1 Overview
When sending messages via automation, you can pick different sender identities — your user account or a doc automation assistant — and target individuals or group chats.Sender identity
Beyond the default “Automation assistant”, you can also send as the workflow author’s user account or as a group bot — adapting to different scenarios. For example, a manager can send notifications or task instructions as themselves; sending as the “Automation assistant” makes the source obvious to recipients and ties messages to the AI Table they came from — useful for avoiding confusion when many notifications fire.Recipient
Pick individuals or group chats as recipients. ⚠️ Note: when sending as the Automation assistant, users or groups outside your organization are not yet supported as recipients.2 Identity-specific limits
| Sender | Send to external members or groups | Send to individuals and groups at the same time |
|---|---|---|
| ### User account (the workflow author) | Supported (must be the author’s external contact or a group they belong to). | Supported (when sending to a group, make sure the workflow author has speaking permission in the group). |
| ### Doc automation assistant | Send to external members via variables; sending to external groups is not supported. | Supported. When the automation runs, “Doc automation assistant” is auto-added to the group — you must have admin permission on the group, or the workflow will fail. Once added, the workflow continues to work even if the workflow author leaves the group. |
| ### AI Table per-table assistant | Send to external members via variables; sending to external groups is not supported. | Supported. When the automation runs, “AI Table table-named assistant” is auto-added to the group — you must have admin permission, or the workflow will fail. Once added, messages keep going through even if the author leaves the group. |
3 FAQ
- Q: How many groups can a single node (step) target in one automation? A: Up to 5.
- Q: How many groups can a whole automation target? A: Up to 10.
- Q: When “Notify members individually” is checked, how many members can I send to? A: Only groups under 200 members are supported — sending fails for larger groups. The feature DMs each member, so the platform caps it.
- Q: If the automation author isn’t in the target group, how do I send a message there? A: You can’t. Sending as “AI Table per-table assistant” requires admin permission in the group; sending as a personal account requires speaking permission.