--- title: "Steps: email, tags, lists, fields, status, webhook and notify" description: "Every action step of a flow with its settings: send an email, tag, list, field, change status, call a webhook and notify someone." url: "https://hiveplugins.com/docs/hive-mail-steps/" updated: "2026-10-28" category: Hive Mail --- # Steps: email, tags, lists, fields, status, webhook and notify Action steps do something to a person or tell someone about them. Add one from the palette group **Actions** or with the **+** under a free port. Its settings are in the right panel; **What happens next** sets where the person goes. Each action runs once per run and writes a line in the run log. An action never stops a run: if it fails or is refused, the log says why and the person moves on. Logic steps (wait, if, goal, split, merge, end) are in [Waits, conditions, goals and splits](/docs/hive-mail-waits-conditions-goals-splits/). | Step | What it does | Settings (default) | | --- | --- | --- | | **Send an email** | Queues one of your templates to the person. | **Email** (required), **Subject line** (required, merge tags work), **Preview text**, **From name**, **From email**, **Reply-to** (empty uses **Settings > General**), **Kind**: **Marketing (subscribed contacts only)** (default) or **Transactional (receipts, confirmations)**. | | **Add or remove a tag** | Adds or removes one tag. | **Do**: **Add the tag** (default) or **Remove the tag**; **Tag** (required; you can create one in the picker). | | **Add to or remove from a list** | Adds or removes one list. Does not subscribe anyone. | **Do**: **Add to the list** (default) or **Remove from the list**; **List** (required). | | **Set a field** | Writes a fixed value into a custom field. | **Field** (required); **Value** (empty clears the field). Merge tags are not expanded. An invalid value is logged as `Not set: {reason}.` | | **Change status** | Moves the contact to another marketing status. | **New status**: **Unsubscribed** (default), **Transactional only** or **Subscribed (only with the consent box below)**; **The person gave consent elsewhere (a form, a checkout box)** (off; required for Subscribed). | | **Call a webhook** | POSTs the person to another tool (Zapier, Make, your server). | **Address (https)** (required); **Secret (for the signature header)**. | | **Notify someone** | Sends a plain-text note to a team member, not to the contact. | **Send to** (one valid address), **Subject**, **Message** (both required; merge tags fill in the contact's details). | ## Send an email 1. Select the step and click **Choose an email** (the button reads **Change** once an email is chosen). 2. In **Choose the email**, open **Starters** to make a new template from a starter (it is named after the flow and step), or **My templates** to use one of your own. 3. Click **Create the email from this starter** or **Use this email**, then type the **Subject line**. A template of your own is used as it is, not copied: a change you make to it applies to every email this step sends from now on. **Edit email** opens it in the editor. **Preview** (or a click on the small picture) opens the whole email in a window, drawn the way it is sent, with the subject and preview line as this step sets them, **Email** or **Plain text**, and **Computer** or **Phone** width. Merge tags use sample details; one with a fallback shows its fallback. **Edit email** is in that window too. If you delete the template the flow can no longer be switched on. ![The Send an email step panel with the template thumbnail and the Change, Preview and Edit email buttons](https://hiveplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hivemail-automation-step-email-01-1.webp) ![The Preview window with the subject, preview line, Email and Plain text tabs, and Computer and Phone](https://hiveplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hivemail-automation-email-preview-06.webp) The email is queued and sent like any other: it shows in the Sending log and follows your sending speed, tracking settings, footer and unsubscribe rules. Bounced, complained and suppressed addresses are never mailed. Flow emails can also use `{{post_title}}`, `{{post_url}}`, `{{form_title}}`, the shop tags and similar run tags; type them by hand. See [merge tags](/docs/hive-mail-merge-tags-and-fallbacks/). **Marketing** emails reach subscribed contacts only and carry the footer and unsubscribe link. **Transactional** emails also reach pending, transactional-only and unsubscribed contacts, and carry no footer, unsubscribe link or tracking. Hive Mail warns if a Transactional email contains a button or link that looks like marketing. > **Warning:** Use Transactional only for receipts, confirmations and similar service messages. A promotion sent as Transactional skips the unsubscribe link and reaches people who opted out. ## Tags, lists and fields - Adding or removing a tag fires **Tag is added** and **Tag is removed**; joining or leaving a list fires **Joins a list** and **Leaves a list**; changing a field fires **A field changes**. Flows can chain this way, but a loop needs a **Wait** inside it. - Log lines: `Added {tag name}.`, `Removed {tag name}.`, `Skipped: it no longer exists.` ## Change status A flow never subscribes anyone without consent recorded for it. Allowed changes: | From | Allowed to | | --- | --- | | Pending | Subscribed, Unsubscribed, Transactional | | Subscribed | Unsubscribed, Transactional | | Transactional | Subscribed, Unsubscribed | Refused (logged as `Not changed: {reason}.`): any change of a Bounced, Complained or Unsubscribed contact (a flow can never reverse an unsubscribe), subscribing without the consent box, and subscribing an address on the suppression list. See [Contact statuses](/docs/hive-mail-contact-statuses/). ## Call a webhook - The body is JSON: `{ event: "automation", contact, context, run_id, sent_at }`. - With a secret, the header `X-HiveMail-Signature` carries the HMAC-SHA256 of the body as plain hex. Compute the same HMAC to check it. - One attempt, 8 second timeout, no retries. The flow always continues. Addresses on your own network are refused by WordPress, so a local test fails with a log line. - Log lines: `Called.`, `The call answered {status}.`, `The call failed: {reason}.` To start a flow from outside, use the incoming webhook trigger in [Triggers](/docs/hive-mail-triggers/). ## Notify someone Sent with WordPress's own mail function, not Hive Mail's queue: it is not in the Sending log, and the Mailgun and SendGrid settings do not apply (an SMTP plugin does). Only the contact's built-in details and custom fields work as merge tags there. ![A flow with an email, a tag, a Change status step and a Notify someone step](https://hiveplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hivemail-automation-steps-chain-03.webp) > **Tip:** Name your steps (F2, or **Name on the canvas (optional)** in the panel). Names appear in the run log, the flow report and the people drawer. Next: [Runs & Logs and flow reports](/docs/hive-mail-runs-and-logs-and-flow-reports/), [Templates](/docs/hive-mail-templates/).