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I'm receiving too many E-mails from Workflows

Receiving too many workflow e-mails from Workflows? Learn how to reduce notifications by applying suppression (Until False or Custom Timeout), limiting schedules to business hours, tightening conditions, narrowing scope (Groups/Assets), and choosing the right workflow type for the use case.

Overview

If you are receiving too many workflow e-mails from Perspio, the Workflow is usually functioning correctly—but its Condition, Schedule, Suppression, Scope, or E-mail Action configuration is too broad or too permissive, causing repeated triggers or unnecessary recipients.

This article provides a step-by-step checklist to reduce email volume while keeping workflows reliable and actionable.

Common causes of “too many emails”

  1. Suppression is set to None, so the workflow can trigger repeatedly.

  2. Condition is too broad, so it is true frequently or for many assets.

  3. Scope is too wide (Global or large Groups), increasing the number of assets evaluated.

  4. Schedule is Always-On when notifications should be limited to business hours.

  5. The workflow is Continuous when Periodic or Scheduled would reduce noise.

  6. Recipient configuration includes multiple addresses or a distribution list that expands to many people.

  7. An asset is sending high-frequency telemetry, causing frequent evaluations and triggers.

Before you change anything

Confirm which workflow is generating the emails

  • Identify the workflow name from:

    • the email subject/body (recommended to include Workflow name and Asset Name using variables), or

    • the Workflows list (recently updated workflows are often the source)

Best practice: Ensure your email subject includes at least:

  • Workflow name

  • Asset Name (variable)

  • Short trigger summary

This makes it easier to trace and tune later.

Step 1 – Review the workflow’s Actions (Email configuration)

Open the workflow and navigate to Actions.

What to check in the Email action

  • Recipient(s): confirm who is receiving the emails

    • Remove unnecessary recipients

    • Avoid using multiple individual emails if a single shared inbox is sufficient

    • If using recipient attributes (from asset contacts), confirm those contact fields are correct and not duplicated

  • Subject / Body:

    • Include asset identifiers and key details so the email is actionable

    • Avoid verbose content that encourages forwarding chains (often increases perceived “too many emails”)

Usability and controls

  • Each action block includes a remove (X) control (top-right of the action) to delete that action.

  • Ensure you only have the required actions enabled (e.g., Email + SMS + multiple Emails can multiply noise).

  • Use Select an action to add only when needed.

Step 2 – Apply Suppression to prevent repeated notifications

Suppression is the single most effective way to reduce excessive emails.

Navigate to Schedule (the step that contains both Scheduling and Suppression).

Recommended suppression settings

Option A: Until False (recommended for alert-style workflows)

  • Triggers once when the condition becomes true

  • Will not trigger again until the condition becomes false and then true again

Use this for:

  • temperature excursion alerts

  • door open alerts

  • offline alerts

  • geofence breach alerts

Option B: Until Custom Timeout (recommended for “reminder” patterns)

  • Triggers once, then waits a cooldown period before allowing another trigger

  • Use when you need periodic reminders (e.g., “still offline every 2 hours”)

Avoid: None

  • No suppression; the workflow may email repeatedly, especially for Continuous workflows with frequent updates.

Step 3 – Limit notifications to the right times (Scheduling)

Even with good suppression, Always-On scheduling can generate unnecessary emails outside operational hours.

Recommended schedule patterns

  • Always-On: only for truly critical alerts requiring 24/7 response

  • Recurring: for operational workflows handled during defined hours

    • Set Time Zone appropriately

    • Use Weekdays + business hours for internal ops

    • Use Custom for shift-based operations

    • Use All day only when required

Common outcome: Recurring schedule reduces perceived spam by preventing alerts overnight/weekends.

Step 4 – Tighten the Condition (reduce false positives)

If the condition is frequently true, the workflow will legitimately trigger often.

What to review

  • Signal selection: confirm you’re using the correct signal (Telemetry vs Details vs Configuration)

  • Operator:

    • For text signals, avoid overly broad operators like “Contains” unless necessary

    • Use more precise comparisons where supported

  • Thresholds:

    • Ensure thresholds match real operational limits

    • Avoid tight thresholds that oscillate around a boundary (causes repeated true/false transitions)

Design strategies to reduce noise

  • Use a condition that represents a meaningful incident (not a normal operating state)

  • Where supported, include time-based logic (e.g., “out of range for X minutes”) rather than instantaneous spikes

  • Use suppression to avoid re-triggering during the same incident

Step 5 – Reduce the number of assets evaluated (Scope)

A workflow can generate “too many emails” simply because it applies to too many assets.

What to change

  • Global → Groups: move tenant-wide workflows into targeted group workflows

  • Large Groups → Smaller Groups: segment by region, customer, or asset type

  • Groups → Assets: for exceptions, trials, or a small set of monitored assets

This reduces both the volume of condition evaluations and the number of triggers.

Step 6 – Confirm the Workflow Type fits the use case

Workflow type impacts how often Perspio evaluates and how quickly it triggers.

Tuning guidance

  • Continuous: best for real-time alerts; can be noisy with frequent telemetry

  • Periodic: best for routine checks; reduces noise by evaluating on intervals

  • Scheduled: best for daily summaries and reporting; avoids “event spam”

  • Events: best when you only want action on a discrete event occurrence

Common fix: If you do not need real-time alerting, switching from Continuous to Periodic or Scheduled often reduces the email volume dramatically.

Step 7 – Consider replacing “many alerts” with a scheduled summary workflow

If your team is receiving many alert emails that are mainly informational:

  • Keep a strict real-time workflow only for critical incidents

  • Replace non-critical alerts with a Scheduled daily summary email

This approach reduces inbox noise without losing visibility.

Quick fixes (most effective first)

  1. Set Suppression = Until False (or Custom Timeout for reminders)

  2. Set Schedule = Recurring (Weekdays/business hours)

  3. Tighten Condition thresholds/operators

  4. Reduce Scope (Global → Groups → Assets)

  5. Re-evaluate Workflow Type (Continuous → Periodic/Scheduled)

  6. Simplify recipients (shared inbox instead of many individual emails)

Troubleshooting notes

“I changed suppression but I still get too many emails”

  • Confirm the condition is truly clearing (false) between triggers

  • If the condition toggles frequently, use Custom Timeout instead of Until False

“Emails are going to too many people”

  • Review Recipient(s) for:

    • multiple addresses

    • distribution lists

    • attribute-driven recipients that may be populated across many assets

“I only want emails for critical assets”

  • Move the workflow to Groups scope and only include high-priority assets