Help Center

Workflows

When a record changes, run the next steps automatically: send, wait, branch, update, notify.

A workflow starts from a trigger — a contact tagged, a deal changing stage — and then walks a graph of steps: send an email, wait three days, branch on a field, update the CRM, create a task, notify someone, call a webhook. Runs are durable, so a wait of a week survives deploys and restarts.

You build it on a canvas. Editing changes a draft; nothing runs until you publish a version and enable the workflow, and a run always executes the version that was live when it started.

How to

  1. 1

    Create a workflow from a starter, or blank.

    It is created as a draft. Drafts can be incomplete; only publishing validates.

  2. 2

    Add a trigger, pick its event, and narrow it with conditions.

    Conditions are ANDed rows such as "after.tag is VIP". No trigger means the workflow only runs when started by hand.

  3. 3

    Drag steps on and connect them from the handle at the bottom of each node.

    Each handle leads to exactly one next step, so connecting again replaces the old link. A branch has one handle per condition plus "otherwise".

  4. 4

    Fix anything ringed in coral — the problems list under the canvas names each one.

  5. 5

    Publish, then Enable. Use Run now to try it without waiting for a trigger.

  6. 6

    Open Runs to see each run on the canvas, with what every step actually sent and returned.

Ask Smooth Operator

  • When a contact is tagged VIP, send them a welcome email
  • Which workflows are live, and when did each last run?
  • Why did the last run of this workflow fail?

If something goes wrong

Publish says you lack a permission even though you can edit workflows.
Publishing needs every permission the steps use — a workflow that sends email needs "send email". Ask an admin for it, or have someone who holds it publish.
Publish is greyed out.
The draft has problems: a step nothing leads to, a link to a deleted step, or a loop with no wait in it. Hover the button or read the list under the canvas.
You edited the workflow but runs still behave the old way.
Runs use the published version. Save only updates the draft — publish again to make the change live. Runs already in flight finish on the version they started with.
Enable and Run now are unavailable.
The workflow has never been published. Publish a version first.

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