How do I put one automation on many posts at once?

Before you start

• An Automation Group is one automation applied to several posts together. It is new and marked Beta.
• The plan you need depends on what you send: Send Link & PDF works on all plans, Lead Gen is Legend Pro and above, Flow Automation is Trendsetter and above.
• Groups can also hold ads (choose Ads instead of Existing posts). Ads need Facebook Login. See How do I auto-reply to comments on my Instagram ads?

Steps

1. On Home, click New Automation → Comment to DM.
2. Keep Existing posts. Use the Instagram and Facebook pills to switch platform, and click 2 or more posts. The footer shows “N posts selected”.
3. Click Next.
4. Choose Send Link & PDF, Lead Gen or Flow Automation.
5. Under “Name your group”, type a Group name (up to 80 characters), or leave it blank to use “Automation Group (N posts)”.
6. Click Publish Setup. This does not publish yet. It opens the editor.
7. In the editor, check the “Selected posts (N)” strip. Click a thumbnail to preview that post, click + to add posts, or hover over a thumbnail to remove it.
8. Set up the trigger words, reply and DM once.
9. Click Publish (for Lead Gen: Save → Publish & Activate; for Flow: Set Live).
   • You return to Home, and New Automation opens again at “What should it send?” in case you want another type. Close it if you are done.

Shortcut: Quick Automation → the Group Automation tab → New group (“Pick posts, give them one automation”).

Edit or manage a group

• Open Quick Automation → Group Automation. Your groups are under My Automation Groups.
• Edit opens the editor with all the group’s posts. Change the setup and click Publish.
• The menu on a group card has View, Rename and Delete group.
• View shows the posts, the trigger words and “What they get in the DM”. Add or remove posts there, click Apply changes, then click Publish in the editor.

Removing a post from a Send Link & PDF group does not switch off that post’s automation. To stop it, open the post in Quick Automation → Instagram → Posts and switch off its Send Link or PDF card.

On the phone app

The app has no Automation Groups. Use the web app at app.instantdm.com for this.

What your followers see

The same as on a single automated post. Each post in the group answers comments with the same trigger words, public reply and DM.

Good to know

• Send Link & PDF: each post gets its own copy of the setup. If some fail, you see how many worked, for example “Automated X of N posts”.
• Lead Gen: one Lead Gen automation covers all the posts in the group. Removing a post from a Lead Gen group does stop it on that post.
• Flow Automation: the flow builder opens with the posts already picked. Flows are listed under Flow Automation, not under Automation Groups.
• Don’t put a Send Link & PDF and a Lead Gen setup on the same posts. Only the one saved last runs. See Which automation runs?

What you can’t do

• Give one post in the group a different setup.
• Make a group from All posts or Next post.
• See Flow groups in My Automation Groups.

How to turn it off

Switch off each post’s Send Link or PDF card (or the Lead Gen switch). Deleting the group alone does not stop the posts. See turn off, edit or delete an automation.

If it doesn’t work

• “Group published but couldn’t be saved to your groups list.”: your posts are automated, but the group card is missing. Manage those posts one by one.
• Next stays grey: pick at least one post.
• Flow Automation is missing: you picked both Instagram and Facebook posts (“Flow Automation runs on one platform. Pick only Instagram or only Facebook to use it.”).