Workflows

A workflow chains several applications: the result of one feeds the next, with conditions where needed. You draw the flow on a canvas — a trigger, application steps, conditions — then launch it, and each step runs its application in order and passes its result to the next one.

The Workflows section has its own tab bar: Overview, All workflows, Search and New workflow. The overview counts Your workflows — Workflows created in this project. — offers Create a workflow, and lists the ten most recent under Latest workflows, each with its Status, Steps, Applications, Visibility, Statistics and Created. See all workflows, at the foot of the count card, opens the full paginated list.

Before you start — A workflow can only use applications that are activated in this project, so configure and activate at least one first — see Building an app. If the project has none, the editor tells you No activated application in this project yet. Configure and activate one first. How many workflows a project may hold depends on your plan — see Plans & billing.

Create a workflow

1. In the Workflows tab bar, click New workflow.
2. In Name, type a short, recognizable name.
3. In Description, answer What does this flow do, from trigger to result?
4. Click Create the workflow.

The workflow is created with the status Draft and its Editor opens, so you can design the flow straight away. Every workflow has three tabs of its own: Overview, Editor and Settings.

Design the flow in the editor

The editor is a canvas. A flow always starts with the Trigger, which cannot be deleted, and you add the steps that follow it.

1. Open the workflow's Editor tab.
2. Click Application to add a step that runs one of your applications, or Condition to add a test that splits the flow into a true branch and a false branch.
3. Connect two steps: drag from an output port to an input port, or click one port then the other.
4. Click a step to open the panel on the right. On an application step, pick the app in the Application selector — an unconfigured step reads Choose an application on the canvas — then tell each field under Data where its value comes from: Previous step result, Launch input or Fixed value. A document or image field is either Asked when the flow is launched or Always the same file.
5. On a condition, pick the operator — Contains, Does not contain, Equals or Is not empty — and fill in Value where the operator needs one.
6. Click Apply to keep your choices on the canvas.
7. Click Save.

Save always keeps the drawing, then checks it: every application step must carry an application that is activated in this project, every step must be reachable from the trigger, and the flow must contain no loop. The editor stays open after you save. When the flow is complete you see The workflow was saved. While something is missing, the workflow stays a Draft and a message above the canvas names the fault, for example The flow is not valid: every application step must have an application selected. Saved. The flow is incomplete, so the workflow stays a draft.

Important — Saving a workflow that is published to the catalog checks it against the publication rules too (see Publish a workflow to the catalog below). If your change means it can no longer run for other projects — an application that is not public, a fixed file, or an incomplete flow — the workflow is taken out of the catalog and you see The workflow was saved as private because it cannot currently run for other projects. Its steps and settings were kept. To publish it, use activated public apps and request documents or images at launch. Nothing in the drawing is lost; fix the flow, then publish it again.

Important — The Application selector only offers applications that are activated in this project, and that status is re-read every time — when you Save, and again each time the workflow's Overview is opened. So an application that goes back to draft after you chose it — which happens as soon as a required part of its configuration is removed, see Building an app — makes the flow incomplete again on its own, with no action from you. Activate the application again, or point the step at another one.

Tip — Drag a step to move it on the canvas. Click a step or a link to select it, then remove it with the Delete button or the Delete key. Clicking the empty background clears the selection.

Activate the workflow

Activating and launching are done from the Overview tab, not from the editor.

1. Open the workflow's Overview tab.
2. Check the Configuration card. It counts the Application steps and the Conditions, names the Applications used, and gives the Starting event — On demand. Its verdict is Flow incomplete or Flow ready to run.
3. Click Activate the workflow.

The Information card then shows Status Activated, and the button at the top of the fiche becomes Launch.

Note — While the flow is incomplete the fiche offers Open the editor instead, and the launch screen refuses with This workflow is not ready to run.

Important — The Overview re-checks the flow every time you open it, so an activated workflow can return to Draft by itself when one of the applications it chains stops being activated. You find it at Status Draft with the verdict Flow incomplete, without having changed anything yourself. Nothing is lost: activate the application again — see Building an app — then click Activate the workflow.

Launch a workflow

1. Open the workflow's Overview tab and click Launch.
2. Review the flow on Launch the workflow — each step is listed in order, Step 1·Trigger with its Starting event, then one box per application step.
3. Fill in the fields the flow asks for. The first application step asks for its own fields. A later step only asks for the text fields you set to Launch input in the editor, and for any document or image set to Asked when the flow is launched. Each field is shown by name in the box of the step that uses it.
4. Click Launch.

The run starts and you land on its page to follow it live — see Workflow runs. If a required value is missing you'll see Fill in every required field. If the project has used up its quota, the run does not start and the form shows Token quota exhausted — see Plans & billing to add more.

Publish a workflow to the catalog

Publishing lets any other project run your flow. Its applications and their instructions stay yours.

1. Open the workflow's Settings tab.
2. In the Visibility card, click Edit.
3. On Workflow catalog, check the Flow row reads Ready to run, then click Publish.

The page confirms with The workflow is now public. and Visibility reads Published. The workflow then appears under All workflows in the catalog — see The catalog.

To take it out of the catalog, come back to the same page and click Remove from the catalog. The page confirms with The workflow is now private.

Important — Only an activated workflow whose flow is complete can be published. A workflow that is still a draft shows Flow Incomplete and Visibility Not published.

Other projects run a published workflow with their own access, so publishing also checks the following:

• Every application the flow chains must be public. Otherwise you see Publish the applications this flow chains before publishing the flow: another project cannot run an application it has no access to. Publish those applications first — see Building an app.
• No document or image field can use a fixed file from your project. Otherwise you see A public workflow cannot use fixed documents or images from your project. Change these file fields to request a file at launch. In the editor, set those fields to Asked when the flow is launched, save, and publish again.

If the workflow is edited at the same moment you publish it, publishing stops with The workflow changed before publication. Review its current steps and try again.

Note — The catalog only lists a published workflow while it still meets these conditions. If one of its applications later stops being public or activated, the workflow disappears from All workflows until that is fixed.

Rename a workflow

1. Open the workflow's Settings tab.
2. In the Workflow card, click Edit.
3. Change the Workflow name and the Description.
4. Click Save.

Renaming updates the name and description everywhere the workflow appears, and takes effect immediately.

Delete a workflow

1. Open the workflow's Settings tab.
2. Under Delete this workflow, click Delete.
3. Read the confirmation — This removes the workflow from your project. Its past runs stay in the run history. — then click Delete.

Important — This action cannot be undone. Runs already executed stay counted in your usage, and the applications used by this workflow are not affected.