Why is my Play taking a long time to publish when updating current enrollments?

Last updated: May 1, 2026

Context

When updating an active Play with the "Upgrade current enrollments" option enabled, users may experience longer publishing times than usual.

Answer

The normal publishing time for a Play update should be less than a minute. However, when you choose to upgrade current enrollments, the publishing process will take longer because the system needs to update all existing user enrollments with the new Play content.

Important limitation: When you upgrade current enrollments, the system will update contacts based on whether your changes are "compatible":

  • Compatible changes (copy edits, shortened delays, etc.) will apply to all remaining future steps for contacts already mid-sequence, as long as you don't delete steps they've already passed or insert new steps between completed steps

  • Incompatible changes will only upgrade contacts who are still queued and haven't received Step 1 yet

  • Steps already sent to contacts will never change—only upcoming, unsent steps are updated

  • If your changes are incompatible, you'll be prompted to resolve them before publishing

Warning: If you have queued manual tasks (emails queued to send but not yet sent), upgrading current enrollments will reset these tasks and throw them back into your To-Do list. To avoid losing queued work, either wait until all queued emails have been sent before upgrading, or be prepared to re‑queue these tasks after the upgrade completes.

Important points to note:

  • Regular Play updates without upgrading enrollments typically complete quickly

  • Selecting "Upgrade current enrollments" will increase publishing time due to background processing

  • Whether mid‑sequence contacts receive updates depends on if your changes are "compatible"—the system will check this automatically during publishing

  • Queued manual tasks that haven't been sent yet will be reset to your To‑Do list during the upgrade process

  • Publishing time depends on the number of current enrollments being upgraded

  • The Play will show "Publishing Play..." status until the process completes

If publishing takes longer than 5-10 minutes, please contact support for assistance.