# My sequence is not advancing

> Check enrollment, delay steps, conditions, subscriber status, and background jobs. Most stalled sequences are people never being enrolled, or a delay behaving as designed.

Source: https://sendbroadcast.net/how-to/sequence-not-advancing

## 1. Confirm anyone is actually enrolled

Open the sequence and look at its subscribers. An empty sequence is the most common
cause, and it usually means the enrollment trigger is not firing.

There are four ways in:

1. **Manually** added
2. **When a tag is added** to the subscriber
3. **When they match a segment**
4. **Through the [Sequences API](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/api-sequences)**

If you are relying on the tag trigger, confirm the tag is being applied and that it
matches exactly, including case. If you are relying on the segment trigger, confirm
the segment matches anyone at all. See
[segmenting subscribers](/how-to/segment-your-subscribers).

![A sequence detail page whose subscriber list is empty, the most common reason a sequence appears stalled](https://sendbroadcast.net/assets/docs/sequences/sequence-show-444dba7c.png)

Check enrolment first. An empty subscriber list means the trigger never fired, not that the sequence is broken.

## 2. Check whether a delay is simply still running

**Add delay** and **delay until a specific time** steps do exactly what they say. A
sequence that looks stuck at step two may be three days into a five-day wait.

Check the step configuration before assuming a fault. A delay until "next week" can
be considerably longer than it reads.

## 3. Check the conditions

A **condition** step routes subscribers based on whether something is true. If
everyone is piling up at a condition, the condition is not matching. Common causes:

- Testing against engagement that has not had time to happen
- A tag that is applied later in the flow than the condition checks for
- A condition on data the subscriber does not carry

[The sequences documentation](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/email-sequences) covers every
step type.

## 4. Check subscriber status

Sequences skip people who are no longer mailable:

- **Unsubscribed** subscribers stop receiving sequence email
- Addresses on your [suppression lists](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/suppression-lists) are
  skipped
- A **Make subscriber inactive** step earlier in the sequence does this deliberately

## 5. Check background jobs

Sequence steps run in the background. If jobs are not processing, every sequence
stalls at once, which is the tell. Check the background jobs dashboard and error log
in [Monitoring and Logs](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/monitoring-and-logs).

If broadcasts are also not sending, this is your cause. See
[broadcast not sending](/how-to/broadcast-not-sending).

![The background Jobs Dashboard showing queue sizes, workers and failed job counts](https://sendbroadcast.net/assets/docs/monitoring/jobs-dashboard-779f22ff.png)

Sequence steps and sends run as background jobs. If every sequence stalls at once, the answer is here.

## A note on duplicated sequences

Duplicating a sequence can optionally include its subscribers, and parent and child
sequences behave in specific ways documented in the sequences page. If you duplicated
recently and the copy is not running, read that section.

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[Email us](mailto:simon@sendbroadcast.net?subject=Sequence%20question) with the step
it is stuck on.