TL;DR

Mark an Email or LinkedIn step as manual to stop lemlist from sending it automatically and instead create a Task you (or your team) complete when the lead reaches that step. This gives you control over high-stakes touchpoints while keeping the sequence timing intact. Takes about 3–5 minutes.

Who should use this

Sales teams who want to personally approve or customize certain steps (e.g., key follow-ups).
Teams using LinkedIn steps who want to complete actions manually while keeping sequence logic.
If you want everything fully automated, keep steps automated instead of manual.

Why this matters

Manual steps let you keep the structure and timing of an automated sequence while still giving you control over important touchpoints (like a highly personalized email or LinkedIn message). They also create a clear task queue, so nothing gets missed as leads progress through the sequence.

Before you start

You already have a campaign with a sequence that includes Email and/or LinkedIn steps.
Important: Decide which steps should be manual before launching the campaign. If you enable Mark as manual after the campaign is launched, the step will still be sent automatically (it won’t behave as a manual step).
If you plan to send manual emails, connect an email provider in lemlist first.
(Optional) If you want CRM task sync, connect HubSpot or Salesforce.

What steps can be marked as manual?

You can mark only these step types as manual:

Email
LinkedIn Message
LinkedIn Voice Message
LinkedIn Invitation

Step-by-step: turn an automated step into a manual step

Go to Campaigns, then open the campaign you want to edit.
In the campaign, click Sequence to open the sequence builder.
Before launching the campaign, click the step you want to send manually (for example, an Email step), then enable Mark as manual in the step panel.
Once enabled, this step will not be sent automatically. Instead, lemlist creates a Task when a lead reaches that step.
Note: If you turn on Mark as manual after the campaign is already launched, the step will still be sent automatically (it won’t be treated as a manual step).
Launch (or review your launch flow) as usual. Manual steps stay clearly flagged in the launch view, so it’s obvious they require manual action via Tasks.

Step-by-step: complete manual steps from Tasks

When a step is marked as manual, lemlist creates a task at the moment the lead reaches that step.

Example: If your campaign has 4 emails and only the 3rd email is manual, once Email 2 is sent, lemlist creates a task to send Email 3 manually.

What’s included in the task

The task uses the same sender, subject, and content as the sequence step.
Personalization variables are resolved from lead data (e.g., {{firstName}} becomes the lead’s first name).
You can edit the subject/body before sending.
If you update the sequence content later, that update is reflected in tasks that haven’t been manually edited.

To send the manual email from the task:

Open the task to review and (optionally) edit the sender, subject, and message.
Click Send & mark done to send the email and complete the task.
- Task completion: after sending, the task is automatically marked as done (no separate completion click needed).
- Sending limits: manual emails still count toward your sending limits.

How you’ll know it worked

✓ The step shows as a manual step in the sequence builder.
✓ When a lead reaches the manual step, a new item appears in Tasks.
✓ After you click Send & mark done, the task disappears from your open tasks and the lead continues to the next step in the sequence.

Common use case

When to use a manual step: Make the “most important” touchpoint manual (for example, after a lead opened/clicked earlier emails) so you can tailor the message based on the lead’s context.

Suggested pattern:

Email 1: Automated intro
Wait 2 days
Email 2: Automated follow-up
Wait 2 days
Email 3: Manual (personalize based on the lead’s company/recent activity)
Email 4: Automated final follow-up

Notes about reporting

When you send a manual email through Tasks, lemlist logs a specific activity in the lead’s activity feed.

At the moment, these activities are not included in Reports (reports don’t differentiate between manual and automated sends).

Troubleshooting / pitfalls

Issue: I marked a step as manual but it still sends automatically.

Root cause: The campaign was already launched when the step was marked as manual. Manual steps must be configured before launch.
Fix: Duplicate the campaign, mark the step as manual in the duplicated campaign, then launch the duplicated campaign.

Issue: I can’t change a manual step back to automated.

Root cause: Once a campaign is launched, the manual vs. automated status for steps can’t be reliably changed for sending behavior.
Fix: Finalize manual vs. automated before launching. If needed, duplicate the campaign and relaunch with the correct setup.

Issue: My manual task is created, but I can’t click “Send & mark done.”

Root cause: The campaign is paused (or sending is otherwise disabled).
Fix: Resume the campaign. The task due date remains the same, but sending stays disabled until the campaign runs again.

Issue: No manual task was created for a lead.

Root cause: The lead has no email, or the email bounced, so the manual email step is skipped.
Fix: Verify lead data and deliverability. If the step is skipped for that lead, a task won’t be created.