Every automation you build in LettrLabs moves through a small set of statuses as you set it up, test it, and run it. Knowing what each one means — and what happens to your data when you switch between them — helps you avoid losing test recipients you meant to review.

Behind the scenes, LettrLabs tracks five statuses for every automation. Two of them are shown to you under friendlier names in the app.

Heads up: switching your automation out of Testing mode clears any recipients that were collected while it was in Testing — so if you want to review that test data, do it before switching to Enabled. And once an automation is Enabled, you can't switch it straight back to Testing — pause it first, then switch to Testing.

In other words, moving from Testing into Enabled (or into Paused) wipes out the list of recipients your automation gathered during the test run. That's expected behavior, not a bug — it keeps your test recipients from accidentally getting mailed once the automation goes live, and it clears the deck so the automation's de-duplication logic starts fresh. But it also means there's no way to go back and see who would have been targeted during testing once you've moved on. If you need to double check your test audience — recipient count, who matched your filters, anything like that — do it while the automation is still sitting in Testing.

The other thing worth knowing: once an automation is Enabled, you can't flip it directly back to Testing mode. LettrLabs blocks that transition on purpose, because going straight from live mailing back into a test state could be confusing and risky. If you need to put a live automation back into Testing — say, to try out a change before it goes live again — pause it first (switch it to Inactive), and then move it to Testing from there.

If you're planning to test an automation before turning it on, review your test recipients while it's still in Testing status — once you switch it to Enabled or Paused, that test data is gone.