FAQs

Quick answers to the questions that come up most.

I edited the workflow. Why are people still getting the old behavior?

Editing never reaches anyone on its own. Everything keeps running the last published version until you click Publish update in the builder's banner, and the banner stays up while the canvas and the published version differ. See edit and republish.

What counts as an unpublished change?

The banner compares the whole workflow, not just the inputs and outputs: a prompt edit, a remapped variable, a run condition, a renamed step, a cache toggle, a reorder. Opening drawers and other passing UI state does not count.

The banner cannot be dismissed, only resolved, so a workflow showing no banner is serving exactly what is on screen. Reset changes appears only once you have published something to go back to; before the first publish the banner offers only the publish button.

Which changes break the things using my shortcut?

Three changes, and only these three:

Everything else is safe: new optional inputs, loosening required to optional, renamed labels, reordering, and any change to the steps in between. Users pick up additions the next time they open the step or drawer.

Two details. An input's identity is its column, not its name: renaming keeps it the same input, while deleting an input and recreating a similar one makes a new one, which everyone using it experiences as a removal plus a new required input. And Required works differently per place: run forms on the Shortcuts page and in the extension will not submit without a value, a workflow call missing one is refused free, but API and file rows fall back to the default, then to empty.

Can I unpublish or delete a shortcut?

No. Publishing is permanent: no unpublish, detach or delete. Archive retires it (runs stop, ackDB columns pause), but the shortcut keeps its versions, keeps its workflow, and the no-branching rule stays on that canvas even while archived. For a shortcut-free copy, duplicate the workflow.

What happens when I archive a shortcut that is still in use?

It stops and lists what would break. So does narrowing visibility, and neither is silent:

• Archive shows every workflow step and ackDB column pointing at the shortcut. Archive anyway proceeds, and those steps and columns fail until they are removed or the shortcut is restored.
• Narrowing Org to Private is blocked by every ackDB column and every Call Shortcut step outside the shortcut's own workflow. Steps inside that workflow are the only exemption; who owns the calling workflow makes no difference.
• Removing one person's share is the exception: no check, no list. Their steps and columns simply start failing, so look at what they built first.

Nothing is deleted for you, and a break always shows up at the place that owns it, with the shortcut named.

Why is my shortcut not showing in the extension?

Three usual causes, in order: its trigger (LinkedIn.com or Sales Navigator) was not turned on in the publish drawer, it was hidden from the Shortcuts page with the visibility switch, or it was archived.

What does a run cost?

Exactly what the workflow's steps cost; the shortcut adds nothing. The multipliers: a 10,000-row upload is 10,000 runs, and an ackDB refresh re-runs every record on every tick.

Runs that are refused never start, so they cost nothing and leave nothing half-done:

• a workflow call missing a required input that has no default, refused naming the input;
• an input name the shortcut does not have (the API answers 400 listing the valid fields, and ackDB column creation names them);
• any run against an archived shortcut, refused everywhere with the reason;
• "Skipped, condition not met", a filtered row rather than a failure.

What happens to runs still going when I publish an update?

They finish on the version they started on. Only runs started after the publish use the new one. The same rule shapes exports: a batch's CSV columns come from the version that batch ran on.

Two of us clicked Run at the same time. Why is there only one run?

Identical runs going at the same time collapse into one run and one charge, everywhere. Start it again once it finishes if you really want a second.

Can a run get stuck running forever?

No. A run times out at 30 minutes, widened automatically when the workflow contains Delay steps, so a slow run is not killed and a wedged one does not sit at Running for a week. A retried run replaces its earlier attempt, which is hidden rather than shown as a second confusing row.

Why was my whole file upload refused?

File problems stop the whole upload before anything starts, with nothing spent: an empty or unreadable file, or more than 10,000 rows (Excel, CSV and TSV are accepted). Row values are not checked there: you map columns onto inputs before running, and a blank cell runs as empty.

API batches are checked differently: every row is validated before any row starts, so an unknown field in row 900 refuses the whole call with nothing spent, up to 1,000 rows per call. Once running, rows are independent and one failure does not stop the others.

Why is my ackDB column empty?

Usually one of three: the first records have not finished (the column fills as records write back), the workflow behind the shortcut has no ackDB writeback step so nothing can land, or the shortcut was archived, which pauses its columns.

The writeback is checked before you map anything, rather than letting you build a column that could never fill: the workflow needs an ackDB Update Record, Ingest or Merge step. On people tables it must be Ingest, because Update Record targets companies and contacts, and on a person it would write to one of that person's jobs instead.

How often does an ackDB column refresh?

On the shortcut's schedule, not the column's. Every column a shortcut fills shares one schedule, set in the workflow's Sheet Settings under Schedule, with a 5 minute minimum, and each tick re-runs every record of all of them. Archiving pauses them; restoring does not resume them, so re-enable from the ackDB side.

Who can see my runs?

Runs from the Shortcuts page and the extension, batches included, are personal: teammates see only their own. The owner and org leads see everyone's. Runs started by workflows, ackDB columns and the API land in the workflow's Data tab, visible to whoever can open that workflow.

I shared a shortcut with a teammate. What can they actually do?

"Can use" lets them run it everywhere it can be run (the Shortcuts page, the extension, Call Shortcut steps, ackDB columns) without ever seeing the workflow behind it. "Can edit" additionally opens that workflow: canvas, publishing and reset, since it is the same grant as sharing the workflow. Removing a share makes anything they built fail, with no warning list. See sharing.

Can a shortcut call another shortcut?

Yes, with no depth limit. It cannot call itself: its own shortcut is hidden from the picker and a direct self-call is refused before the run starts. An indirect loop is not blocked, so A calling B while B calls back to A keeps starting runs that cost credits until they time out or credits run dry. Keep chains one-way.

Can I stay on an older version?

No. Everything runs the latest published version; runs already going are the only thing that finishes on an older one. To bring old behavior back, re-create it on the canvas (reset only returns to the latest published version), then publish it as the next version.