# Automations FAQ

> Common questions about scheduling, subscriptions, account changes and why an automation found nothing.

## Will an automation change my account without asking?

Yes, that is what it is for. Once a changing automation is active, every run applies its changes to
Google Ads and records what it did. Tune its settings before you activate it, and read a few runs
afterwards to check it behaves the way you expect.

## Do I need a subscription?

You can set an automation up and save its settings without one. An active Flowboost subscription is
required to activate it, to run it by hand and for it to change your account. See
[Automations](/docs/automations/automations) for the full list.

## Why can I not activate?

Two reasons. Either no schedule is set, in which case the button offers to take you to the schedule
instead, or the organisation has no active Flowboost subscription, in which case Flowboost says so and offers to show you the
plans. Your settings are kept either way.

## The automation is active but nothing has run

Check, in this order: that a schedule is set, that the Google Ads account and its connection are
still active, and that the organisation still has an active Flowboost subscription. Scheduled runs stop when any of those is
missing.

The run status dialog tells you which situation you are in. No runs at all means the automation is
not running. Runs that completed with nothing to report mean it is running and finding nothing.

## A run completed but found nothing

That is a normal result. It means nothing in the account met your thresholds during the window the
automation read.

If you expected results, the usual cause is a threshold set higher than the account can clear, or a
campaign label filter that excludes more than you meant. Try lowering one threshold at a time so you
can see which one was the blocker.

## What timezone do schedules use?

The timezone of the Google Ads account, not yours. A daily automation set to 09:00 runs at 09:00
where the account lives.

## Can one automation cover several accounts?

Settings are per Google Ads account, so an automation is configured separately for each. The account
you are editing is the one selected in the project selector in the navigation.

## Why did some changes not apply?

A change can be rejected by Google Ads, in which case the run shows the reason next to it. An apply
can also be partly confirmed, where Google accepted some of the set and did not confirm the rest.
The unconfirmed ones may still have gone through, so check the campaigns named before changing them
by hand.

## Can I apply the same changes twice?

No. A set of changes is applied once. If an apply is wholly refused, it closes and the next run
works out fresh changes from current data. Re-sending old changes could act on budgets or search
terms that have since moved.

## I changed a setting. Why did the next run behave the same?

Check the change was saved. The footer shows **Unsaved changes** while anything is pending, and
**Run now** is disabled until you save, so a run always reflects what you can see.

## Do my settings track your defaults?

Only until you save. Settings arrive filled in with a standard value, and once you save, those values
belong to your account. Later changes we make to the standard values do not reach an account that has
already been saved.

## Is this the same as the free Google Ads scripts?

No. The scripts are standalone files you install and schedule in your own Google Ads account. An
automation is run by us, keeps a history of every run and shows you every change it made. Some capabilities exist in both forms, but they are separate products and no settings are
shared.