# Case Actions

> The two kinds of one-click action a reviewer can run from inside a Case, and when to reach for one instead of letting a Workflow decide.

Source: https://help.withpersona.com/articles/3QokSTOfV7ZC7hNDPQ5HnT/
Section: Cases > Introduction > Key Concepts

## What a Case Action is

A Case Action is a one-click action your team runs from inside a Case, against the Case the reviewer is looking at. It exists for the step that should not happen on its own: the reviewer reads the Case, decides, and then triggers the action.

Every Case Action is one of two kinds, and the difference is who builds it.

## Workflow Actions

A Workflow Action is one your team creates and publishes. It is a Workflow, so anything a Workflow or custom code can do can become a Case Action, and an action a reviewer runs is a published Workflow like any other.

Four **macros** are offered as pre-built starting points for common patterns:

- **Add to List:** add an item such as an email address, phone number, or selfie to an existing list from within a Case.
- **Create Report:** run a Report, such as Watchlist, directly from a Case.
- **Update Account:** update Account details such as name, birthdate, address, phone, email, or ID class and number.
- **Send SMS or Email Inquiry Link:** send an Inquiry link to an individual by SMS or email.

A macro is a starting point rather than a shortcut to running something. Picking one opens a pre-scaffolded Workflow in the Workflow editor, which you still configure and publish.

You can also start from scratch and build any action a Workflow supports. A Submit HTTP request step, for example, can re-enable a user in your own system at the same moment a reviewer approves a Case that had previously failed.

## System Actions

System Actions are the small set Persona ships. There is nothing to build: they are offered directly when you configure a Case template, in their own **System Actions** group.

- **Update fields:** update fields on the Case.
- **Update tags:** add or remove tags on the Case.
- **Update queue:** update a Case's queue and assignment behavior.
- **Update SLA:** set or change a Case's deadline to a specific future date and time, without a Workflow. Useful for a one-off adjustment, as an alternative to the automated deadline path in [SLAs for deadline tracking in Cases](https://help.withpersona.com/articles/5JQzBlB1uHQkyXLpysk1W1/).
- **Redact:** redact PII from the Case.

## When to reach for a Case Action instead of a Workflow

Use a Case Action whenever the action is not fully automated and depends on assessment or judgment from someone on your team. If you want to keep that flexibility, a Case Action is the right shape; if the step should always fire on its own, leave it in [Workflows](https://help.withpersona.com/articles/6i3aAp6lBK3FCf08HJgPjh/).

The two are not alternatives underneath, only in who starts them. A Workflow Action is a Workflow whose trigger is a reviewer clicking it.

## Where a reviewer meets one

Neither kind reaches a reviewer until it has been added to the Actions configuration of a Case template. Once it has, both kinds sit together in the Case header's **More actions** menu, and an action can also be attached to a [Case Button](https://help.withpersona.com/articles/49D6NMIIpG1IplZjGAwpmj/) or to rows in a Data Table or Resource module. See [Cases: Module Actions](https://help.withpersona.com/articles/nkdqoOq02MnkIW1nAW5bC/) for the module route.

For where actions are created, what you pick when you set one up, and how a template offers them, see [Case Action configurations](https://help.withpersona.com/articles/vZwfn2PS7VVMZwZl33pWen/).