---
title: "Add an Action to Guide Sections"
slug: "author-actions"
updated: 2026-02-19T07:18:58Z
published: 2026-02-19T07:18:58Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gladly.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Add an Action to Guide Sections

Actions are integrations with external systems, via App Platform, that allow the Guide to retrieve or update data before completing a set of tasks or responding to the Customer.

## Before you start

- Actions execute ahead of any other elements within a section
  - The action associated with any given [section](http://docs/guide-sections) within a Guide will always run first. If an action has been added to a section, guidance, rules and handoffs built into a section will be evaluated only after the action has run.
  - Example – A section titled “Look Up Orders with Email” has the following items configured:
    - Action added: “Look Up Orders”
    - Guidance added: “If there are no orders, then the customer's inquiry didn't return any matching orders. Please kindly suggest they try another email or share their order number.”
    - Rule added: “If there are multiple customer profiles, handoff to an agent.”

In this example, Gladly will carry out the “Look Up Orders” action before addressing the guidance and the rule. This allows Gladly to properly identify which pieces of guidance to adhere to based on the information found when running the “Look Up Orders” action.
- Available actions will display in the drop-down
  - Learn more about [installing and managing Apps within App Platform](https://help.gladly.com/developer-tutorials/docs/installing-and-managing-apps).
- Not all sections require an action
  - Some steps within a Guide do not rely on external information in order to complete a given task or respond appropriately to the Customer. In those instances, actions are not mandatory in order to build out a section.
    - **Example that *does not* require an action –** Consider a Guide intended to help a Customer reset their password. A section might be titled “Ask if the customer is able to log back into their account” and would include guidance that covers a) the Customer is able to log back in or b) the Customer is still having issues logging into their account. Gladly is not reliant on any external information in order to complete this workflow, and adding an action is not necessary.
    - **Example that *requires* an action –** Consider a Guide intended to help a Customer cancel their order. A section might be titled “Look Up Order Status” and would include guidance that determines cancellation eligibility based on the order status. Gladly is reliant on access to an external system in order to retrieve relevant order data and execute the guidance properly. In this instance, adding an action that fetches order data is necessary.

## Add an action to a section

1. Select the Guide within which you would like to add an action.
2. Identify or [add the section](http://docs/guide-sections#add-a-section-to-a-guide) associated with the action.
3. Click into the section and select the available action from the drop-down menu.
4. Click **Save**.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/add an action.gif)