Common questions about Assignments — content delivery, audience changes, editing, notifications, and reporting.
For the full operational guide, see Assignments: Best Practice Guide. For strategic decisions on assignment design, see Designing Assignments: Direct vs. Automated.
Direct vs Automated
What's the difference between Automated and Direct Assignments?
Automated Assignments are triggered by actions — joining a group, completing a course, hitting a hire-date milestone. Direct Assignments are sent manually to specific individuals or teams. Use Automated for recurring programs with dynamic audiences; use Direct for one-off needs with fixed audiences.
Can I switch an Assignment from Direct to Automated after creating it?
No. The type is set when you create the Assignment. If you need to switch, create a new Assignment of the right type and (if needed) deactivate the old one.
Instances and Reuse
Can I assign the same content more than once?
Yes. Assignments are managed at the Instance level — you can create multiple Instances of the same Assignment for different audiences or timeframes. See Understanding Assignment Instances.
What happens if I edit an Assignment after it's been delivered?
Changes to the underlying content apply to all Instances (past and future). Changes to per-Instance settings (audience, due date, notifications) apply only to that Instance going forward — past deliveries are unchanged.
Audience Changes
If a user joins the audience after an Automated Assignment was activated, do they get the assignment?
Yes. Automated Assignments continue to fire as new users meet the trigger criteria.
If a user leaves the audience (e.g., changes role), do they keep their existing assignment?
The user keeps any assignment they've already received — completion status is preserved. They simply don't receive new instances of that Automation going forward.
How do I add users to a Direct Assignment after it's been activated?
Open the Assignment Instance and add the users via Bulk Editing or update the Smart Segmentation rule that defines the audience. See Bulk Assignment Editing.
Notifications
Why didn't a user receive their notification?
Check three things: the Assignment's notification configuration (was the notification enabled?), the user's personal notification settings (did they disable that channel?), and the channel itself (email may be in spam, Slack/Teams may not be configured for that user).
Can I send a one-off reminder?
Yes. Open the Assignment Instance, filter to the users you want to remind, and use Bulk Editing → Send Reminder. See Bulk Assignment Editing.
Reporting and Completion
How do I see who has and hasn't completed an Assignment?
Open the Assignment in Share → Assignments. The Instance view shows per-user status. For deeper reporting, see Reporting.
A user completed the content but it's still showing as incomplete on their Assignment.
Usually a sync delay. Refresh, then check whether the content's completion threshold was met. See Why does my completed assignment say overdue?
How do I exclude completed users from a re-run?
Use exclusionary logic — exclude users with the Assignment's prior completion. See Using Exclusionary Logic in Assignments.
Troubleshooting
My Automated Assignment isn't firing.
Most common: it wasn't activated. Second most common: the trigger hasn't fired yet (hire-date triggers fire daily at 2:30 PM PT, completion triggers fire after the specified delay). See Troubleshooting Automations.
My Direct Assignment shows the wrong audience count.
Re-check the audience preview. Smart Segmentation rules and exclusionary logic can produce unexpected counts. The preview shows the current matching audience — verify it matches your expectation before activating.
See Also
- Designing Assignments: Direct vs. Automated — strategic frame.
- Assignments: Best Practice Guide — full operational playbook.
- Troubleshooting Automations — when something isn't working.
This FAQ covers the most common questions. For the full operational guide, see the Best Practice Guide.