Using Automation Studio to apply filter criteria automatically

If you need your filtered audience to continue to update automatically at future intervals follow the instructions on how to create a data filter, then follow the below instructions.

1. Hover over the "Journey Builder" option in the main navigation menu bar
2. Select "Automation Studio" in the drop down menu
   
3. To create a new automation with a filter activity select  the "New Automation" button on the right top side of your screen
4. Once the skeleton of the new automation is created, on the top left you will see the words "Untitled Automation", replace the wording here with a name for your automation.  Often it is easiest to name all elements that will go into the automation similarly (for example the filter, the data extension, the journey.  This will make it easier for you to organize once you start creating more items in Marketing Cloud)
5. After typing the name in the automation, select the "done" button (you may also want to save as you go by selecting the button on the right side of your screen that reads "save")
   
6. Select the "summary" tab.  On this tab you should type a description for what your automation will do in the "description" field.  You can also change the location of the automation into a different folder if you would like to keep things nicely organized. To do this select the "Choose" button besides the "location" field"
   
7. Navigate to the "Workflow" tab on your automation canvas
8. On the left you will see all of the possible options you can use in your automation
9. Click, hold and drag the green "Schedule" circle on the left to the right on top of the dotted circle above the words "Start with a Starting Source", then drop the icon into that circle
10. To set a schedule for the automation to run on select the "Configure" button below the schedule circle that you just put in place
    
11. In the "Start Date" field select the date you would like the automation to start running, also fill out the Time Zone option
12. In the "Repeat" field select the down carrot to reveal options for how often you would like to run the automation (common choices are hourly or daily, but the choice is yours to make based on your use case). If you choose a re-occurrence, then you will also need to enter an "end" which could be either after so many runs or on a particular date, or never
13. Once all boxes are filled out select the blue "done" button on the bottom right of the configuration
    
14. To bring in the "Filter Activity", select the orange filter icon on the left side of the screen under the "Activies" heading. Drop the icon onto the workflow canvas under the "Step 1" column .
15. Select  the "choose" button next to configure a "filter activity" that will apply the filter you created in  <. ADD LINK HERE> these instructions
    
16. Select "Create New Filter Activity" in the upper right of the next screen
17. Fill-in the "Name" field with a naming convention similar to the filter you created- this activity will be what applies the filter parameters that you set previously everytime the automation runs.
18. Leave External Key blank, it will populate automatically
19. Add a description that will remind you of what this filter activity does and is for
20. Select a folder under the "folder location" option, this will keep your filters nicely organized
21. Under the "Filter Definition" option, navigate to the filter that you created that you want to apply in this automation and select it.
    
22. Select the "Next" button in the bottom right of your screen
23. The next page is asking you to configure the Data Extension where your filtered contacts can be found, when you fill this out, the system will build it for you)
    1. Name the new Data Extension (similar to your filter activity so you know they belong together)
    2. Leave External Key
    3. Add a Description 
    4. Click "Next"
       
24. Review your filter activity on the next screen
25. Once satisfied, select"Finish"
    **NOTE*** The data extension that you created in the above step (23) will be saved in the folder that contains the parent data extension you are filtering off of, depending on where this is, you may want to move it into a folder or area that is more appropriate like "Data extensions for journey entry"
26. The next screen will be the Automation Studio canvas, before navigating away, you will want to save your automation. Before selecting "save", confirm the following are filled out:
    1. Name Automation
    2. Description
    3. Choose the location of where you would like to save the automation.
    4. Select "Save"
27. Select the "Run Once" button from the top right
28. Choose "Select All Activities"
29. Select "Run"
30. Select "Run Now"
    
31. The automation will begin to run
    1. Navigate to the "Activity Tab"
       1. You may need to manually refresh your browser to see your automation running 
       2. When your automation is finished running, you will see a new entry with the date and time in the "Run Log" window, this is where you will see if there are errors with the run
          
       3. If your automation was successful, navigate back to the "Workflow" tab and select "Active" underneath the Schedule section.