/behavior/sequence-stopping).

## Diagnostic checklist

1. Hover over the toggle and read the tooltip — it names the state and the reason.
2. Gray toggle: the sequence was never launched, was paused, or was archived. Nothing is wrong; it is simply off.
3. Blue toggle: everyone finished, replied, or otherwise left the active pool. Add contacts or reactivate finished ones to continue.
4. Red or orange toggle: work through the causes in the table above, and open the **Logs** tab — an `Email account block` entry names the blocked account, and other error logs name the failing check.
5. Yellow toggle: identify which limit bound today — account daily, sequence daily, active contacts for the billing period, or a provider quota — and see [Limits](/reference/limits).
6. If bounces spiked, check the bounce rate: the toggle turns orange at 4% and red at 8% — see [Bounce handling](/behavior/bounce-handling).

## Resolution

Gray — launch or resume the sequence. Red — fix the named blocker: reconnect or re-add the
email account ([reconnect guide](/troubleshooting/mailbox-was-disconnected)), add
contacts, or attach a schedule. Orange with unassigned contacts — filter the People tab
and link a sending email. Yellow — wait for the limit window to pass or raise the cap
deliberately. Provider block — unblock the account with the provider first, then click
**Resume** on the email account page in Reply, or wait for the automatic resume 24 hours
after the first block bounce; the system re-sends the bounced steps automatically once the
account resumes (or find them with the *Bounce: sender's provider block* filter and remove
the Bounced status manually). Finished contacts you want to re-run — open the People tab,
select them, click **Change Status**, add **Active**, and save; this works when steps
remain or you added new ones. The 8% bounce suspension clears itself: first-step sending
resumes automatically after 24 hours with the bounce rate reset.

## Verification

The toggle returns to green, and the Logs tab shows a fresh `Sequence started
(manual/auto)` entry — the log advises waiting about 30 minutes before checking results.
Confirm contacts advance in the People tab and deliveries resume in the Stats tab.

## Prevention

Validate contact lists before launching — the 8% bounce suspension is almost always a
list-quality problem, and Reply notifies you at half and at full bounce quota so you can
act early. Glance at toggle colors regularly rather than discovering a flat week later,
and keep sending volumes gradual so providers do not block the account; see
[Sender reputation](/learn/sender-reputation).

## FAQ

### The toggle is blue — is something broken?

No. Blue means all contacts finished the sequence and no active contacts remain. To
continue, add new contacts or reactivate finished ones via Change Status in the People
tab — possible when the contact did not complete all steps or you added extra steps.

### One mailbox stopped sending but the others continue — why?

The provider blocked that account, and Reply's auto-stop paused sending from it to prevent
a wave of bounces. It resumes automatically 24 hours after the first block bounce, or
manually via the Resume button once you unblock it with the provider. See
[Why was a mailbox disconnected?](/troubleshooting/mailbox-was-disconnected).

### My sequence was suspended for bounces — will it restart on its own?

Yes. At an 8% bounce rate per 24 hours, only the first step stops — follow-ups keep
sending — and first-step sending resumes automatically after 24 hours with the rate reset.
Validate your list, or the same suspension will repeat. See
[Bounce handling](/behavior/bounce-handling).

## Related

- [Why was an email not sent?](/troubleshooting/email-was-not-sent) — the per-message variant
- [Sequence stopping](/behavior/sequence-stopping) — every stop condition and toggle state
- [Sequence execution](/behavior/sequence-execution)
- [Statuses](/reference/statuses)

## Build with Reply

- REST API: [docs.reply.io](https://docs.reply.io/api-reference/introduction) — sequence status and account state
- MCP: [agents.reply.io/mcp](https://agents.reply.io/mcp) — agents diagnose and fix (reconnect, resume, enroll)