When a run hits something it can't get past on its own, a banner appears above its current step — on the deal's Automators tab, and on the stage progress drill-in and Team Runs dashboard too. Amber banners are workable pauses; the one red banner — a step that failed after several tries — means something actually broke. This article covers every banner you might see and what its buttons do.
Who can resolve a banner
The buttons that retry, skip or cancel — Retry now, Retry send, Try again, Skip action, Cancel run and the like — are for the people who can work that run: the person the step is assigned to, the run's owner, or a team admin. (Buttons marked "admins only" below still need an admin.) You don't need edit access to deals to resolve a banner on a run you own.
If you're none of those, you'll still see the banner, with "Waiting on [name] or an admin to sort this out." in place of those buttons. Buttons that fix the deal instead of the run — Assign someone, Assign TC, Set date, Connect mailbox — follow their own rules, described in each section.
A step failed
"Step "[name]" failed after N tries." — select View error to see the raw error. Retry now tries the failed action again; Skip action (admins only) gives up on that one action.
If more than one action on the same step failed — say a form with several answers that couldn't be saved — they're shown one at a time. Once you retry or skip one, a new banner appears for the next. It opens with "Another action on this step also failed.", so you know the retry worked and another action still needs you. The run only moves on after every failed action on that step has been retried or skipped. Skip action skips only the one action in front of you, never the others.
The same goes for an earlier step. Some actions are retried automatically a few times before they're flagged; if that runs out while another banner is open, the failure waits its turn. Once you resolve the open banner, a new "Step "[name]" failed after N tries." banner appears for the earlier step, and the run moves on only after you retry or skip it. A step the run has since gone through again isn't flagged for its earlier pass.
"Cancel deal needs a cancelled reason" (under View error) — the step was meant to cancel the deal but had no reason to record: the form question it reads was left blank, or the reason it always uses was archived or removed. The deal hasn't been canceled. If the reason was archived, restore it in Settings → Cancelled Reasons and select Retry now — the deal is canceled and, unless the automator is set to keep running on canceled deals, the run ends with it. Otherwise cancel the deal from the deal header, which asks for the reason, then Skip action. "Cancel deal needs who caused the cancellation" is the same situation for Caused by.
An email is paused
"Email paused — the sender's mailbox isn't connected." or "Email paused — the last send attempt failed." — Connect mailbox takes the sender to reconnect their email. Retry send tries again. Skip & send manually (admins only, confirmed first) abandons the automated send and opens a compose window prefilled with the same email so you can review and send it yourself.
TED retries a failed send on its own a few times first — a brief hiccup sending the email or looking up a recipient usually clears up without you. The banner appears once those tries run out. If it says "The email may have gone out — check your sent mail before sending it again.", the last try stopped partway through sending, so the person may already have it. Check the sender's sent mail first. If it went out, select Skip this email (admins only, confirmed first) to move the run on without sending it again. If it didn't, select Send it again — TED asks you to confirm first, since sending again could email them twice.
"Monthly email allowance reached — upgrade or wait for the reset." — your team has used up its plan's monthly email sends, so this send can't go out until the allowance resets or the plan changes. Retrying won't help here, so this banner skips straight to Upgrade, which takes you to your plan settings. Skip & send manually (admins only, confirmed first) is still available if you'd rather send this one email yourself right away.
"Buyer email not sent — fix the template or the deal, then retry." — a buyer list step's template uses a field that can't go to buyers (seller details, the purchase price, the assignment fee, and so on) or a field that's empty on this deal, like the asking price. The banner names the fields. Fix the template or fill in the deal, then select Retry send. Skip action (admins only) moves the run on without sending. See Understanding deal marketing sends for which fields a buyer email can include.
A text is paused
"Text paused — …" — a Text step couldn't send: texting isn't turned on, the sender has no texting number, the recipient has no phone number or opted out, the message has an empty merge field, or the send failed. Try again sends it as a fresh attempt; Skip this text (admins only, confirmed first) moves the run past it without sending. If the banner says "The text may have gone out — check the conversation before sending it again.", Skip this text comes first and Send it again asks you to confirm, because the person may already have it. See Sending a text from an automator for every message and what fixes it.
Sent, but not filed
"Sent, but not filed — TED couldn't save a copy, so the reply-wait won't fire. Don't re-send." — the email genuinely went out; this is only about saving a copy. Retry filing tries again. Stop waiting for a reply (admins only, confirmed first) gives up on saving a copy and moves the run past this step — it will not send the email again.
Nobody's staffed to do this
"No one is staffed for this step yet" (or, more specifically, no verifier) — the step's assignee isn't on this deal. Select Assign someone to open the deal's Employee tab. When the step goes to a role, the add form opens with that role already picked — choose the person under Team Member and select Add. The step goes to them and the run carries on by itself; when you come back to the Automators tab the banner is gone.
- If the step goes to a deal seat nobody holds — say Deal seat: TC — the banner names the seat and leads with Assign TC (or Assign Dispo / Assign ACQ). Fill the seat, or add an employee with the TC role on the deal's Employee tab, and the step goes to that person by itself — no Retry needed. If the seat is filled but its holder has left the team, the banner says so; assign a new TC.
- If the step goes to the run's owner and the run has none, you'll see Assign TC (or the seat the automator's role is linked to) when that seat is empty, and team admins see Set owner for this run only. Either one hands the step to that person and the run carries on.
- If the step (or the automator's role) needs the PM seat but the deal's type has none — say a Project Manager automator ran on a Wholesale deal — the banner says This deal type has no Project Manager seat. There's no seat to fill: a team admin can Set owner for this run only, or change who the step goes to in the automator and select Retry now.
A step assigned to a deal seat doesn't wait on an empty seat when someone already does that job on the deal: if nobody holds the TC seat but an employee with the TC role is on the deal's Employee tab, the step goes to them (the one added first). This applies to tasks, Form, Decision and Instruction steps — not to who an Email or Text step sends from, which is always the seat's holder.
Approvals are stricter. An approval goes to whoever holds its Approver role on the deal — add someone with that role on the Employee tab and the approval reaches them by itself. But when the approver is a deal seat, the approval waits for that seat's holder, even when someone else with the role is on the deal — sign-off never passes to someone else on its own. Fill the seat and the approval goes to the new holder. While that seat is empty the banner says "No one is staffed to approve this step" and leads with Assign TC (or the seat it names) — adding an employee with the seat's role won't clear it. If the seat is already filled, select Retry now.
"No verifier is staffed to approve this step" appears on an approval that has a separate verifier nobody on the deal can be:
- If the verifier is a role, select Assign someone. The Employee tab opens with that role already picked; add the person — or change an existing employee to that role — and the approval goes to them. No Retry now needed.
- If the verifier is a deal seat, the banner leads with Assign TC (or the seat it names). Fill the seat and the approval goes to the new holder by itself. Adding an employee with the seat's role does not move it. If the seat is already filled, select Retry now.
- If the verifier is a named teammate who is no longer on the team, adding people to the deal won't help. Once they're back on the team, select Retry now.
A run that showed this banner before you staffed the role may still show it — select Retry now once and it moves on.
An Email or Text step has no one to send from
"This step has no one to send from" — nothing was sent. An Email or Text step sends from a person: the run's owner, a deal seat, the deal's owner, or a named teammate. If that person isn't there, TED stops and asks. It never sends from someone else instead, so an email to your buyers can't go out from the wrong person's mailbox.
- If the step sends from the run's owner and the run has none, team admins see Set owner for this run only. Pick a person and the step sends from them right away. When the automator's role is linked to an empty deal seat you'll see Assign TC (or Assign Dispo / Assign ACQ) first — filling the seat gives the run its owner and sends the step by itself.
- If the step sends from a deal seat nobody holds (the deal's owner is the ACQ seat), the banner names the seat and leads with Assign Dispo (or Assign TC / Assign ACQ). Fill the seat, then select Try again. Once the seat is filled the banner says so and Try again is the only button; if it still can't send, that person may have left the team.
- If the step sends from a teammate who has left the team, adding someone to the deal won't help. The banner says to change who the step sends from in the automator; then select Try again.
- Assign someone opens the deal's Employee tab so you can add the person.
- Try again checks for a sender again. Use it after filling the seat a step sends from. If there's still no one, nothing is sent and the banner stays.
On the Team Runs dashboard the same run shows as "This step has no one to send from", with Set owner when setting the owner is the fix.
Waiting for a Transaction Coordinator (or another seat)
Some automators are set up with a home role — a job title (like Transaction Coordinator) that's expected to own the run from start to finish. If nobody holds that role on the deal, and the deal also has no Transaction Coordinator to fall back to, the run stops before its first step. Someone who has left the team doesn't count as holding the role, even if they're still listed on the deal — the run goes to the Transaction Coordinator instead, or stops here if there isn't one. On the deal's Automators tab (and in the stage progress drill-in) the banner names what's missing: "Waiting for a Transaction Coordinator", with "Nobody holds the TC seat on this deal, so [automator] can't start." That's also what you see when the seat still shows someone who has left the team.
Select Assign TC (or Assign Dispo or Assign ACQ, depending on the role), choose a team member, and select Save TC seat. That fills the seat on the deal — the same seat you'd set in the deal header — and the run starts by itself, along with any other run on the deal that was waiting for the same seat. The banner disappears once the run is moving. You'll see Assign only when you're allowed to edit the deal. If the save doesn't go through, the banner stays, your choice stays picked, and a short message tells you to try again. Just like setting the seat in the deal header, if the person you pick isn't on the deal's Assigned Employees yet, TED asks whether to add them so they earn commission.
Sometimes the seat is already filled by someone on the team but the run still hasn't started — for example, it stopped before they were put in the seat. Then the banner reads "This run needs a restart" and names who holds the seat. Assign isn't offered, because choosing the same person again wouldn't change anything. Team admins select Set owner for this run only (the current seat holder is already picked) to start the run; everyone else can ask an admin to restart it.
There's no Skip on this banner — skipping wouldn't give the run an owner. Team admins also see Set owner for this run only, which picks an owner for just this one run and leaves the deal's seat empty. If the role isn't linked to a deal seat, the banner reads "Waiting for an owner" and anyone who can edit the deal sees Add someone with this role, which opens the deal's Employee tab with that role already chosen in the add form. Pick a person and select Add, and keep that role in the Role box — it's the role you choose on the deal, not the person's usual team role, that starts the run. If the right person is already on the deal under a different role, change their role from the dropdown under their name in Assigned Employees instead — the run starts as soon as you save it. (When everyone on the team is already on the deal, the add form says so and points you there.) If the run is also paused (say the deal is on hold), it gets its owner right away but only moves once the pause lifts. Admins also keep Set owner for this run only.
Every team admin also gets an Automator Has No Owner notification in their bell the moment this happens (see Understanding notifications). It's removed from admins' bells once the run has an owner, however it got one. The run also shows up on the Team Runs dashboard's Needs attention list as "No one holds this automator's role on the deal." — select Set owner there to pick someone for the run directly. Adding someone to the deal's Employee tab with that role chosen also gets the run going. So does linking the automator's role to a deal seat in Settings → Roles (the role's Linked deal seat) when that seat is filled on the deal — the waiting run starts with the seat's holder as its owner. Linking it to a seat that's empty on the deal doesn't start it.
An approval keeps getting rejected
Some approvals are set up to send rejected work back to an earlier step — say, back to a pricing form — so the form gets filled in again and the approval comes round once more. Each approval allows only so many trips back (only rejections that actually sent the work back count toward that limit). Once it's used them up, the next rejection doesn't go back a step: the approval returns to the same person to fix, the way an ordinary rejection does, and the run is flagged.
"This approval has been rejected N times, so it went back to the same person instead of an earlier step." — check why it keeps being rejected. The approval keeps working normally while the run is flagged: the person can fix it and resubmit, and the verifier can approve or reject it again. A flagged run doesn't move on by itself, even once the approval is approved: once it's approved, select Clear flag (admins only) to move the run on. If you clear it before then, the run keeps waiting on the approval. Cancel run (admins only, confirmed first) stops the whole run.
A date field is missing
"Can't schedule this wait — its date reference can't be resolved" (or names the specific missing field) — select Set date to go fill it in on the deal.
The reply window ended
"The reply window for this email has ended. (Replies aren’t detected in this version — check the thread before deciding.)" — replies can't be detected yet, so this always fires once the timeout passes, whether or not anyone actually replied; check your own mailbox (see Missing or delayed emails) before deciding. Send the email again resends it and restarts the wait. Stop waiting & move on (admins only, confirmed first) gives up on a reply and continues the run. Cancel run (admins only, confirmed first) stops the whole run.
Other things that need a decision
A handful of rarer conditions — a spawned automator stalling, an hourly limit being hit, or a generic reference the run can't resolve — show a plain explanation with Skip action (admins only) to move past it, or Cancel run (admins only, confirmed first) to stop the run entirely.
An approval's file upload isn't enforced
"This approval's file upload requirement isn't enforced." — the run is on an Approval step that also asks for a file. An Approval goes straight to its approver, so the file setting does nothing there. The run keeps going — this is a heads-up. Check the file is on the deal's Documents tab before approving. To get the upload behavior in future runs, edit the automator: use a Task with Requires verification turned on and the same Require file upload (a matching upload completes the step automatically and the verifier sees the file afterward), then publish. Automators published since this check was added can't have this combination.
Overdue
"[Name] hasn't completed this step yet — it's overdue" (or "hasn't verified," for an approval) — select Nudge to send them a real reminder notification (once an hour, at most). A team admin also sees Complete on behalf of the assignee, for a plain task that's still open.
Form, Decision and Instruction steps with a due date get the same overdue banner (and the same dot in the run list) once they pass it. For those steps, an admin completes on someone's behalf from the step card itself rather than from the banner.
A scheduled date moved into the past
"This run's wait couldn't be scheduled — [field] moved into the past." — Fire now runs it immediately; Skip gives up on it. Available to admins, the deal's owner, or the deal's transaction coordinator.