After Migrating from ManyChat: Test, Backtrack and Close the Old Account
The automations are rebuilt, but a migration isn’t finished until you’ve seen one run. Four things, in this order.
Test from a second Instagram account
Section titled “Test from a second Instagram account”Not the one you connected — Instagram won’t DM you your own comment, so testing from the connected account looks like a broken automation when nothing is wrong.
Comment the keyword on the post from a second account and follow the whole path through: public reply, then the DM, then the button, then whatever comes after it. Check each step against the notes you took from ManyChat. Do this for every automation you rebuilt, not just the first one.
Pick up the comments you missed
Section titled “Pick up the comments you missed”Your old automation stopped the moment ManyChat lost the account, so anything commented between then and now went unanswered. Backtrack comments runs your new automation over comments already on the post, up to 7 days back — which usually covers the whole changeover.
Run it once the automation has tested clean, not before. Backtracking a misconfigured automation sends the wrong DM to everyone who commented that week.
Read the first busy day correctly
Section titled “Read the first busy day correctly”New DMs go out through the sending queue rather than all at once, so a burst of comments drains over a few minutes rather than landing instantly. That’s throttling working as intended — it’s what keeps a new connection from being action-blocked — not a fault to report. You can watch what’s waiting in In queue in the console sidebar.
If something doesn’t fire
Section titled “If something doesn’t fire”The symptom tells you where to look:
- Public reply lands, no DM. The connection is fine and the DM step isn’t. Start from Instagram automation is not working.
- Nothing happens at all, or you see a “not the thread owner” error. A connection survived the disconnect somewhere. Re-run the five checks on Verify the switch first, then Another app is controlling your conversations, which covers the Facebook and Instagram sides both.
- An error mentioning the messaging API. See Fix the Instagram messaging API error.
Close ManyChat when you’re sure
Section titled “Close ManyChat when you’re sure”Nothing of yours is left in ManyChat. The Instagram account came out on step one and its automations went with it, so what remains is a subscription still billing you for an empty account.
Wait until your rebuilt automations have run for a few days before you close it, though. While the ManyChat account still exists you can reconnect Instagram to it, which is your way back if the switch goes badly. Once it’s deleted, that door is shut.
Then, in ManyChat, Settings → Delete Account. Leave Account on the same page hands it to a teammate instead, if the account isn’t only yours.
Keep your notes and screenshots even after it’s gone. They’re the only record of what those automations said, and they cost nothing to keep.
You should now have
Every rebuilt automation tested end to end from a second account, the comments from the changeover picked up by backtrack, and the ManyChat account closed rather than quietly billing you.