---
title: Managing the flow of contacts in automation processes
related:
- https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/setting-triggers-for-automation-processes.md
- https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/manually-running-automation-processes.md
---
> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).
> **Info:** **Kentico EMS required**
>
> Features described on this page require the **Kentico EMS** license.
[Automation processes](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation.md) run in a separate instance for each contact. You can move contacts through [steps](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer.md) that require human input or manually override the automatic decisions of the process.
The system provides the following lists of contacts in automation processes:
- **Pending contacts** - all contacts that you are allowed to move from their current step within any running automation process
- The contacts within a specific process (including those in the _Finished_ step)
**Note**: You need to have the **Read contacts** [Contact management permission](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/configuring-on-line-marketing-permissions.md#contact-management) to view the lists of contacts. If you only have the permission for a specific site, you can only see contacts from the given site.
##### Managing pending contacts:
- Use the **My pending contacts** application for managing contacts in running processes.
The application displays a list of contacts within any active automation process (i.e. not in the _Finished_ step). You can only see contacts that you are allowed to move from their current step in the process. To move contacts, you need to be included in the step's [security settings](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/configuring-step-security-for-automation-processes.md) or have the **Manage processes** [on-line marketing permission](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/configuring-on-line-marketing-permissions.md#marketing-automation).
> **Tip:** **Tip**: You can also manage pending contacts through the **My pending contacts** widget, which you can add to your [widget dashboards](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/configuring-kentico/working-with-widget-dashboards.md).
##### Managing contacts in a specific process:
1. Open the **Marketing automation** application.
2. **Edit** () the process whose contacts you want to manage.
3. Open the **Contacts** tab.
The page shows a list of all contacts in the process (including those in the _Finished_ step).
## Moving contacts between steps in the process
When viewing the list of pending contacts or the contacts within a specific process, click **Manage process** () next to a specific contact. A diagram appears where you can see the current position of the contact within the process.
The following actions are available:
**Note**: You can only use the actions allowed by your [on-line marketing permissions](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/configuring-on-line-marketing-permissions.md#marketing-automation) and the [security settings](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/configuring-step-security-for-automation-processes.md) of individual steps.
| Action | Description |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Move to next step | Directly moves the contact to the next step in the process if there is only one possible option.
If the current step branches into multiple steps, clicking the button offers you all available options. Each option represents one of the possible steps to which the contact can continue. |
| Move to previous step | Moves the contact back to the previous step in the process.
The contact's previous step is not necessarily the step that precedes the current step in the process designer, for example if the contact was manually moved using the _Move to specific step_action. |
| Move to specific step | Moves the contact to any step of your choice. |
| Comment and move to step | Available after clicking on the _Move to next step,_ _Move to previous step_ or _Move to specific step_ buttons.
Opens a dialog where you can enter a comment for the step transition. Choose the target step using the selector above the comment box.
The comment is then visible in the **Process history**. |
| Remove from process | Ends the automation process for the given contact. This deletes the entire process instance running for the contact.
For example, you can use the remove action if a contact gets stuck in a step that has incorrectly set conditions or connections. |
> **Tip:** **Tip**: You can view the history of all step transitions made by the contact in the **Process history** section below the process diagram.
## Tracking marketing automation in the Event log
By default, the system logs an [event log](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/developing-websites/troubleshooting-websites/working-with-the-system-event-log.md) entry whenever a contact moves to a different step in a marketing automation process. You can view the event log in the **Event log** application.
> **Info:** **Disabling event logging for marketing automation**
>
> When running automation processes for very large numbers of contacts, logging of step transitions may lead to a cluttered event log or even website performance problems.
>
> Administrations with access to the web project's file system can disable the logging of these events by adding the following key to the _appSettings_ section of the _web.config_ file:
>
> ```html
>
>
>
> ```