Overview
A manual task is a task that is waiting for you to act on it. What a manual task can be depends on how it was created:
Created by an automation — only messages can be turned into manual tasks from an automation: a direct LinkedIn message, a LinkedIn InMail, or an email. This happens when the message node is configured as manual, or when the contact's automation is paused (after the lead has replied) so the next scheduled message becomes manual.
Created by you — directly from the CRM, a lead profile, or the messenger. User-created manual tasks can be any action and are used as a reminder to perform it manually: Send connection request, Send direct message, Send email, Visit profile, Endorse skills, Like the latest post, Comment the latest post, Withdraw connection request, etc.
To work through your manual tasks you have three actions available: Unpause Automations (on the contact's card), Complete, and Skip (inside the task modal). Each one does something different — and understanding the difference helps you move leads through the automation correctly.
1. Unpause Automations (on the contact's card)
The Unpause Automations button appears on the contact's card (in the right-hand panel) whenever the contact's automation is paused — when the lead has replied and the automation auto-paused.
Clicking Unpause Automations resumes the contact's flow. If the paused contact has an automation-generated manual task, that task switches back to auto mode and the message is sent automatically by the sender profile according to the schedule and limits.
Important: Unpause only applies to automation-paused contacts. Manual tasks that you created yourself are not tied to a paused automation and will not flip into auto mode — you need to perform the action yourself and then Complete (or Skip) the task.
When to use it: you've reviewed the automation's drafted message and it's still relevant and ready to go. Unpausing is the fastest way to let the automation send the message for you and continue the flow.
2. Complete (inside the task modal)
Complete marks the task as done and moves the contact forward in the automation — but it does not send the message or perform the action. Specifically, Complete:
Moves the task from In Progress to Completed
Marks the message node as completed (for automation-generated tasks)
Moves the contact to the next node in the automation (for automation-generated tasks)
Does not send the message or perform the action
When to use it: you've already handled this step outside of GetSales (sent the message manually in LinkedIn, performed the profile visit, sent the email from your mailbox, etc.) and you just want to close out the task.
3. Skip (inside the task modal)
Skip moves the contact to the next automation node without sending the current message / without performing the action.
When to use it: the task is no longer relevant (for example, the context has changed or the lead has already responded elsewhere) and you want the contact to continue through the rest of the automation from the next step.
Recommended Workflow for Going Through Manual Tasks
When you have a batch of manual tasks to process, we recommend this workflow — it keeps things fast and consistent:
Go to Manual Tasks and open all tasks. Filter by the specific automation you want to process so you only see the tasks from that campaign.
Open the first task and verify the message. Check that the drafted message is still relevant to the lead.
If the message is still relevant — click Unpause Automations on the contact's card (right-hand panel). The message will then be sent in auto mode (applies to automation-generated tasks).
If the message is no longer relevant — click Skip at the bottom of the task modal. The contact will move to the next automation node.
If you've already handled this step outside the automation — click Complete in the task modal. The node will be marked done without sending the message.
Go to the next task and repeat. Keep moving through the list until it's empty.
Quick Reference
Unpause Automations (contact's card) → resumes the contact's paused automation; an automation-generated manual task (DM / InMail / email) switches to auto mode and is sent automatically. Not available for user-created manual tasks.
Complete (task modal) → task is marked done, contact moves to the next node (for automation-generated tasks), message / action is not performed by GetSales.
Skip (task modal) → message / action is not performed, contact moves to the next node.