How do I stop something before Bernard does it?
Most of what Bernard does can be put right afterwards. Some things, like an email that has already reached inboxes, cannot. That is why some work waits on hold first, and why you always get the chance to stop it. See How Bernard looks after things for me for the settings that decide how much Bernard does without asking.
The prompt
“Show me anything on hold on [my site] that Bernard is about to do, and tell me how to stop it.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
The notice comes first
Before anything goes on hold, Bernard emails whoever approves that kind of work on your account: you, or the person you named for that area. The email says what will happen and when, with Stop it and Send now. The hold only starts once that email has been accepted for delivery. If there is no one to send it to, or it cannot be delivered, nothing goes on hold: the work waits for your approval instead. If the notice bounces later, after it was accepted, the hold ends there and then, its buttons stop working, and the work goes back to waiting for your approval.
The hold then lasts 24 hours from that moment. If it would end during quiet hours (overnight, in your site’s timezone), it ends in the morning instead. It is never shorter than the full notice.
Stopping it
You can stop a hold from the notice email, from Bernard’s morning note (see What is my morning email from Bernard?), or from the On hold column of your board. Any owner of the account can stop work, even in an area someone else approves.
The page behind every button
A button in an email opens a page that shows what is about to happen and who is deciding. One more tap on that page confirms it. Each link works once, and only in the browser you opened it in, for 15 minutes. It stops working when the work changes, when someone else decides first, when your setting changes, when you pause Bernard, or when who can decide on the account changes. It never lasts more than three days, or past the end of the hold.
Send now, and large sends
Send now, and saying yes to work that reaches a large share of your audience, ask you to sign in first, and to use your second sign-in step if you have one. Then you come straight back to the page to confirm.
Questions people ask
- What kind of work waits on hold?
- Work that is hard to take back, at the settings where Bernard may do it after giving notice. He says what he will do and when, and does it only if nobody stops it. Everything else still waits for your approval.
- How much notice do I get?
- The wait is the full notice period, counted from the moment the notice email was accepted for delivery; the article below gives its length. Quiet hours overnight and your timezone can only make it longer, never shorter. If the notice cannot be delivered, or bounces afterwards, nothing stays on hold: the work waits for your approval instead.
- Where do I find the Stop button?
- In the notice email, in Bernard’s morning note, and in the On hold column of your board on the site home.
- Why do I need to tap twice?
- Some email systems open links to check them, sometimes before you have read the message. If a link acted when opened, a scanner could decide for you. So the link opens a page that shows what will happen, and only the button on that page does anything.
- What if I tap twice, or someone else already decided?
- The page says so plainly, for example Already decided: you chose Stop at 08:14. It never repeats an action.
- Why does Send now ask me to sign in?
- Sending before the hold ends skips your safety window, so it needs your normal sign-in, and your second sign-in step if you use one. Saying yes to work that reaches a large share of your audience asks the same. Stop never does: stopping is always one tap away.