--- title: "Understanding flows" slug: "about-flows-in-engage" updated: 2026-10-13T11:52:51Z published: 2026-10-13T13:08:30Z canonical: "help.gong.io/about-flows-in-engage" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gong.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # About flows in Engage > **Who can use this**: Any team member > > **Available on**: Gong Engage > > **Ideal for**: Sales rep A flow is a sequence of steps for managing your interactions with contacts and leads: It automates your outreach and tracks the status of those interactions. You may know flows by another name, such as sales sequences or cadences. ## What a flow contains A flow can contain email, call, LinkedIn, and task steps. Each step is one outreach action, and when a step becomes due Gong creates a to-do so you can work on it. Learn more about [flow step types](/v1/docs/understanding-flow-step-types). ## How a flow runs When a contact or lead is added to a flow, the flow assignee gets a to-do reminding them to do the next step. Each person in a flow has a flow status that shows their stage, for example "In progress", "Paused" or "Bounced", and that status can sync to your CRM. Every flow has a ruleset that determines how the flow behaves, including what happens when someone replies, books a meeting, or their email bounces. Rulesets are created and managed by admins. Learn more about [flow rulesets](/v1/docs/understanding-rulesets). Company flows can also have [automations](/v1/docs/understanding-automations) that add people to the flow automatically. Whether someone can be in more than one active flow at a time is configured by your admin. You can remove a person from a flow yourself, and the flow's ruleset can also remove them automatically. > [!NOTE] > Note: > > When a person is in multiple flows, pausing one flow does not pause the others. Only the flow that triggered the pause is affected. ### Example of a flow in action A new lead is added to your CRM, and an automation rule adds them to a flow. Step 1 is a call, and when the lead doesn't answer they move on to step 2, a manual email. The lead replies to that email, so the flow pauses according to its ruleset and you get a Response to-do. From there you can reply, resume the flow, or remove the lead. Learn more about [managing people in a flow](/v1/docs/manage-people-in-a-flow). ## The flow library To open the flow library, from the left sidebar, click **Assets**, and select **Flows**. Your admin controls who can create, edit, and use flows. The library is divided into four sections: - **Your flows:** Flows you create for yourself, including any company flow you duplicated and saved with changes. - **Company Flows:** Flows available to everyone in your company. - **Shared with you:** Flows that other team members have shared with you. - **Archive:** Flows you have archived and can restore. Learn more about [sharing flows with your team](/v1/docs/share-flows-with-your-team). ## Frequently asked questions ****Can a contact be in more than one flow at the same time?**** It depends on your company settings and the flow's ruleset. When your company allows multiple active flows and the flow is not set to exclusive, a person can be in several flows at once. If the company setting restricts multiple active flows, or the flow is exclusive, they can only be in one flow at a time. ****What is the difference between pausing a flow and removing someone from it?**** Pausing stops the flow temporarily. The person stays in the flow, and you or a ruleset can resume them from where they left off. Removing takes the person out of the flow entirely, and if they are added back later they restart from a selected step, which is step 1 by default. Already-sent emails cannot be recalled after removal. ****When does Gong automatically remove someone from a flow?**** An overdue flow to-do eventually expires. When it does, Gong dismisses the to-do and removes the person from the flow, and their flow status reads "To-do expired". A person is also removed when you remove them manually, when a ruleset removes them on bounce, CRM change, or account-level action, or when they are deleted from your CRM. ****What happens when a contact replies to a flow email?**** Gong detects replies within a 14-day window and pauses the originating flow, generating a Response to-do. Replies that arrive outside the 14-day window are not recognized as a reply to that flow. How the flow handles the pause depends on your ruleset configuration. ****What happens when a contact in a flow sends an Out of Office reply?**** Gong snoozes the current to-do for every flow that person is in until the return date detected in the message, and their flows are not paused. When Gong can't detect a return date, nothing is snoozed and the flows continue as originally scheduled. Any team member can access this feature if they have the required permissions. Gong’s AI-driven sales engagement solution that helps sales teams prioritize, personalize, and automate outreach activities to accelerate their pipelines. Access to features depends on your [company’s plan and your assigned seat](/v1/docs/plans-and-seats). A quota-carrying sales representative who manages client relationships. Reps can be Account executives (AEs) or Sales Development Representatives (SDRs).