--- title: "Deactivate Custom Attribute Lookup Before Rules" slug: "deactivate-custom-attribute-lookup-before-rules" description: "Learn how to manage custom attribute lookup through a Lookup Adaptor. Visit Gladly Help Docs to learn more." updated: 2026-03-08T18:43:22Z published: 2026-03-08T18:43:22Z --- > ## 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. # Deactivate Custom Attribute Lookup Before Rules | **REQUIRED USER ROLE** Administrator | **PERMISSION OVERVIEW** [View permissions by role](https://help.gladly.com/docs/managing-users-and-roles#roles-and-responsibilities) | | --- | --- | By default, when a Customer reaches out through their preferred Channel, Gladly first looks up custom attributes from an external system (if available) and uses that information in [Rules](/docs/what-are-rules-and-its-components) to route the Customer to the most appropriate Inbox or Agent based on those attributes. This allows you to create Rules using custom attributes for routing purposes. See [How Customers Are Routed](https://help.gladly.com/docs/what-is-routing/#how-customers-are-routed-in-gladly) for details on how routing works. **Example** > *Suppose you have as a custom attribute that tracks a Customer’s loyalty status (e.g., loyaltyTier) and you only want your VIP Team to assist any Customers with a Platinum status who reaches out. Assuming you have a Rule Condition using a custom attribute that assigns Customers to a certain Inbox or Agent based on their loyalty tier, with****Lookup before Rules****allowed, the Lookup Adaptor retrieves the custom attributes (loyalty tier) for the Customer first before Rules run.* ## Before you start Take note of the following regarding the Lookup before Rules behavior. - See [What is Routing](https://help.gladly.com/docs/what-is-routing/) to understand how routing works in Gladly. - Lookup before Rules supports Customer Profile custom attributes but not order/transaction information. - For example, a Customer Profile attribute could be “Lifetime Value,” which is supported, but not “Last Order Value,” because it's an order/transaction attribute. - See [Add New Custom Attributes](https://help.gladly.com/docs/add-new-custom-attributes-as-conditions) as Conditions to learn how to find and implement custom attributes for Rules. - Voice Contacts (i.e., a phone call) can be routed anytime and before Rules run if there are Agents available. This means a custom attribute may not always be ready when Customers are routed. Otherwise, any Rules for phone calls run after the lookup. [Data dips](https://help.gladly.com/docs/what-are-data-dips/) can be implemented if you want custom attributes to be retrieved before lookup and routing. - Expect an increase in [queued-to-fulfilled time](https://help.gladly.com/docs/metrics-in-detail/#queuedtofulfilled-time) reporting with Lookup before Rules activate. The increase depends on how fast your Lookup Adaptor retrieves custom attributes. - The default lookup timeout value for each lookup (and the max lookup timeout) is 15 seconds. Suppose each lookup for every Contact takes 15 seconds, and you received 100 Contacts for the day; that adds 25 minutes in [queued-to-fulfilled time](https://help.gladly.com/docs/metrics-in-detail/#queuedtofulfilled-time) reporting. - **Note –** The average first response time in Gladly is between three minutes and an hour, making a 15-second delay negligible. ## Deactivate Lookup before Rules Lookup before Rules is activated by default but can be deactivated anytime. 1. Click ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/hamburger-menu-icon(2).svg) on the top left corner of the screen. 2. Click **Settings**. 3. Under the **Agent Experience** category, click **Conversation Workflow**. 4. Find the **Conversation** section. Under **Lookup before Rules**, uncheck the box next to **Allow lookup to run before rules.** ![Checkbox option for enabling lookup before applying rules in Gladly interface.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/lookup-before-rules-deactivated.png) 5. Click **Save**. ### Activate Lookup before Rules 1. Click ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/hamburger-menu-icon(2).svg) on the top left corner of the screen. 2. Click **Settings**. 3. Under the **Agent Experience** category, click **Conversation Workflow**. 4. Find the **Conversation** section. Under **Lookup before Rules**, check the box next to **Allow lookup to run before rules.** ![Instructions for enabling lookup before applying rules in a software interface.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/activate-lookup-before-rules.png) 5. The **Customer lookup timeout (seconds)** tells Gladly how long to wait for the Lookup Adaptor to retrieve custom attributes before timing out and moving on to running Rules. ![Customer lookup timeout setting allows 15 seconds for customer information retrieval.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/lookup-before-rules-timeout-value.png) - The default (and max) value is 15 seconds. - Set a value that reflects how fast your Lookup Adaptor is retrieving data. - If the timeout value is reached, it’s possible that Rules that depend on the custom attribute may not run accurately if the attribute is missing. ## Update lookup timeout value (seconds) The default (and max) value is 15 seconds. There’s no guarantee that custom attributes will be available each lookup or when the lookup times out. If there are multiple Lookup Adaptors, a lookup for each instance occurs within the timeout period, and it’s possible for the lookup to timeout before all attributes are retrieved. In this case, the Customer lookup would be considered “timed out,” however, the information retrieved from a lookup before the timeout could populate the Customer Profile and be used by Rules. 1. Click ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/hamburger-menu-icon(2).svg) on the top left corner of the screen. 2. Click **Settings**. 3. Under the **Agent Experience** category, click **Conversation Workflow**. 4. Look for **Customer lookup timeout (seconds)**. This tells Gladly how long to wait for the Lookup Adaptor to retrieve custom attributes before timing out and moving on to running Rules. - **Tip –** The default (and max) value is 15 seconds. 5. Click **Save**.