Who can use this: Any team member
Available on: Gong Engage
Ideal for: Sales rep, Sales manager
Flow to-do problems usually come down to a to-do that is missing, an item in Flow errors, or an email that does not send as expected. Find the section that matches what you are seeing and follow the steps to resolve it.
Before you begin
Before troubleshooting a specific symptom:
Go to To-dos and check the Flows, All, and Flow errors tabs.
Clear active filters and confirm you are viewing the correct assignee, flow, step type, and date range.
Hover over the to-do to see the reason Gong recorded for the failure.
Open the person's record and review their flow status and flow history.
The flow to-do is not appearing
Common causes include:
The step is scheduled for a later business day, in the recipient's local time, or after a snooze period.
The person's flow is paused due to a reply, meeting booked, or another flow outcome.
The person was removed from the flow, the flow was stopped, or the CRM record was deleted.
A filter, assignee selection, or tab selection is hiding the to-do.
To investigate:
In To-dos, check the Flows and Flow errors tabs, then clear all filters.
If the next step is an auto email, open the contact or lead and check the To-dos tab on their record. Scheduled auto emails do not appear in the regular scheduled email list.
Check the person's flow status for Paused, Bounced, Finished, or Removed. If the flow is paused and outreach should continue, click Resume flow. If the person was removed, add them to the flow again.
Check the flow step schedule, including business-day settings, recipient time zone, and any snooze period.
If the person was recently added to the CRM, wait for the record to sync before trying again. Gong validates required contact information before a flow starts, for example, an email address for an email step or a phone number for a call step.
Note:
If a CRM record was deleted, Gong may replace it with a matching record when exactly one match is found. If there is no match or more than one match, Gong stops the flow.
A flow to-do appears in Flow errors
The Flow errors tab contains flow items that could not complete as configured. The most common case is an auto email that failed its send-time checks. Gong converts it to a manual email to-do so you can review and send it yourself. Scheduled auto emails appear in the To-dos list before they send, with an Edit Auto Email action. If sending fails, the to-do moves to the Flow errors tab and the action becomes Edit email.
Note:
A flow error does not always mean the flow is stopped. The affected step may be waiting for you to send, complete, or skip it.
To investigate:
From the left sidebar, click To-dos, and open the Flow errors tab.
Hover over the item to read the reason.
Identify the step number and whether the step is an auto email, reply email, or another activity type.
Fix the underlying data or connection, then use the action available on the to-do.
Error: "Couldn't send automatically: missing variables"
Gong could not resolve one or more field placeholders in the email at the time of the automatic send. The missing value may be in the subject line or body. Common causes include a blank contact or lead CRM field, a blank sender profile field such as a scheduling link, or a placeholder formatted incorrectly. The sender, who is also the to-do assignee, is the person who adds the contact or lead to the flow, unless a flow rule specifies a different assignee and sender.
To investigate:
Open the flow step and review the subject and body for every placeholder.
Check the affected contact or lead for the required CRM field value.
Check the sender's My settings and any custom field placeholders. Each sender who can be assigned the flow must have the required values configured.
Replace any leftover literal placeholder syntax with a supported field placeholder or static text.
Save the correction, reopen the item in Flow errors, and send the email manually if it is still presented as a manual email.
Note:
The preview can look correct while the send-time check still fails, because Gong validates the values again when the email is sent.
Error: "Couldn't send automatically: missing email thread"
The step is configured to send as a reply, but Gong cannot find the earlier outbound email thread. Common causes include the preceding email step being skipped or marked complete without actually sending, the earlier message being sent outside Gong, the sender's email connection being disconnected, or the earlier email having bounced.
To investigate:
Check the flow history and confirm the preceding email was actually sent, rather than completed or skipped. If the email bounced, follow the steps in Missing or invalid email address.
From the left sidebar, click Engage, and select Messages. Look for the earlier sent email and confirm it belongs to the expected contact and thread.
Confirm the sender's email account is connected and that Gong has the required email permissions.
If the current step should start a new conversation, send it manually as a new thread if that option is available.
Note:
Retrying the reply step as a reply does not create the missing source thread. Send the email manually as a new thread, or ask your admin or Gong Support for help adding the person to the flow again. For future flows, send the first email from Gong when later steps are configured as replies.
The email did not send or the recipient was not found
Email sending problems usually come down to the recipient's address, the sender's email connection, or a sending limit.
Missing or invalid email address
An email step can fail when the contact or lead has no email address or when the saved address is invalid. A bounced email may be a hard bounce (invalid address) or a soft bounce (for example, a full inbox). Gong marks the address invalid. The ruleset also decides what happens to the person: they can be paused in the flow, removed from it, moved to an email-free flow, or the ruleset enriches the contact and resends the email. A ruleset setting controls whether Gong creates a to-do to replace the address.
To investigate:
Open the person's record and confirm they have a valid email address.
Depending on what you find, do one of the following:
If the address bounced, replace it from the flow error to-do when prompted. The new address is saved for future flow emails.
When no email address is available, update the CRM record or remove the person from the flow.
For a contact or lead that cannot be found, check whether the CRM record was deleted, converted, or duplicated. Review the person's flow status before re-adding them.
Note:
If no email is queued to send and you mark the top email address on a contact or lead record as invalid, Gong moves that address to the bottom of the person's saved email address list.
Email account disconnected
Auto emails require email write permission. If the sender's email connection is disconnected or no longer has write permission, Gong cannot send the auto email and converts it to a manual email to-do.
To investigate:
Click your profile avatar, and select My settings.
Check the email connection and reconnect it if Gong shows a reconnect option.
Return to To-dos, open the Flow errors tab, and open the affected item.
Send the converted manual email after confirming the recipient, subject, thread, and placeholders.
Note:
If many team members see the same issue, ask an admin to verify the company's email integration and permissions.
Email sending limit reached
Gong may delay an email when a team member or company reaches a sending limit or when email throttling applies. The email is generally sent as soon as the limit clears. A provider rate limit can also cause an auto email to fail and appear in Flow errors.
To investigate:
Hover over the flow error to see whether the reason references a provider limit or throttling.
Check whether the issue affects one sender or many senders.
Ask your admin to review Engage email sending limits.
Avoid manually sending the same message repeatedly while a delayed send may still be queued.
The step was skipped without an obvious action
Common causes include:
A team member selected Skip step or used a bulk action that skips flow steps.
The flow is configured to skip a step type in its rules or settings.
The person was removed, paused, or moved through a flow outcome, so the step no longer required action.
Flow to-dos that stay open are dismissed automatically, and the person is removed from the flow, after 120 days by default.
A CRM change stopped the flow or removed the person.
To investigate:
Open the person's flow history and identify the step and its completion or dismissal reason.
Confirm whether the step was skipped by a team member or by the flow configuration.
Ask the flow owner or admin to review the flow steps, ruleset, and settings.
If the step was skipped because required information was missing, update the contact or lead and review the remaining flow steps.
If the person was removed or the flow stopped and outreach should continue, add the person to the flow again.
Available actions on a failed flow to-do
The action available depends on the to-do type and the reason for the failure.
Send or retry: For a failed auto email, fix the missing data or connection, then send the converted manual email from the flow error to-do. For a bounced email, replace the address and send again when the flow error provides that option.
Skip step: Skips the current flow step. Gong generates the next step automatically.
Mark as complete: Closes the current step without sending. Gong generates the next flow step automatically.
Remove contact from flow: Use when the person should no longer receive outreach from this flow.
Pause flow or Resume flow: Use when the person should remain in the flow but not advance temporarily.
Note:
There is no universal Retry action for every flow error. For a failed auto email, correct the cause and send the converted manual email. For a reply step with no source thread, send a new thread manually or add the person to the flow again rather than retrying the reply.
When to contact your admin or Gong Support
Contact your admin or Gong Support when:
The same error appears for many people or flows after fixing the underlying data and connection.
A reply step reports a missing thread even though the preceding email was sent from Gong and is visible in Messages.
Reconnecting the sender's email account does not restore sending.
A flow stops after a CRM merge, conversion, or deletion and Gong cannot identify the correct record.
Auto emails are still sent to an address Gong marks as invalid.
Include the exact error message, flow name, step number, sender, affected contact or lead, approximate time of failure, and a screenshot of the item's reason in Flow errors.