> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.aide.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Run a procedure on existing conversations

> A procedure normally runs when a new customer message arrives.

A procedure normally runs when a new customer message arrives. **Run on existing conversations** applies a live procedure to open conversations that are already waiting, for example to tag and assign a backlog. Find it on the procedure's **Activity** tab, under **Procedures** in the sidebar.

Only changes that are safe on older conversations run. No reply, draft or question is ever sent to a customer this way.

## Before you start

* The procedure has to be live. On a draft or paused procedure the button is greyed out, with "Set the procedure live first."
* One run at a time per workspace. A second run has to wait until the first finishes or is stopped.

## Run it

1. Open the procedure's **Activity** tab and choose **Run on existing conversations**.
2. Narrow the conversations with **Status**, **Channel**, **Topic**, **Created after** and **Created before**. With no filters, every open conversation is picked, oldest first, up to 5,000.
3. Choose **Preview**. Nothing changes yet.
4. Read the preview, then choose **Run on N conversations**.
5. Close the dialog if you like: the run carries on. **Stop run** ends it before the next batch.

## What the preview shows

* How many conversations match the procedure's conditions.
* How many open conversations the filters picked. Past 5,000, only the oldest 5,000 are picked and the preview says more matched the filters.
* How many already ran this procedure. They are skipped, so a procedure never runs twice on one conversation.
* How many are in an inbox in shadow. For those, the changes stay in Aide and aren't written to your helpdesk.
* How many need an AI call to read a field from the conversation.
* **Won't run**: the procedure's actions that are left out, each with the number of conversations it affects.

Conditions are checked again as the run goes, so the final count can differ. A preview is good for an hour. After that, choose **Preview again** for current counts.

## What runs and what doesn't

| Runs | Never runs |
| - | - |
| Add a tag | Replies and drafts of any kind |
| Assign to a group | Suggested replies and suggested macros |
| Close the conversation | Questions to the customer |
| Post internal comment | A helpdesk macro that answers the customer |
| Macros that don't answer the customer | Tag the Shopify order |
| Collect a field, read from what the customer already wrote | |
| Set field | |

The procedure's delay doesn't apply: changes are made as the run reaches each conversation. Closed and spam conversations are never included.

## Follow the result

While it runs, the dialog shows how many conversations were checked and how many the procedure was applied to. When it finishes, it shows how many it was applied to, how many were skipped because they no longer matched or it had already run, and how many failed.

The same result stays under the button on the **Activity** tab, for example "Ran on existing conversations" with the date and the number applied. In each conversation's thread, the procedure's run is marked "Run on existing conversations".

## Who can do this

Owners and admins.


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