How to Schedule Automatic, Repeated Launches

December 17, 2024 15:37

This guide will walk you through setting up automatic launches for your Phantom.

⚠️ Scheduling launches is available for most Phantoms and some Flows. For many Flows, Launch settings aren’t available, as they are pre-configured internally.

How to access and change the launch settings for Phantoms

Log in to your PhantomBuster account.
Go to your Dashboard, select the Phantom you want to set for automatic launches.
Click on the three dots on the Phantom’s card and select Setup:
On the left side of the Settings menu, click on Launch settings.
By default, the option of launching your Phantom Once will be automatically displayed.

Launch manually: manually initiate the launch whenever you're ready.
Launch at a specific time: schedule the launch to start automatically at a specific day and hour.

💡 Launching the Phantom Once is recommended when you want to extract a complete set of data in a single run.

How to set up repeated Phantom launches

Repeated launches sets the Phantom to run multiple times throughout the day. It's ideal for continuous data collection. Most Phantoms will pick up from where they left off (insert article, if applicable) between launches when set to launch automatically.

⚠️ It's advisable to schedule automatic launches during weekdays and standard working hours on social media platforms like LinkedIn to imitate human behavior.

Navigate to the Launch settings of the Phantom you wish to set on repeat. Select the Repeatedly option:
Set the Frequency:

⚠️ The launch frequency should be adjusted according to the rate limits. For example, for LinkedIn Search Export, it’s recommended to process a single search per day, over a minimum of 5 launches. Thus, the Frequency should be at least 6 times per day.

3. Click Save to apply the settings.

How to set up a Phantom to launch after another Phantom

When you set a Phantom to launch after another Phantom you are creating a sequence of automated actions.

💡Chaining Phantoms like this is useful when you need to automatically trigger an action only once a pre-required action is completed. For example, you can't run an Outreach campaign without a list of contacts.

Here are the steps to set up a Phantom to launch after another Phantom:

Navigate to the Launch settings of the Phantom you wish to set on repeat and select the After another Phantom option:
Choose after which Phantom the current Phantom should be launched:
Click Save to apply the settings.

Advanced automatic launches

Launching a Phantom with Advanced settings gives you precise control over its launch timing, down to the minute.

💡 Advanced automatic launches are perfect for managing and spacing out launches to adhere to rate limits or meet specific operational needs.

Here are the steps to set up a Phantom with Advanced automatic launches:

Navigate to the Launch settings of the Phantom you wish to set on repeat and select the Advanced option:
Set the desired frequency:

Minutes: set the exact minutes within the hour for the Phantom to run.
Hours: choose the specific hours of the day for the Phantom to run.
Days: select the days of the month for the Phantom to run.
Days of the week: specify which days of the week the Phantom should launch.
Months: pick the months during which the Phantom will run.

⚠️ The Phantom will run according to the time zone set on your Workspace Settings.

💡 In this example, the Phantom will launch on weekdays (Monday to Friday) at specific times: 13:10, 13:50, 16:10, and 16:50. It’s set to run every month, on any day, as long as that day is a weekday.

3. Click Save to apply the settings.

How to stop automatic launches

The Phantom will keep running automatically until you switch it back to manual mode. Even after it processes all the input, it will continue to run. When this happens, you'll see the message Input already processed, indicating that there is no new input to process.

Here are the steps to stop automatic launches:

Go to your Dashboard, select the Phantom you want to stop the automatic launches.
Toggle the ON/OFF setting to turn on or stop automatic launches.

A blue ON toggle means your Phantom is set to run automatically:
A grey OFF toggle means your Phantom automatic launches are stopped:

After toggling the Phantom to OFF, the automatic launches will be paused, and the Phantom will only run again if you manually start it.

💡 Set up email notifications to let you know when the Phantom starts returning the message Input already processed. This will help you know when to stop the automatic launches. For step-by-step instructions, check the guide.

How to Chain Phantoms and Flows to Create Automated Sequences

Best Practices for Social Media Platforms Automation

You can contact Support at any time for additional details on your PhantomBuster workspace.