Published by James Hurst | The Marketing Show
For years, HighLevel users have relied on creative workarounds to schedule recurring workflows – dummy contacts, midnight wait times, and complicated go-to loops. If you’ve ever felt frustrated by these limitations, HighLevel’s Summit 2025 announcement changes everything.
The new Workflow Scheduler introduces true contactless workflow execution, eliminating the need for dummy contacts and hacky solutions. In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to use this feature based on my hands-on testing right after Summit 2025.
Click image to watch full video walkthrough
The Dummy Contact Problem Every HighLevel User Knows
If you’ve used HighLevel workflows, you’ve probably hit this wall: you need to send a weekly report or run a daily task, but workflows traditionally require a contact to start.
This led to painful workarounds:
• Creating dummy contacts just to trigger workflows • Dealing with loop locks when workflows got stuck • Using “wait until midnight” combined with go-to loops • Hardcoding times that required workflow edits to change
I’ve been using these hacks for years. They worked, but they were messy and created maintenance headaches.
What the Workflow Scheduler Actually Does
At HighLevel Summit 2025, they announced contactless workflow executions – workflows that run on a schedule without needing any contact to trigger them.
Think of it like a cron job that just runs automatically on whatever schedule you set.
The scheduler supports:
- Hourly execution
- Daily execution
- Weekly execution (pick specific days)
- Monthly execution
- Custom cron expressions for advanced users
How I Used to Do This (The Painful Way)
Let me show you two real examples from my own workflows.
Example 1: Daily Trigger Link Reports
I wanted to send a daily email at 9:00 PM showing total trigger link clicks.
My old process:
- Created a dummy contact
- Hardcoded an event start time at 9:00 PM
- Used custom values to count trigger links all day
- Waited until 11:00 PM
- Sent the email with the count
- Reset everything
- Used go-to loop to restart
The workflow would sometimes enter a loop lock and just stop working. I’d have to manually fix it.
Example 2: Weekly Email to One Person
I needed to send a recurring email to Amanda on my team every week.
I put her through as a contact with no trigger and tried to loop it. The workflow got stuck in a loop lock and wouldn’t run. This was the pattern – use a dummy contact or put one person through and hope the loop worked.
It was a hack, and it felt like a hack.
Setting Up the New Workflow Scheduler
Here’s how the new way works.
Step 1: Add the Scheduler Trigger
Create a new workflow and search for “scheduler” in the triggers. It’s marked as beta since it’s brand new from Summit 2025.
Click on it and you’ll see the interval options.
Step 2: Pick Your Schedule
Choose your interval:
- Every hour
- Every day
- Every week
- Every month
- Cron (for custom expressions)
For most people, these simple options cover everything you need.
Step 3: Set Day and Time
Let’s say you want something to run every Friday at 7:00 PM.
- Select “Weekly”
- Check “Friday”
- Set time to 19:00 (military time)
The system uses 24-hour format:
- 9:00 AM = 09:00
- 7:00 PM = 19:00
- 11:00 PM = 23:00
Step 4: Name It and Check It
Give it a clear name like “Friday Evening Report – 1900 Hours.”
Then click “Check Trigger Schedule” – this shows you the next 5 times it will run. This is crucial for making sure you got the timing right.
For example, if you’re setting this up at 7:00 PM and want it to run tomorrow, make sure your scheduled time is later than 7:00 PM. If you set it for 8:00 PM (20:00), it’ll run today. If you set it for 6:00 PM (18:00), it’ll run tomorrow.
Step 5: Save and You’re Done
Click “Save Trigger” and it’s active. The workflow will run on that schedule automatically, forever, until you turn it off.
No dummy contacts. No loops. It just works.
How to Send Emails Without Contacts
Here’s the catch – since these workflows don’t have contacts, you can’t use the regular “Send Email” action.
Instead, use “Send Internal Notification”:
- Add “Send Internal Notification” to your workflow
- Change type to “Email”
- Under “User” select “Custom Email”
- Enter any email address
This lets you send to anyone, add CC and BCC, and works perfectly for these scheduled workflows.
My Honest Take
After years of dummy contact workarounds, this is exactly what we needed. It’s not fancy or revolutionary – it’s just scheduled tasks done right.
What I love:
- No more contact database clutter
- No more loop lock headaches
- Clean interface that makes sense
- Schedule checker prevents mistakes
- Works exactly as expected
Minor notes:
- It’s in beta, so report any bugs you find
- Military time might confuse some people at first
- Documentation is still being built out
If you’ve ever needed to schedule recurring workflows in HighLevel, this immediately makes your life easier. Period.
Getting Started
The Workflow Scheduler is included in all HighLevel plans at no extra cost. It’s in beta now, which means it works but they’re still collecting feedback.
If you hit any issues, submit a support ticket with details.
Ready to clean up those dummy contact workflows? Start with one simple scheduled task and work from there. Use the schedule checker to verify timing before going live.
Want to try HighLevel? Use my affiliate link – You’ll get complimentary access to our Skool community where I share exclusive workflows and host weekly coaching calls.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you purchase through them at no extra cost to you. This helps support the channel and allows me to continue creating free content for you!