Visual Workflow. salesforce Winter '18
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Extend Salesforce with Clicks, Not Code Visual Workflow
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Visual Workflow
Visual Workflow lets you automate business processes by building flows and distributing them to the right users or systems. A flow is an application that can execute logic, interact with the Salesforce database, call Apex classes, and collect data from users. You can build flows by using the Cloud
Flow Designer.
Flows can either require user interaction—perhaps a wizard or guided UI for data entry—or run in the background on their own—perhaps something that automatically transfers records when a user’s role changes.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
When designing, managing, and running flows, consider the permissions, use limits, and data issues.
Once you understand the process that you want to automate, design a flow in the Cloud Flow Designer for that process.
Use the flow detail page to do anything with your flow outside of designing it—such as activating a flow, testing it, or viewing its properties.
After you’ve created and activated a flow version, distribute it to users so that they can run it. Which distribution method you use depends on the users that you want to distribute the flow to: internal users, external users, systems, or other orgs.
Why Did My Flow Interview Fail?
To troubleshoot a failed flow interview, use the flow fault email. You can also set up temporary Screen or Send Email elements to identify the problem.
A flow interview is a running instance of a flow. A flow is an application built by your administrator that asks you for inputs and does something in Salesforce based on those inputs.
SEE ALSO:
Which Automation Tool Do I Use?
What's the Difference Between Workflow and Visual Workflow?
Despite their similar names, Workflow and Visual Workflow are separate Salesforce features for automating business processes.
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Workflow
Workflow enables you to set up workflow rules. A workflow rule identifies what kinds of record changes or additions trigger specified
workflow actions, such as sending email alerts and updating record fields.
Workflow rules and actions are associated with a specific object (and can cross objects only to update fields on a related master record).
Visual Workflow
Visual Workflow enables you to create flows, which are triggered by users rather than events. Unlike Workflow, which always executes rules and actions behind the scenes, Visual Workflow offers screens for displaying and collecting information from the user running the flow.
Note:
You can, however, participate in a pilot program that enables workflow rules to execute flows behind the scenes. The pilot program for flow trigger workflow actions is closed. If you've already enabled the pilot in your org, you can continue to create and edit flow trigger workflow actions. If you didn't enable the pilot in your org, use the
in Process Builder instead.
Flows aren’t tied to any one object. They can look up, create, update, and delete records for multiple objects.
In case you’re wondering, the “visual” in Visual Workflow refers to the ability to visually build flows using the Cloud Flow Designer.
Its drag-and-drop user interface lets you build flows without writing any code.
SEE ALSO:
Which Automation Tool Do I Use?
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
When designing, managing, and running flows, consider the permissions, use limits, and data issues.
When using Visual Workflow, keep flow limits and Apex governor limits in mind.
Before you begin building and distributing flows, understand the best practices.
Considerations for Designing Flows
When you design flows, keep certain guidelines in mind.
Considerations for Managing Flows
When managing flows, consider the administration and activation limits.
Considerations for Running Flows
When you run or test a flow, keep the limits and guidelines in mind.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Visual Workflow is 508-compliant with a few exceptions.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations and Limitations for Flows in Lightning Pages
Considerations for Translating Flows
Limits for Visual Workflow
When using Visual Workflow, keep flow limits and Apex governor limits in mind.
Maximum number of versions per flow
Maximum number of executed elements at run time
Maximum number of active flows and processes per org
Maximum number of flows and processes per org
50
2,000
500
1,000
Maximum number of flow interviews or groups of scheduled actions (from processes) that are waiting at one time
30,000
Maximum number of flow interviews that are resumed or groups of scheduled actions that are executed per hour
1,000
Maximum number of relative time alarms defined in flow versions or schedules based on a field value in processes
20,000
Visual Workflow
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Apex Governor Limits that Affect Flows
Salesforce strictly enforces limits to ensure that any runaway flows don’t monopolize shared resources in the multitenant environment.
Per-transaction limits, which Apex enforces, govern flows. If an element causes the transaction to exceed governor limits, the system rolls back the entire transaction. The transaction rolls back even if the element has a defined fault connector path.
Each flow interview runs in the context of a transaction. A transaction represents a set of operations that are executed as a single unit. For example, a transaction can execute Apex triggers and escalation rules in addition to a flow interview. If one interview in a transaction fails, all the interviews in the transaction are rolled back, as well as anything else the transaction did. The transaction doesn’t retry any of the operations—including the flow interview.
Flow Bulkification in Transactions
Programmers can design their code so that similar actions are performed together in one batch. For example, one operation to create 50 records rather than 50 separate operations that each create one record. This process is called bulkification, and it helps your transaction avoid governor limits. If you’re working with flows, you don’t even have to think about bulkification. Flow interviews bulkify actions for you automatically.
SEE ALSO:
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
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Apex Governor Limits that Affect Flows
Salesforce strictly enforces limits to ensure that any runaway flows don’t monopolize shared resources in the multitenant environment. Per-transaction limits, which Apex enforces, govern flows. If an element causes the transaction to exceed governor limits, the system rolls back the entire transaction.
The transaction rolls back even if the element has a defined fault connector path.
Description Per-Transaction Limit
1
Total number of SOQL queries issued
(Record Update, Record Delete, Record Lookup, and Fast Lookup element executions)
100
Total number of records retrieved by SOQL queries
(across all Record Update, Record Delete, Record
Lookup, and Fast Lookup elements executed in all interviews in the transaction)
50,000
Total number of DML statements issued
(Record Create, Record Update, Record Delete,
Fast Create, Fast Update, and Fast Delete executions)
150
Total number of records processed as a result of DML statements
10,000
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
1
Autolaunched flows are part of the larger transaction through which they were launched. For example, flows launched from a process are executed with the process actions as part of the larger transaction. Flows with Screen elements can span multiple transactions. A new transaction begins each time the user clicks Next in a screen. Flows with Wait elements span multiple transactions. A transaction ends when a flow interview begins to wait for an event. When the flow interview resumes, a new transaction begins. Everything after the Wait element is executed as part of a batch transaction that includes other resumed interviews.
SEE ALSO:
Apex Developer Guide: Execution Governors and Limits
Flows in Transactions
Each flow interview runs in the context of a transaction. A transaction represents a set of operations that are executed as a single unit.
For example, a transaction can execute Apex triggers and escalation rules in addition to a flow interview. If one interview in a transaction fails, all the interviews in the transaction are rolled back, as well as anything else the transaction did. The transaction doesn’t retry any of the operations—including the flow interview.
In each transaction, Salesforce enforces governor limits to prevent shared resources from being depleted. Because multiple Salesforce organizations share the same resources, Salesforce prevents one organization from depleting all the resources and leaving the other organizations high and dry. It’s similar to an apartment building that uses one cache of water to service every tenant. If your neighbor
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Extend Salesforce with Clicks, Not Code Visual Workflow uses all the water, you can’t take a shower. (It’s trite, but hopefully you get the idea.) Per-transaction governor limits help prevent such things from happening.
When Does a Flow’s Transaction Start?
Depending on how the flow was distributed, a transaction that runs an interview for that flow starts in different ways.
When Does a Flow’s Transaction End?
When a transaction ends depends on whether the flow contains certain elements and whether it originally started because a record was changed.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Bulkification in Transactions
When Does a Flow’s Transaction Start?
Depending on how the flow was distributed, a transaction that runs an interview for that flow starts in different ways.
Distribution Method
Process Builder
1
Flow URL
Custom button or link
Visualforce page
Interview.start()
method
REST API (Custom Actions or Flows resource)
Transaction starts when...
A record is created or updated.
The URL is accessed.
The button or link is clicked.
The page is accessed.
If the method starts via a before
or after
trigger, the transaction starts when a record is created or updated.
Otherwise, the transaction starts when the method (or a parent method) is invoked.
The start()
method shares its limits with other operations in the transaction and other methods in the class.
When the REST call is made. Depending on how the REST call is implemented, the limits can be shared with other operations.
1
The same also applies if the flow is distributed through a workflow rule. The pilot program for flow trigger workflow actions is closed.
If you've already enabled the pilot in your org, you can continue to create and edit flow trigger workflow actions. If you didn't enable
the pilot in your org, use the Flows action in Process Builder instead.
Note:
When a Screen or Wait element is executed, the existing transaction ends and a new one begins.
When Does a Flow’s Transaction End?
When a transaction ends depends on whether the flow contains certain elements and whether it originally started because a record was changed.
The transaction ends when:
•
A Screen or Wait element is executed
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•
The order of execution has completed—if the flow was triggered when a record was created or updated
•
All the interviews in the transaction have finished
Tip: If you think that a flow’s interview is likely to hit governor limits within its transaction, consider adding a Wait element or a
Screen element.
If the interview is one of many things being done in a given transaction, that interview shares the transaction’s governor limits with the other operations.
Example:
You update 100 cases through Data Loader. Due to the order of execution in a transaction and the customizations in your organization, here’s what happens.
Transaction Operation DML Statement
Used
SOQL Query
Used
1
2
3
4
5
6
9
10
7
8
11
Cases are saved to the database, but aren’t committed yet.
Case assignment rules are executed. Each case’s owner is updated.
Case escalation rules are executed. If any case has been open for 10 days, an email is sent to the owner.
Process is started.
Process looks up the case’s account.
If the account is hot, process uses Chatter to notify the account owner that there’s a new case associated with the account.
Process launches a flow interview.
Flow interview looks up the parent account and how many cases it has.
Flow interview checks whether the account has more than five open cases.
If it does, flow interview looks up the account’s division manager then posts on the account’s Chatter feed to notify the division manager and account owner.
If it doesn’t, flow interview posts on the account’s Chatter feed to notify only the account owner.
SEE ALSO:
Apex Developer Guide: Triggers and Order of Execution
Flow Bulkification in Transactions
Programmers can design their code so that similar actions are performed together in one batch. For example, one operation to create
50 records rather than 50 separate operations that each create one record. This process is called bulkification, and it helps your transaction avoid governor limits. If you’re working with flows, you don’t even have to think about bulkification. Flow interviews bulkify actions for you automatically.
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How Does Flow Bulkification Work?
Interview operations are bulkified only when they execute the same element. That means that the interviews must all be associated with the same flow.
Which Flow Elements Can Be Bulkified?
Flows can bulkify any element that performs a DML statement or SOQL query or does something else external to the flow, like sending an email.
This example demonstrates how operations are bulkified for a flow when 100 cases are updated through Data Loader.
SEE ALSO:
How Does Flow Bulkification Work?
Interview operations are bulkified only when they execute the same element. That means that the interviews must all be associated with the same flow.
When multiple interviews for the same flow run in one transaction, each interview runs until it reaches a bulkifiable element. Salesforce takes all the interviews that stopped at the same element and intelligently executes those operations together. If other interviews are at a different element,
Salesforce then intelligently executes those operations together. Salesforce repeats this process until all the interviews finish.
If, despite the bulkification, any interview hits a governor limit, all the interviews in the transaction fail. Any operations that the interviews performed are rolled back, and the transaction doesn’t try to perform the operations again.
Example: When you upload 100 cases, the flow MyFlow_2 triggers one interview for each case.
•
50 interviews stop at Record Create element Create_Task_1.
•
The other 50 interviews stop at Record Create element Create_Task_2.
The result? At least two groups of bulk operations to execute.
•
One for the 50 interviews that execute Create_Task_1
•
One for the 50 interviews that execute Create_Task_2
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Which Flow Elements Can Be Bulkified?
Flows can bulkify any element that performs a DML statement or SOQL query or does something else external to the flow, like sending an email.
Elements that create, update or delete records
When a record is created, updated, or deleted, the transaction performs a DML statement.
•
Create elements (Record Create, Fast Create)
•
Update elements (Record Update, Fast Update)
•
Delete elements (Record Delete, Fast Delete)
•
Quick Action elements
•
Post to Chatter elements
•
Submit for Approval elements
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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•
Apex elements—depending on your organization (invocable Apex only)
Elements that look up records
When fields on a record are looked up, the transaction performs a SOQL query.
•
Lookup elements (Record Lookup, Fast Lookup)
•
Record Update elements
•
Record Delete elements
•
Apex elements—depending on your organization (invocable Apex only)
Elements that send emails
•
Send Email elements
•
Email Alert elements
•
Apex elements—depending on your organization (invocable Apex only)
Note:
•
Unlike invocable Apex, Apex Plug-in elements aren’t bulkified.
•
Although invocable Apex is bulkified, the flow has no way of knowing what the invoked methods’ operations are. If you want those operations to also be bulkified, make sure the code follows bulkification best practices.
SEE ALSO:
Apex Developer Guide: Running Apex within Governor Execution Limits
Example of Flow Bulkification
This example demonstrates how operations are bulkified for a flow when 100 cases are updated through Data Loader.
The Associated Flow
You’ll understand the concepts better if you understand the design of the associated flow.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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The flow:
1. Looks up the case’s parent account and how many open cases that account has.
2. Checks whether the account has more than five cases open.
3. If the account has more than five open cases:
a. Looks up the division manager for the account.
b. Posts on the account’s Chatter feed to notify the division manager and the account owner.
4. If the account has five or fewer open cases, posts on the account’s Chatter feed to notify only the account owner.
The Bulkified Interviews
When you update the records, one flow interview is created for each case simultaneously. All of the interviews are associated with the same flow. Each interview runs until it gets to a bulkifiable element.
The first interview goes through the Record Lookup element (1). Because Record Lookups can be bulkified, the interview waits there until all the other interviews have done the same. Then, Salesforce executes all the Record Lookup operations together (because they’re all for the same element in the same flow). Instead of 100 SOQL queries, the transaction issues one SOQL query.
The first interview is evaluated by the Decision element (2). The account has six cases, so the interview is routed down the “More than
5” path. The interview proceeds to the second Record Lookup element (3a). Because it’s a bulkifiable element, the interview waits there.
The second interview is evaluated by the Decision element (2). This account has one case, so the interview is routed down the “5 or fewer” path. The interview proceeds to the Post to Chatter element (4). This element is also bulkifiable, so the interview waits there.
After all the interviews have been processed, 30 are waiting to execute the second Record Lookup element (3a) and the remaining 70 are waiting to execute the Post to Chatter element (4).
Salesforce executes all the Record Lookup (3a) operations for the first 30 interviews together. Instead of 30 separate SOQL queries, the transaction issues one.
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Next, the transaction returns to the Post to Chatter element (4), where the 70 interviews are ready to execute their Post to Chatter operations. Remember, these are the interviews whose accounts don’t have more than five cases. Salesforce executes the Post to Chatter operations together. Instead of 100 separate DML statements to create each Chatter post, the transaction issues one DML statement to create all 100 posts at one time. Because the Post to Chatter element isn’t connected to a subsequent element, those 70 interviews finish.
The 30 interviews—which looked up the relevant division manager—proceed to the final Post to Chatter element (3b). When all 30 interviews are ready, Salesforce executes all 30 Post to Chatter operations together. Instead of issuing 30 separate DML statements for the individual Chatter posts, it issues one. Because the Post to Chatter element isn’t connected to another element, those 30 interviews finish.
Flow Best Practices
Before you begin building and distributing flows, understand the best practices.
Plan out your flow before you start building.
Write or draw out all the details of your business process. That way, you have a clear idea of what information you need, where you’re getting that information from, and what logic and actions to perform. Doing so makes building the corresponding flow much easier.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Build your flows in a test environment—like a sandbox or Developer Edition org.
The last thing you want to do is accidentally change records in your company’s production org.
Build your flows in a separate environment. That way, you can enter fake data and test various permutations of your flow without worrying about changing or deleting data that your users actually need.
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Never hard-code Salesforce IDs.
IDs are org-specific, so don’t hard-code new or existing IDs. Instead, let Salesforce create the IDs, and pass them into variables when the flow starts. You can do so, for example, by using merge fields in URL parameters or by using a lookup element.
Wait until the end of the flow to make changes to the database.
Have you heard about flow limits? Because flows operate under Apex governor limits, the sky is not the limit. To avoid hitting those limits, we recommend bunching all your database changes together at the end of the flow, whether those changes create, update, or delete records.
Control when running users can navigate backward.
If the flow commits changes to the database between two screens, don't let users navigate from the later screen to the previous screen. Otherwise, the flow can make duplicate changes to the database.
Provide an error handler.
Sad to say, but sometimes a flow doesn’t perform an operation that you configured it to do. Perhaps the flow is missing crucial information, or the running user doesn’t have the required permissions. By default, the flow shows an error message to the user and emails the admin who created the flow. However, you can control that behavior. See
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
for more information and recommendations.
Save early and often.
Sometimes the Cloud Flow Designer falls victim to unexpected problems, like losing Internet access. Salesforce doesn’t save your changes automatically, so it’s up to you to save your work. Save as often as possible, so that you don’t accidentally lose a few hours’ worth of work.
Test as many permutations of your flow as you possibly can.
As with all customizations in Salesforce, it’s important to test your work. This is especially true if your flow uses branching or other complex logic. Make sure that you test as many possibilities as you can think of before you distribute the flow to your users.
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Considerations for Designing Flows
When you design flows, keep certain guidelines in mind.
EDITIONS
Deleting Variables
If you delete an sObject variable or sObject collection variable, any variable assignments that use the deleted variable are set to null
.
Manipulating Percentage Values
Test your flows carefully if they use sObject variables to manipulate percentage values. When you insert a value into an sObject variable’s percentage field and then reference that field in a formula, the value is automatically divided by 100.
For example, an opportunity’s Probability field is set to 100. If you assign that value to sObject variable
{!Opportunity.Probability}
, the value is still 100. But if you create a formula whose expression is
{!Opportunity.Probability}
, the value is 1.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Referring to Blank Fields or Resources
If you leave any field or resource value blank, that value is null
at run time. To treat a text value as an empty string instead of null
, set it to
{!$GlobalConstant.EmptyString}
.
Boolean Types Treat null
Differently than false
Flow treats null
as a different value than false
. For example, if you try to find a record whose checkbox field is set to null
, no records are returned. Instead, look for records where the checkbox field is set to false
. If you’re using a variable (such as myCheckbox = {!varBoolean}
), make sure that the variable isn’t set to null before you reference it in your record filter or condition.
Setting the Record Type
To set the record type for a record, use the ID of the record type. Look up the record type by its name and then store its ID in the flow.
For example, use a Record Lookup element to find the RecordType record whose Name is “Reduction Order”. Then store that record type’s ID in a variable. You can then use the variable to set the
Order Record Type
field on an order record.
Working with Person Accounts
If your org uses person accounts, reference
Contact.Salutation
instead of
Account.Salutation
.
Shield Platform Encryption
Encrypted fields aren’t supported for filtering or sorting records. This limitation applies to the following elements and resources.
•
Record Update element
•
Record Delete element
•
Record Lookup element
•
Fast Lookup element
•
Dynamic Record Choice resource
External Objects
External objects aren't supported in flows.
Considerations for the Cloud Flow Designer
When you create a flow in the Cloud Flow Designer, familiarize yourself with its limitations and behaviors. For example, it supports a handful of locales and can’t open flows from managed packages.
Guidelines for Working with Large Flows
Business processes can be complex. When your flow is too large for the canvas, control the zoom, search in the Explorer tab, or collapse the left side panel.
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Best Practices for Designing Flows for Translation
Review these best practices if you plan to translate flows.
Considerations for Two-Column Flows
If your org has Lightning runtime enabled, you can control whether a flow displays in one column or two columns. Before you use this feature, understand how the flow layout currently behaves.
Limitations for Multi-Select Choice Fields
Multi-select checkboxes and multi-select picklist fields let flow users select multiple choices in a screen field. Before you start using multi-select choice fields, understand how they work in flows, both when you design the flows and when your users run them.
When you create a formula resource or add validation to a screen input field, understand the formula limitations in Visual Workflow.
Before you design flows that contain one or more Wait elements, understand the limitations and guidelines.
Flow Operations and Read-Only Fields
Understand when flows have read-only access to field values. You can control the behavior when a flow tries to update a read-only field and remove read-only field values from flow operations.
SEE ALSO:
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Considerations for the Cloud Flow Designer
When you create a flow in the Cloud Flow Designer, familiarize yourself with its limitations and behaviors. For example, it supports a handful of locales and can’t open flows from managed packages.
•
At run time, time zones for date/time values can differ from what you see in the Cloud Flow
Designer. During run time, date/time values reflect the running user's time zone settings in
Salesforce. In the Cloud Flow Designer, date/time values reflect the time zone set on your computer. The Cloud Flow Designer appends the GMT offset to your date/time value.
•
The Cloud Flow Designer doesn't support UTF-8 encoding for text in user input fields.
•
The Cloud Flow Designer contains embedded fonts for all locales it supports. The supported locales are:
–
English (US)
–
French (France)
–
German (Germany)
–
Spanish (Spain)
–
Japanese (Japan)
–
Chinese (Traditional)
–
Chinese (Simplified)
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
If you enter unsupported characters for a supported locale, they’re displayed using system fonts instead of the embedded fonts.
In unsupported locales, your system font settings are used to display all characters in the Cloud Flow Designer.
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•
The Cloud Flow Designer can’t open flows that are installed from managed packages.
•
Don’t enter the string
null
as the value of a text field in the Cloud Flow Designer.
•
The Cloud Flow Designer has access to information that exists when you open it. If you modify data or metadata in your organization and need to refer to it in a flow, close and reopen the Cloud Flow Designer. For example, if you add a custom field or modify an Apex class with the Cloud Flow Designer open, close and reopen the Cloud Flow Designer.
•
The Cloud Flow Designer uses the permissions and locale assigned to the current user.
•
If you open a flow that was last opened in Winter ’12 or earlier, each Boolean decision is converted to a multi-outcome Decision element that:
–
Uses the same name as the old decision.
–
Takes the unique name of the old decision, appended with “_switch”.
–
Has an outcome labeled “True”. This outcome’s unique name matches that of the old decision, and its conditions are migrated from the True outcome of the old decision.
–
Has a default outcome labeled “False”.
Guidelines for Working with Large Flows
Business processes can be complex. When your flow is too large for the canvas, control the zoom, search in the Explorer tab, or collapse the left side panel.
Zoom
To zoom in and out of your flow, use the + and - buttons on the right side of the canvas.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Search in the Explorer tab
Looking for a specific element or resource? Search for it in the Explorer tab.
•
To find an element with a specific name, type in the search box.
•
To find all instances of a certain element or resource, click the magnifying glass and select the type.
Once you find the right resource in the Explorer tab, see which elements are using the resource. In the Description pane, click the
Usage tab.
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Once you find the right element in the Explorer, find that element in your canvas. Hover over the element, and click the magnifying glass.
The element is highlighted in green in your canvas.
If the element wasn’t in view, the Cloud Flow Designer automatically scrolls to show the element.
Collapse the left side panel
To hide the Palette, Resources, and Explorer tabs from your view, click the left arrow next to the side panel. That way, you get even more space in the canvas.
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Best Practices for Designing Flows for Translation
Review these best practices if you plan to translate flows.
•
Keep your labels as short as possible, so that the translated label doesn't exceed 1,000 characters
(or 255 characters for definition name and version name). If you have long labels for a display text field, consider breaking it up into multiple fields.
•
When you update a master label, check if it has translations and update as needed.
•
Avoid text templates if you need to translate an email body or other formatted block text.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Translating Flows
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Considerations for Two-Column Flows
If your org has Lightning runtime enabled, you can control whether a flow displays in one column or two columns. Before you use this feature, understand how the flow layout currently behaves.
Granularity
The layout setting is applied at the flow level. So you can’t control the layout at the screen or field level. If you set a flow to use two columns, every screen in that flow displays in two columns.
Order of Fields
You can’t manually control which fields go in which columns. If the flow is set to display two columns, the fields alternate in each column. The odd fields (first, third, fifth, and so on) are placed in the left column. The even fields (second, fourth, sixth, and so on) are placed in the right column.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
If your users navigate screens with the TAB key, they’ll tab through all the fields in the left column and then all the fields in the right column. You can’t configure the fields to tab left-to-right.
Responsiveness
The flow layout isn’t responsive to the user's screen dimensions. It uses the same layout whether the user’s screen is one inch wide or twenty inches wide.
Tip: Don’t apply two-column layout to a flow if users will run it from a phone or small tablet.
SEE ALSO:
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
Considerations and Limitations for Flows in Lightning Pages
Render Two-Column Screens from a Flow URL
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Limitations for Multi-Select Choice Fields
Multi-select checkboxes and multi-select picklist fields let flow users select multiple choices in a screen field. Before you start using multi-select choice fields, understand how they work in flows, both when you design the flows and when your users run them.
EDITIONS
Configuring a Multi-Select Resource Field
•
A multi-select choice field can have only one default value.
•
A dynamic record choice resource can be configured to assign field values from a user-selected record to variables in the flow. When a multi-select choice field uses a dynamic record choice, only values from the last record that the user selects are stored in the flow variables. If multiple multi-select choice fields on one screen use the same dynamic record choice, the variable assignments obey the first of those fields.
Using Values from a Multi-Select Resource Field
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
•
At run time, a multi-select field’s value is a concatenation of the user-selected choice values, separated by semicolons. If any of the selected choices’ values included semi-colons, those semi-colons are removed.
•
If you referenced multi-select choice fields in flow conditions, follow these best practices.
–
Configure a stored value for each choice that you use in multi-select choice fields.
–
Don’t use the same choice in multiple multi-select choice fields on the same screen.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Screen Element: Choice Fields
Limitations for Flow Formulas
When you create a formula resource or add validation to a screen input field, understand the formula limitations in Visual Workflow.
•
Flow formulas can’t contain more than 3,000 characters.
•
A formula returns null
if:
–
The value that the formula returns doesn’t match its data type
–
The formula contains an unsupported function
For example, if your formula resource has a data type of Number, the output must be numeric.
•
These functions aren’t supported in a flow formula.
–
GETRECORDIDS
–
IMAGE
–
INCLUDE
–
ISCHANGED
–
ISNEW
–
PARENTGROUPVAL
–
PREVGROUPVAL
–
PRIORVALUE
–
REQUIRE SCRIPT
–
VLOOKUP
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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on page 253.
•
In a flow, the
CONTAINS
function checks all characters within its parentheses. For cross object field references,
CONTAINS
works like it does in the rest of Salesforce. It checks only the first 250 characters in the reference.
Here’s an example. varContract
refers to an sObject variable that contains the values of a contract record. This formula expression checks only the first 250 characters.
CONTAINS({!varContract.Account.Description}, "description")
This formula expression checks all characters in the field.
CONTAINS({!varContract.Description}, "description")
•
If a Display Text screen field contains an invalid formula resource, the flow displays an empty string at run time.
•
If a formula expression has an error at run time, it resolves to null.
•
If a flow contains an invalid formula resource, you can’t activate the flow.
•
To reference a platform event in a formula, pass the event data into an sObject variable in the Wait element. Then reference the appropriate field in that sObject variable.
SEE ALSO:
Limitations for Waiting Flows
Before you design flows that contain one or more Wait elements, understand the limitations and guidelines.
•
After you deactivate a flow or flow version, the associated waiting interviews continue as usual.
You can’t delete a flow or flow version if it has associated waiting interviews.
•
An interview can execute only one event path per Wait element. After one of its events is processed, the remaining events are removed from the queue.
•
An org can process up to 1,000 events per hour. When an event is processed, the interview that it’s associated with is resumed and any other events for that interview are removed from the queue. If an org exceeds this limit, Salesforce processes the remaining events in the next hour.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
For example, an org has 1,200 events scheduled to be processed between 4:00 PM and 5:00
PM. Salesforce processes 1,000 events between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM and the additional 200 events between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM.
•
An org can have up to 30,000 interviews waiting at a given time.
•
If the user who started the interview is deactivated when Salesforce tries to execute an event path, the interview fails to resume.
Transactions and Waiting Interviews
A transaction ends as soon as a flow interview begins to wait for an event. When the flow interview resumes, a new transaction begins.
Everything after the Wait element is executed as part of a batch transaction that includes other resumed interviews.
Interviews aren’t resumed independently. They’re grouped into a single batch that starts resuming within one hour after the first interview enters the batch. Any actions that fire as a result of those grouped interviews are also executed in that transaction. This behavior can cause you to exceed your Apex governor limits if the resumed interview executes DML operations or SOQL queries through:
•
Flow elements such as Record Create or Fast Lookup
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•
Apex Plug-in elements
•
Apex triggers
•
Immediate workflow actions
For details on Apex governor limits, see Limits for Visual Workflow
on page 415.
If a Wait element precedes any flow elements that execute DML operations or SOQL queries:
•
Ensure that your flows don’t perform more DML operations or SOQL queries between Wait elements than the Apex governor limits allow.
•
Consider using multiple Wait elements so that the DML operations and SOQL queries are performed in multiple transactions.
•
Add fault paths for those elements so that the flow returns to the Wait element if the fault message contains:
Too many SOQL queries or
Too many DML operations
If an interview fails after it’s resumed:
•
Prior interviews in that batch’s transaction are successful.
•
Operations that the interview executed before it waited are successful.
•
If a fault connector handles the failure, operations that the interview executed between when it resumed and when it failed are successful. The operation that caused the interview to fail isn’t successful.
•
If a fault connector doesn’t handle the failure, operations that the interview executed between when it resumed and when it failed are rolled back. The operation that caused the interview to fail isn’t successful.
•
The remaining interviews in that batch are tried.
Limitations for Platform Events
Tip:
Make sure to also review the considerations for platform events .
Formulas
To reference a platform event in a formula, pass the event data into an sObject variable in the Wait element. Then reference the appropriate field in that sObject variable.
Value Truncation
In event conditions, values can’t be more than 765 characters.
Subscriptions Related List
On the platform event’s detail page, the Subscriptions related list shows which entities are waiting for notifications of that platform event to occur. When at least one flow interview is waiting for that platform event to occur, the platform event’s ID appears in the
Subscriptions related list.
Uninstalling Events
Before you uninstall a package that includes a platform event, delete the interviews that are waiting for the event to occur.
Limitations for General Alarms
•
Alarms don’t support minutes or seconds.
•
If an interview is waiting for an event that’s set for a time in the past, Salesforce resumes the interview within one hour.
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For example, a flow is configured to email an opportunity owner seven days before the close date. An interview is started for an opportunity with the close date set to today. Salesforce resumes the interview within an hour.
Limitations for Absolute Time Alarms
•
Absolute time alarms are evaluated based on the time zone of the user who created the flow.
Limitations for Relative Time Alarms
•
Relative time alarms are evaluated based on the org’s time zone.
•
Across all your flow versions, your org can have up to 20,000 defined relative time alarms.
•
Alarms can’t reference the following:
–
DATE
or
DATETIME
fields that contain automatically derived functions, such as
TODAY
or
NOW
.
–
Formula fields that include related-object merge fields.
•
If you change a date field that’s referenced by an unexecuted relative time alarm in a waiting interview, Salesforce recalculates the events associated with the interview.
For example, a flow is configured to email an opportunity owner seven days before the opportunity close date and the close date is 2/20/2014. The following things could happen.
–
The close date isn’t updated before the interview resumes. Result: Salesforce resumes the interview on 2/13/2014 and sends the email.
–
The close date is updated to 2/10/2014 before the interview resumes. Result: Salesforce reschedules the relative time alarm and the interview resumes on 2/3/2014.
–
The close date is updated to a date in the past. Result: Salesforce recalculates the relative time alarm and resumes the interview shortly after you save the record.
•
If a relative time alarm references a null date field when the interview executes the Wait element, Salesforce resumes the interview within an hour.
•
If a relative time alarm references a date field that’s that has a non-null value when the flow interview executes the Wait element and it’s updated to null
before the alarm is processed, Salesforce resumes the interview within an hour after the date field is updated.
•
If a waiting interview has a relative time alarm and the referenced record or object is deleted, the alarm is removed from the queue.
If the interview has no other events to wait for, the interview is deleted.
•
You can’t archive a product or price book that’s referenced in a relative or absolute time alarm in a waiting interview.
•
Lead Convert Limitations
–
You can’t convert a lead that has associated relative time alarms in waiting interviews.
–
If Validation and Triggers from Lead Convert is enabled, existing operations on leads after a Wait element aren’t executed during lead conversion.
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–
If a campaign member based on a lead is converted before a waiting interview that’s associated with that record finishes,
Salesforce still executes the interview.
SEE ALSO:
Platform Events Developer Guide: Considerations
Considerations for Designing Flows
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
Flow Operations and Read-Only Fields
Understand when flows have read-only access to field values. You can control the behavior when a flow tries to update a read-only field and remove read-only field values from flow operations.
EDITIONS
Which Fields Are Inaccessible When a Flow Creates or Updates Records?
A flow can perform an operation only if the running user has permission to do so. When a flow tries to create or update records, fields that the running user can’t edit are considered inaccessible, or read only. A field can be inaccessible because the user hasn’t been granted permission to edit the field or because it’s a system field that’s always read only.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Control What Happens When a Flow Tries to Set Values for Read-Only Fields
When creating or updating records, the flow sets values for specific fields. But what happens if the running user doesn’t have edit access to all those fields? For Fast Create and Fast Update elements, that’s up to you. To control the behavior, select or deselect the
Filter Inaccessible Fields from Flow Requests
preference.
Remove Read-Only Fields from an sObject Variable
If a flow tries to update fields that the running user can’t edit and
Filter Inaccessible Fields from Flow
Requests
is not enabled for your org, the flow fails. If your sObject variable includes read-only fields and you can’t grant your running users “Edit” permissions for those fields, remove the fields from the sObject variable. Use a Record Create or Record Update element instead of a Fast Create or Fast Update element, or copy the writable field values into a new sObject variable.
Which Fields Are Inaccessible When a Flow Creates or Updates Records?
A flow can perform an operation only if the running user has permission to do so. When a flow tries to create or update records, fields that the running user can’t edit are considered inaccessible, or read only. A field can be inaccessible because the user hasn’t been granted permission to edit the field or because it’s a system field that’s always read only.
To determine which fields are system fields, see the Object Reference for Salesforce and Force.com.
To determine which other fields aren’t editable, review the running user’s permissions.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
How Did Read-Only Fields Get in My sObject Variable?
The Variable Includes ...
If the Variable Is
Populated by ...
A Fast Lookup element
Id
and any other read-only fields that you choose to include.
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If the Variable Is Populated by ...
An Assignment or Record Lookup element
A process or a workflow rule
The Variable Includes ...
Any read-only fields that you choose to include.
All the object’s system fields and any fields that the running user doesn’t have permission to edit. The variable includes every field for the object by default.
What Do I Do When My sObject Variable Includes Read-Only Fields?
For each read-only field that’s stored in your sObject variable:
1. Determine whether the flow uses that field anywhere. If it doesn’t, update the flow so that it doesn’t store a value for that field. This suggestion applies only if the variable is populated by an element in the flow, like Fast Lookup.
For example, a Fast Lookup element stores
CreatedByDate
, but no other elements reference that field. You update the Fast
Lookup so that it’s no longer storing
CreatedByDate
.
2. If the read-only field is referenced in the flow, give the running users the permissions needed for the flow to execute its operations.
3. If you can’t give the running users the needed permissions for a field, update the flow so that it doesn’t try to update that field.
Example: Using a Fast Update element, a flow updates several fields on an account. While your users can edit
Description and
Account Rating
, they can’t edit
Owner ID
or
LastModifiedDate
. To prevent the flow from failing at runtime:
•
Give your users “Edit” permission for
Owner ID
.
•
Copy only the writable field values (
Description
,
Account Rating
, and
Owner ID
) from the original sObject variable into a new sObject variable. Reference the new sObject variable in the Fast Update element.
Copying only the writable field values ensures that the flow doesn’t try to set a value for
LastModifiedDate
at runtime.
SEE ALSO:
Remove Read-Only Fields from an sObject Variable
Control What Happens When a Flow Tries to Set Values for Read-Only Fields
Object Reference for Salesforce and Force.com: System Fields
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Control What Happens When a Flow Tries to Set Values for Read-Only Fields
When creating or updating records, the flow sets values for specific fields. But what happens if the running user doesn’t have edit access to all those fields? For Fast Create and Fast Update elements, that’s up to you. To control the behavior, select or deselect the
Filter Inaccessible
Fields from Flow Requests
preference.
A flow request is when a flow tries to perform an operation, such as create or update records.
When
Filter Inaccessible Fields from Flow
Requests
is
Selected Not Selected
(Recommended)
Result when the running user doesn’t have edit access to all fields
The operation partially succeeds.
The flow filters read-only fields out of the operation. The fields that the user can edit are updated. The fields that the user can’t edit aren’t updated.
The flow doesn’t execute the fault path.
The operation fails.
No fields in the operation are updated. The flow executes the fault path if there is one.
Notification when one or more fields aren’t updated
No notification is sent to the user or admin to indicate that some fields weren’t updated.
Inconsistent
The admin receives a flow error email with full details.
Consistent
Compared to Record Create and Record Update elements
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To edit process automation settings:
•
Customize Application
Tip: We recommend disabling this preference so that you always know when a flow doesn’t set all expected field values.
1. From Setup, enter
Automation
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Process Automation Settings.
2. Select or deselect Filter Inaccessible Fields from Flow Requests.
If your org was created in Winter ’17 or earlier, the preference is enabled by default. Otherwise, the preference is disabled by default.
Example:
Using a Fast Update element, a flow updates several fields on an opportunity. At runtime, the flow tries to update the
Acme account on behalf of your user. The user can edit
Stage
and
Close Date
but not
Amount
. As a result, the flow doesn’t have permission to update
Amount
.
•
If
Filter Inaccessible Fields from Flow Requests
is selected, the flow successfully updates the account, but it only updates
Stage
and
Close Date
. The flow doesn’t notify anybody that
Amount
wasn’t updated.
•
If
Filter Inaccessible Fields from Flow Requests
is not selected, the flow fails to update the account.
The admin receives a flow error email. The email includes this error.
INVALID_FIELD_FOR_INSERT_UPDATE: Unable to create/update fields: Amount
That's API-speak for “The running user doesn’t have permission to edit the Amount field.”
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Warning: If you change your org’s selection for this preference, use a sandbox to test how the change impacts your flows.
Consider following the same process as you would for a critical update.
SEE ALSO:
Which Fields Are Inaccessible When a Flow Creates or Updates Records?
Remove Read-Only Fields from an sObject Variable
If a flow tries to update fields that the running user can’t edit and
Filter Inaccessible
Fields from Flow Requests
is not enabled for your org, the flow fails. If your sObject variable includes read-only fields and you can’t grant your running users “Edit” permissions for those fields, remove the fields from the sObject variable. Use a Record Create or Record Update element instead of a Fast Create or Fast Update element, or copy the writable field values into a new sObject variable.
Note: If the read-only fields are populated in the sObject variable in a Fast Lookup or
Assignment element, consider updating those elements so that they don’t populate that field at all.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Copy Field Values from One sObject Variable to Another
sObject variables and sObject collection variables can have values set for fields that the running user can’t edit. However, you can use the other values to create or update records with Fast Create or Fast Update elements. To do so, map the writable values from the original sObject variable into a new sObject variable.
SEE ALSO:
Copy Field Values from One sObject Variable to Another
sObject variables and sObject collection variables can have values set for fields that the running user can’t edit. However, you can use the other values to create or update records with Fast Create or Fast Update elements. To do so, map the writable values from the original sObject variable into a new sObject variable.
Note:
With sObject collection variables, use loops to map the field values to a new collection.
1. Add an Assignment element to your flow. Make sure that the flow executes this element after the original sObject variable has been populated but before the Create or Update element.
2. For each writable field in the original sObject variable, add a row.
•
Variable—Select
{!sObjectVar2.field}
, where
sObjectVar2
is the name of the new variable and
field
is the field on that variable.
•
Operator—Select equals.
•
Value—Select
{!sObjectVar1.field}
, where
sObjectVar1
is the name of the original variable and
field
is the field on that variable.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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Note: If you plan to reference the variable in a Fast Update element, include the record’s ID in the new sObject variable.
Although
Id
is read only, the flow uses the value to determine which records to update.
Example:
You have a case sObject variable called
{!myCaseVar_all}
. It stores values for some read-only fields, so you can’t use it in a Fast Update element. You copy the fields that you want to update to a new sObject variable:
IsEscalated and
Status
. You also copy
Id
, because it’s required for an update operation.Here’s what those assignment rules look like.
Variable
{!myCaseVar_final.Id}
{!myCaseVar_final.IsEscalated}
{!myCaseVar_final.Status}
Operator Value
equals {!myCaseVar_original.Id} equals equals
{!myCaseVar_original.IsEscalated}
{!myCaseVar_original.Status}
The same example works for an sObject collection variable. However, because you can’t directly change the values of a collection variable, you use a loop.
1. Using a Loop element, the flow passes each item’s values into a loop variable (
{!myCaseLoopVar_original}
).
2. For each iteration, an Assignment element copies the
Id
,
IsEscalated
, and
Status
fields from the loop variable to another sObject variable (
{!myCaseLoopVar_final}
).
3. The flow then adds the
{!myCaseLoopVar_final}
variable’s values to a new collection. The second Assignment element includes this rule.
Variable
{!myCaseColl_updated}
Operator
add
Value
{!myCaseLoopVar_final}
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After the flow has iterated over every item in the original collection, it exits the loop.
SEE ALSO:
Which Fields Are Inaccessible When a Flow Creates or Updates Records?
Control What Happens When a Flow Tries to Set Values for Read-Only Fields
Considerations for Managing Flows
When managing flows, consider the administration and activation limits.
Activating Flows
When you activate a new version of a flow, the previously activated version (if one exists) is automatically deactivated. Any running flow interview continues to run using the version with which it was initiated.
Deleting Flows
To delete an active flow version, first deactivate it. If a flow has any paused or waiting interviews, it can’t be deleted until those interviews are finished or deleted. Flows that have never been activated can be deleted immediately.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Flow Properties
The properties for a given flow’s versions automatically match the active version’s properties by default. In other words, if you have three versions and you activate version 2, Salesforce updates the properties for versions 1 and 3 to match version 2. However, if you edit the properties for an inactive version, that version’s properties are no longer automatically updated to match the active version.
The flow's active (or latest) version determines the flow's type. For example, if a flow's active version contains a screen, its type is
Flow. It can't be implemented through a system-based method, like the Process Builder.
Considerations for Installed Flows
Keep these considerations in mind when you distribute, upgrade, or remove a flow that you installed from a package.
SEE ALSO:
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
Considerations for Installed Flows
Keep these considerations in mind when you distribute, upgrade, or remove a flow that you installed from a package.
•
The Cloud Flow Designer can’t open flows that are installed from managed packages.
•
If you install a package that contains multiple flow versions in a fresh destination organization, only the latest flow version is deployed.
•
If you install a flow from a managed package, error emails for that flow’s interviews don’t include any details about the individual flow elements. The email is sent to the user who installed the flow.
•
If you install a flow from an unmanaged package that has the same name but a different version number as a flow in your organization, the newly installed flow becomes the latest version of
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
437
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Status
An active flow in a package is active after it’s installed. The previous active version of the flow in the destination organization is deactivated in favor of the newly installed version. Any in-progress flows based on the now-deactivated version continue to run without interruption but reflect the previous version of the flow.
Distributing Installed Flows
•
When you create a custom button, link, or Web tab for a flow that’s installed from a managed package, include the namespace in the URL. The URL format is
/flow/namespace/flowuniquename
.
•
When you embed a flow that’s installed from a managed package in a Visualforce page, set the name attribute to this format: namespace.flowuniquename
.
Upgrading Installed Flows
Upgrading a managed package in your organization installs a new flow version only if there’s a newer flow version from the developer.
After several upgrades, you can end up with multiple flow versions.
Removing Installed Flows
•
You can’t delete a flow from an installed package. To remove a packaged flow from your organization, deactivate it and then uninstall the package.
•
You can’t delete flow components from Managed - Beta package installations in development organizations.
•
If you have multiple versions of a flow installed from multiple unmanaged packages, you can’t remove only one version by uninstalling its package. Uninstalling a package—managed or unmanaged—that contains a single version of the flow removes the entire flow, including all versions.
Translating Installed Flows
You can translate flow definition names only on the Translate page.
SEE ALSO:
Flows in Change Sets and Packages
Considerations for Deploying Flows with Packages
Considerations for Running Flows
When you run or test a flow, keep the limits and guidelines in mind.
EDITIONS
•
Be careful when testing flows that contain delete elements. Even if the flow is inactive, it triggers the delete operation.
•
At run time, time zones for date/time values can differ from what you see in the Cloud Flow
Designer. During run time, date/time values reflect the running user's time zone settings in
Salesforce.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
•
Interviews don’t perform actions—such as sending emails or creating, editing, or deleting records—until the associated transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element. Record and Fast elements aren’t the only ones to create or update records. Post to Chatter, Submit for Approval, and Quick Actions elements do, as well.
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
•
Don't use your browser's Back or Forward buttons to navigate through a flow. Doing so can result in inconsistent data between the flow and Salesforce.
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•
A single flow can have up to 50 different versions. When you run a flow, you see the active version, but your admin could have a more recent version.
•
For flows that interact with the Salesforce database, make sure that your users have permission to create, read, edit, and delete the relevant records and fields. Otherwise, users receive an insufficient privileges error when they try to launch a flow. For example, a flow looks up and updates a case record’s status. The flow users must have “Read” and “Edit” permissions on the
Status
field of the Case object.
•
When you distribute a flow, don’t pass a currency field value from a Salesforce record into a flow Currency variable with a URL parameter. When a currency field is referenced through a merge field (such as
{!Account.AnnualRevenue}
), the value includes the unit of currency’s symbol (for example, $). Flow variables of type Currency can accept only numeric values, so the flow fails at run time. Instead, pass the record’s ID to a flow Text variable with a URL parameter. Then in the flow, use the ID to look up that record’s value for the currency field.
Lightning Runtime Limitations
When Lightning runtime is enabled for your org, flows in Lightning Experience don’t load in:
•
Web tabs
•
List buttons that are set to display an existing window with or without a sidebar
When Lightning runtime is enabled for your org, flows in Salesforce Classic don’t load in:
•
Web tabs
•
Custom buttons or links that are set to display in an existing window with or without a sidebar
Users can’t enter more than 16 digits, including digits before and after a decimal point.
SEE ALSO:
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
Flow Accessibility
Visual Workflow is 508-compliant with a few exceptions.
•
The title of the screen doesn’t change when you click Next or Previous, so you might not realize you're on a new page.
•
Radio button fields don’t have labels. Screen readers can't distinguish between questions.
•
Questions without defined prompts can read incorrectly.
•
Errors are not noted when reading the fields.
SEE ALSO:
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
439
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Create a Flow
Once you understand the process that you want to automate, design a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer for that process.
Tip: Before you start creating your flow, plan it out. It’s much easier to automate a business process by using Visual Workflow when you fully understand the details of your business process.
If you’re new to the Cloud Flow Designer, we recommend walking through one or more of the flow projects in the Automate Your Business Processes trail on Trailhead. They’re a great way to learn about the tool and discover how it works.
1. Open the Cloud Flow Designer. From Setup, enter
Flows
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Flows, and then click New Flow.
2. Drag the appropriate elements
onto the canvas.
Tip: If you’re not sure which element you need for a node, add a Step element as a placeholder until you figure it out. You can always replace the Step later.
3.
the elements together so that it’s clear what the order of the elements is.
4. Identify which element the flow should start with
when it runs.
5.
any changes that you made to the flow.
6.
the flow to make sure it’s working as you expect it to.
7.
the flow so that users can run it.
8.
Distribute the flow to the appropriate users.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
Use combinations of elements, connectors, and resources to build flows.
The Cloud Flow Designer lets you design flows without writing any code.
Before you can save a flow, indicate which element to execute first.
After you create a flow in the Cloud Flow Designer, you have some options for saving the flow.
A handful of tasks are common to multiple flow use cases. For example, you can define conditions in both Decision and Wait elements.
Bookmark this page for quick access to information about flow elements, resources, events, and more.
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Sometimes showing is better than telling. Check out these sample flows to get a feel for how to work with advanced things like Wait elements and collection variables.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Designing Flows
Flow Building Blocks
Use combinations of elements, connectors, and resources to build flows.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
•
Each element (1) represents an action that the flow can execute. Examples include reading or writing Salesforce data, displaying information to and collecting data from flow users, executing logic, or manipulating data.
•
Each connector (2) defines an available path that the flow can take at run time.
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•
Each resource (3) represents a value that you can reference throughout the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Cloud Flow Designer
The Cloud Flow Designer lets you design flows without writing any code.
Watch a Demo: Visual Workflow Cloud Flow Designer Overview
For a collection of useful resources, including videos and sample flows, open the Cloud Flow Designer and click Get Started.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Requirements for the Cloud Flow Designer
To use the Cloud Flow Designer, you need an up-to-date browser and Adobe
®
Flash
®
Player.
Tour the Cloud Flow Designer User Interface
Before you use the Cloud Flow Designer to design flows, understand the tool's main components.
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
As a flow grows and becomes more complex, it becomes more challenging to find things within it. The Cloud Flow Designer offers tools for quickly finding flow elements and resources.
As you add more flows, actions, and Apex classes to your organization, it becomes more challenging to find a specific item in the
Palette. You can, however, search in the Palette to quickly find the right element for your flow.
SEE ALSO:
Requirements for the Cloud Flow Designer
To use the Cloud Flow Designer, you need an up-to-date browser and Adobe
®
Flash
®
Player.
We recommend:
•
Windows
®
Internet Explorer
®
versions 8 through 11, Google
®
Chrome
™
, or Mozilla
®
Firefox
®
.
Internet Explorer 6 and 7 are not supported.
•
Adobe
®
Flash
®
Player version 10.1 and later. The minimum version required to run the Cloud
Flow Designer is 10.0.
•
A minimum browser resolution of 1024x768.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Tour the Cloud Flow Designer User Interface
Before you use the Cloud Flow Designer to design flows, understand the tool's main components.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Button Bar (1)
Manage your flow as you build it.
•
Run runs the most recent saved version of the flow that you have open. If the flow contains subflow elements, each subflow runs the active version of its referenced flow. If the referenced flow has no active version, then the subflow element runs the latest version of its referenced flow.
•
The status indicator on the right side displays whether:
–
The flow is active or not
–
The latest changes to the flow are saved or not
–
There are any warnings or errors in the last saved version of the flow
To see a list of the warnings or errors, click the indicator.
Canvas (2)
The canvas is the working area, where you build a flow by adding elements. As you add elements to the canvas and connect them together, you see a visual diagram of your flow.
Palette Tab (3)
Add new elements, like Screens and Record Creates, to your flow from the Palette tab.
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Resources Tab (4)
Create resources, like a variable or formula, to use in your flow from the Resources tab.
Explorer Tab (5)
The Explorer tab is a library of all elements and resources that you’ve added to the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Manage Flow Elements, Resources, and Connectors
Search Within a Flow
As a flow grows and becomes more complex, it becomes more challenging to find things within it. The Cloud Flow Designer offers tools for quickly finding flow elements and resources.
Open the flow in the Cloud Flow Designer. Then find an element or resource in the flow by using one or more of the following options.
•
On the Explorer tab, enter search text.
The Explorer tab displays only the elements and resources whose properties contain the entered text.
•
Filter the Explorer tab contents to one type of element or resource by clicking .
To remove the filter, click and select SEARCH ALL.
•
Dim all visible elements on the canvas other than the results by selecting Highlight Results
on Canvas.
•
Zoom in and out as desired using the controls near the top right corner of the canvas area.
•
To see the location of an Explorer item on the canvas, complete one of the following procedures.
If the Explorer item is a canvas-visible element or a screen field:
1. Hover over the item on the Explorer tab.
2. Click
.
If the Explorer item is a resource that doesn’t appear on the canvas:
1. Click the item on the Explorer tab.
2. Click the Usage tab in the Description pane.
3. Hover over an element listed on the Usage tab.
4. Click its
.
The canvas shifts to display the element and momentarily highlights it.
SEE ALSO:
Tour the Cloud Flow Designer User Interface
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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Search Within the Palette
As you add more flows, actions, and Apex classes to your organization, it becomes more challenging to find a specific item in the Palette. You can, however, search in the Palette to quickly find the right element for your flow.
From the Palette tab, use the following options to find a specific item.
•
Next to , enter search text.
The Palette displays only the items that contain the entered text.
•
To filter the Palette tab contents to one type of element, click and select what you want to see.
•
To remove the filter, click and select SEARCH ALL.
SEE ALSO:
Tour the Cloud Flow Designer User Interface
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
Set a Flow’s Start Element
Before you can save a flow, indicate which element to execute first.
1. Hover over the starting element in your flow.
2. Click
.
SEE ALSO:
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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Save a Flow
After you create a flow in the Cloud Flow Designer, you have some options for saving the flow.
Initial save
When you save a new flow for the first time, a dialog box appears. Enter values for each of the
. Once you save the flow, the unique name can’t be changed.
Quick save
After you’ve saved a flow once, the Save button works as a quick-save, overwriting your previous work. However, the Save button doesn’t work when editing active flows. To save your changes as a new version or new flow, use Save As.
Save As
After you’ve saved your flow once, this button is enabled with two options:
•
Save as new flow opens a dialog box where you can input a new name, unique name, and description, then save your changes as an entirely new flow.
•
Save as new version saves the flow as a new version of the current flow. Use this option if you want to change a flow and keep the old configuration as a backup.
Each flow can have up to 50 versions. You can’t update the unique name when you save a new version.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
When saving a flow or flow version:
•
If you have the flow detail page open in one browser tab, then edit a version in another tab, before you run the edited version:
1. Save the version.
2. Close the Cloud Flow Designer.
3. Refresh the flow detail page in the first tab.
•
If you’ve changed the flow properties and for some reason the flow fails to save, the flow properties don’t revert to the previous values.
SEE ALSO:
Activate or Deactivate a Flow Version
Common Flow Tasks
A handful of tasks are common to multiple flow use cases. For example, you can define conditions in both Decision and Wait elements.
Manage Flow Elements, Resources, and Connectors
Customize your flow by adding, editing, or removing elements, resources, and connectors.
Working with Salesforce Records in a Flow
The real power of a flow is that it can automate updates to your organization’s records. In a flow, you can automatically look up values from records, create records, update records, delete records—the whole shebang!
Validate Users’ Inputs with Flow Formulas
Just like with regular validation rules, you can validate what users enter in flow screens.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Control when a flow takes a specific decision outcome or waits for a specific wait event.
To send email from your flow, either call an email alert workflow action or create the email in the flow.
The Cloud Flow Designer comes with a lot of functionality, but sometimes your flow needs to do more than the default elements allow. In that case, call an Apex class from your flow by using one of two flow elements: Apex Plug-in and Call Apex.
View Inputs and Outputs of Other Referenced Flow Versions
While configuring a subflow element, view the variables of a specified version of the referenced flow. Doing so lets you configure draft master and referenced flows at the same time.
Clone Records with a Fast Create Element
A flow can clone records in your org. First, populate an sObject variable with an existing record’s values. Identify fields that the running user can’t edit, and map all remaining fields to another sObject variable. Then use the second sObject variable in a Fast Create element to clone the record.
Add Values to a Collection Variable
After you create a collection variable, populate it with values to reference throughout your flow. You can’t use a Record Lookup or
Fast Lookup element to populate a collection variable, but there are some workarounds.
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Identify which elements the flow executes and in what order by connecting the elements on your canvas together.
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
If your flow contains an element that interacts with the Salesforce database—such as a Record Update or Submit for Approval element, it can fail. Modify the default behavior by adding fault paths to all elements that can fail.
Manage Flow Elements, Resources, and Connectors
Customize your flow by adding, editing, or removing elements, resources, and connectors.
Element
Add
Drag from the Palette tab and drop it on to the canvas.
Resource From the Resources tab, double-click.
Edit Remove
Double-click, or hover over it and click .
Hover over it and click .
From the Explorer tab, double-click or hover over it and click .
From the Explorer tab, hover over it and click .
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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Connector
Add Edit
Click the node at the bottom of an element on the canvas and drag a line anywhere onto the target element.
n/a
Remove
Select it and press the DELETE key.
SEE ALSO:
Working with Salesforce Records in a Flow
The real power of a flow is that it can automate updates to your organization’s records. In a flow, you can automatically look up values from records, create records, update records, delete records—the whole shebang!
For each of those operations, the Cloud Flow Designer offers at least two elements to choose from.
Review the following topics to understand the differences between those elements and decide which one is best for your use case.
Tip: Be familiar with the API names for the objects and fields that you want to work with.
The Cloud Flow Designer displays API names instead of labels.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Pull Values from Salesforce Records into a Flow
Before you can use information from your Salesforce records in a flow, pull that information into variables in your flow. Use either a
Record Lookup element or a Fast Lookup element. The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
Create Salesforce Records from a Flow
To create Salesforce records, use either the Record Create, Quick Action, or Fast Create element. The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
Update Salesforce Records from a Flow
To update field values on existing Salesforce records, use either the Record Update, Quick Action, or Fast Update element. The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
Delete Salesforce Records from a Flow
To delete Salesforce records, use either the Record Delete or Fast Delete element. The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
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Pull Values from Salesforce Records into a Flow
Before you can use information from your Salesforce records in a flow, pull that information into variables in your flow. Use either a Record Lookup element or a Fast Lookup element. The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
Alternatively, pass values in from an element that interacts with the Salesforce database—such as the ID of the post created by a Post to Chatter element.
Example: You need to email a given account’s owner. To do so, the flow needs to know the email address and name of that user.
To pull values into a flow from records in your organization, use either the Record Lookup or Fast
Lookup element in the Cloud Flow Designer.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
How do I choose between flow lookup elements?
The two flow lookup elements are pretty similar. This table summarizes the two main differences between them.
Record
Lookup
Fast Lookup
Can store values in ...
To map field values to flow variables ...
•
Variables
•
sObject variables
Number of records it looks up
1.
Identify each field that you want to store.
2. For each field, identify a flow variable to store that specific value in.
Because you directly map each field value to a variable, you get more granularity with this element. However, with more granularity comes more clicking.
Exactly one.
•
sObject variables
•
sObject collection variables
1.
Identify the flow variable in which you want to store all field values.
2. Identify the fields whose values you want to store in that flow variable.
If an sObject variable: one.
If an sObject collection variable: at least one.
Unless you want to map each field to a variable with fewer mouse clicks, it can be hard to choose between the two elements. To choose the right lookup element, figure out what type of variable you need to store the values in.
•
To store the values in a single-value non-sObject variable, use the Record Lookup element.
•
To store the values in an sObject collection variable, use the Fast Lookup element.
•
To store the values in a single-value sObject variable, it’s your choice. (Fast Lookup might save you some clicks!)
Tip:
Bulkification in Transactions .
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Example: Here’s how you’d store a user’s email and name by using each of the lookup elements.
Record Lookup
Visual Workflow
Fast Lookup
SEE ALSO:
Working with Salesforce Records in a Flow
Create Salesforce Records from a Flow
To create Salesforce records, use either the Record Create, Quick Action, or Fast Create element.
The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
Example:
When the customer’s satisfaction score drops below a certain number, automatically create a case.
To create one or more Salesforce records, your flow:
1. Identifies the field values for the new records.
2. Saves those changes to the Salesforce database. (In other words, until the changes are saved to the database, the changes exist only within the flow.)
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
How do I choose between flow elements that create records?
The main difference between create elements lies in how many records the element can create and how it knows the field values to apply.
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I need to create more than one record at a time.
To create more than one record at a time, use a Fast Create element with an sObject collection variable. It’s best practice to use Fast
.
Record Create and Quick Action elements can create only one record at a time. Fast Create elements can create either one record
(if using an sObject variable) or multiple records (if using an sObject collection variable).
I need to create exactly one record.
If you’ve already populated an sObject variable with the values you want your record to have, use a Fast Create element.
If you want to use a combination of the values from an sObject variable and values from other resources (like single-value variables or screen input fields), use either a Record Create or Quick Action element. Those two elements differ in these ways.
•
Which fields are available in the elements
•
Whether the element provides any required fields for the object
•
Whether the element lets you store the new record’s ID
Storing the ID is useful, for example, if you create an account and then want to create a contact that's associated with that account (which you obviously need the ID for).
Field Availability Required Fields
Record Create
Every field on the object. You manually select the object and every field you want to have a value.
Not indicated
Quick Action
(of type
Create)
New Record ID
Lets you store the ID of the created record to use later in your flow.
Only fields that are included in the Quick
Action layout.
If you supplied default values for certain fields when you created the quick action, those values are used when the record is created.
Indicated
Requiredness is based on what's marked required in the quick action layout.
Doesn’t let you store the created record's ID for use later.
Tip: Use the Quick Actions element when all these statements are true.
1. The action is of type Create.
2. The action’s layout includes all the fields that you want to update.
3. You don't need to reference the new record's ID later in the flow.
Otherwise, use the Record Create element.
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Example: Here’s how you’d create a case when a customer’s satisfaction score is too low by using each of the create elements.
Record Create
You can set any field on the record, but the Record Create element doesn’t know which fields are required for this object.
Fast Create
Quick Action (of type Create)
Assumes {!svarCase} is already populated with the right fields.
These four fields are the only fields that you can set for this element, because they’re the only ones available from the action layout. Contact ID is required by the associated action layout, so it’s required in this element.
SEE ALSO:
Working with Salesforce Records in a Flow
Update Salesforce Records from a Flow
To update field values on existing Salesforce records, use either the Record Update, Quick Action, or Fast Update element. The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
Example: On an opportunity record, when a user clicks the “Won” button, a flow updates the opportunity’s stage.
To update fields on one or more existing Salesforce records, your flow:
1. Identifies the records to update.
2. Identifies the new field values for those records.
EDITIONS
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Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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3. Saves those changes to the Salesforce database. (In other words, until the changes are saved to the database, the changes exist only within the flow.)
How do I choose between flow elements that update records?
The main difference between the elements lies in these areas: how it knows which records to update, how it knows the new field values to apply, and how many records it can update.
Quick Action elements can update only one record at a time, while Record Update and Fast Update elements can update multiple records.
Record
Update
To identify records to update
In the same element, use filter criteria.
To identify new field values for the records Number of records it updates
In the same element, map each field that should be updated with a variable or other resource.
All resources are supported, so long as the resource’s data type matches the selected field’s data type.
At least one.
Quick Action
Populate a single-value variable with the ID in another element. Use this
ID for the Related Record ID parameter.
In the same element, map each field that should be updated with a variable or other resource.
All resources are supported, so long as the resource’s data type matches the selected field’s data type.
Exactly one.
Fast Update
Populate an sObject variable or sObject collection variable in another element
In another element, such as an Assignment element, update the values in the sObject variable or sObject collection variable.
If an sObject variable: one.
If an sObject collection variable: at least one.
If the following statement is true, use a Fast Update element:
•
You’ve already populated an sObject variable or sObject collection variable with the values you want:
Tip:
–
You can always update the field values in an sObject variable or sObject collection variable by using an Assignment element.
–
Bulkification in Transactions .
If all the following statements are true, use a Quick Action element:
•
You need to update exactly one record
•
You’ve already populated a variable with the record’s ID
•
The Quick Action’s layout includes all the fields you need to update
If any of those statements aren’t true, use a Record Update element.
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Example: Here’s how you’d update an opportunity’s stage by using each of the update elements.
Record Update
Visual Workflow
You can update any field on the record, but the Record Update element doesn’t know which fields are required for this object.
Fast Update
Quick Action (of type Update)
Assumes {!svarOpportunity} is already populated with the right fields.
These three fields are required by the associated action layout, so they’re required in this element. Related
Record ID identifies which opportunity to update.
SEE ALSO:
Working with Salesforce Records in a Flow
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Delete Salesforce Records from a Flow
To delete Salesforce records, use either the Record Delete or Fast Delete element. The right element depends on what the rest of your flow is doing.
Example: When a customer accepts a quote, automatically delete the remaining quotes from the opportunity.
To delete one or more records, your flow:
1. Identifies the records that to delete.
2. Saves those changes to the Salesforce database. (In other words, until the changes are saved to the database, the changes exist only within the flow.)
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
How do I choose between flow elements that delete records?
The main difference between elements lies in how the element knows which records to delete.
Record Delete
Fast Delete
To identify records to delete
In the same element, use filter criteria.
In another element, populate an sObject variable or sObject collection variable with the ID of the record to be deleted.
If you’ve already populated an sObject variable or sObject collection variable with the records you want to delete, use a Fast Delete.
(sObject collection variables are supported for record deletion only with a Fast Create element.) It’s best practice to use Fast elements whenever possible, so that you save your org’s limits. For more information, see
Flow Bulkification in Transactions .
If you haven’t yet identified which records to delete or you’ve stored the IDs in non-sObject resources—such as a single-value variable—use a Record Delete element. sObject collection variables aren’t supported for this element.
Example: Here’s how you’d delete remaining quotes from an opportunity by using each of the delete elements.
Record Delete
The flow finds all quotes that are associated with a specific opportunity and haven’t been approved, and then deletes them.
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Fast Delete
Visual Workflow
Assumes {!svarQuotesUnnecessary} is already populated with the IDs of the quotes to delete. The flow deletes all records whose IDs are included in that variable.
SEE ALSO:
Working with Salesforce Records in a Flow
Validate Users’ Inputs with Flow Formulas
Just like with regular validation rules, you can validate what users enter in flow screens.
•
The formula expression must return a Boolean value (
TRUE
or
FALSE
).
•
If the expression evaluates to
TRUE
, the input is valid. If the expression evaluates to
FALSE
, the error message is displayed to the user.
•
If the user leaves the field blank and the field isn’t required, the flow doesn’t validate the field.
When you configure a screen input field:
1. In the Input Validation section, select
Validate
.
2. Define the values allowed for the field by entering a Boolean formula expression.
Note:
•
The formula expression must return a Boolean value.
•
If the formula expression evaluates to
TRUE
, the input is valid.
•
If the formula expression evaluates to
FALSE
, the error message is displayed to the user.
•
If the user leaves the field blank, and the field is not required, the flow doesn’t validate.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
3. Customize the error message that appears if the user’s input fails validation.
Click to switch between the plain text editor and the rich text editor. Using the rich text editor saves the content as HTML.
Example:
•
Validate the format of an email address:
REGEX({!Email_Address},"[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\\.[a-zA-Z]{2,4}")
•
Validate the format of a zip code:
REGEX({!Zipcode},"\\d{5}(-\\d{4})?")
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Define Flow Conditions
Control when a flow takes a specific decision outcome or waits for a specific wait event.
Before you begin, create the Decision or Wait element to add conditions to. To add conditions to a wait event, select Wait for this event only if additional conditions are met.
1. Set up the conditions.
At run time, the conditions are evaluated in the order you specify.
Column Header
Resource
Operator
Value
Description
Flow resource whose value you want to evaluate.
The available operators depend on the data type selected for
Resource
. For details, see
Operators in Flow Conditions on page
527.
The
Variable
and
Value
in the same row must have compatible data types.
Options:
•
Select an existing flow resource, such as a variable, constant, or user input.
•
Select CREATE NEW to create a flow resource.
•
Manually enter a literal value or merge field.
Note: When you add or subtract a number from a date value, the date adjusts in days, not hours.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
2. Identify the logic between the conditions.
Option Description
All conditions must be true (AND)
If one of the conditions is false, the flow evaluates the next outcome’s conditions.
One condition must be true (OR)
If one of the conditions is true, the flow immediately takes this outcome’s path.
Advanced logic
(Combination of
ANDs and ORs)
Custom logic.
When you select this option, provide the customized
Logic
by entering a text string. Use:
•
Numbers to refer to each condition
•
AND or OR to identify whether all or just one of the conditions must true
•
Parentheses to group parts of the string together
Tip: If you enter
AND
, it’s the same as if you selected All conditions must be true (AND).
If you enter
OR
, it’s the same as if you selected One condition must be true (OR). If you enter any other logic, make sure that you include a number for each condition.
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Option
Visual Workflow
Description
For example, for
1 AND (2 OR 3)
, the flow evaluates whether the first condition is true and either the second or third condition is true.
SEE ALSO:
Send Email from a Flow
To send email from your flow, either call an email alert workflow action or create the email in the flow.
Sends an email by using a workflow email alert to specify the email template and recipients. The flow provides only the record ID.
Sends an email by manually specifying the subject, body, and recipients in the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Invoke Apex Code from a Flow
The Cloud Flow Designer comes with a lot of functionality, but sometimes your flow needs to do more than the default elements allow. In that case, call an Apex class from your flow by using one of two flow elements: Apex Plug-in and Call Apex.
Developers have two options when they’re trying to make an Apex class available for a flow.
Tip:
We recommend using the
@InvocableMethod
annotation instead of the
Process.Plugin
interface.
While the
Process.Plugin
interface supports customizing how the class appears in the palette, the
@InvocableMethod
annotation provides more functionality. The following table describes the features supported by each option.
Apex data type support
Process.Plugin
Interface
Doesn’t support:
•
Blob
•
Collection
•
sObject
•
Time
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
@InvocableMethod
Annotation
Doesn’t support:
•
Generic Object
•
Generic sObject
•
Sets
•
Maps
•
Enums
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Bulk operations
Element name in the Cloud Flow
Designer
Reusability
Process.Plugin
Not supported
Interface
Class name or the value of the name
property.
@InvocableMethod
Annotation
The Cloud Flow Designer doesn’t support mapping an
Apex method’s input or output parameters to an sObject collection variable.
Supported
Class name
Classes with this interface implemented are available in flows
Classes with this annotation implemented are available in:
•
Flows
•
Processes
•
Rest API
Apex
Section in the Cloud
Flow Designer
Apex Plug-in or the value of the tag
property.
More Details in the
Force.com Apex
Code Developer’s
Guide
Passing Data to a Flow Using the
Process.Plugin
Interface
InvocableMethod
Annotation and
InvocableVariable
Annotation
Example: To illustrate the difference between these two implementation methods, here are two classes that do the same thing: get an account name from a flow and return that account’s ID.
This class implements the
@InvocableMethod
annotation.
global class lookUpAccountAnnotation {
@InvocableMethod public static List<String> getAccountIds(List<String> names) {
List<Id> accountIds = new List<Id>();
List<Account> accounts = [SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Name in :names]; for (Account account : accounts) { accountIds.add(account.Id);
} return accountIds;
}
}
This class implements the
Process.Plugin
interface.
global class lookUpAccountPlugin implements Process.Plugin { global Process.PluginResult invoke(Process.PluginRequest request) {
String name = (String) request.inputParameters.get('name');
Account account = [SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Name = :name LIMIT 1][0];
Map<String,Object> result = new Map<String,Object>();
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} result.put('accountId', account.Id); return new Process.PluginResult(result); global Process.PluginDescribeResult describe() {
Process.PluginDescribeResult result = new Process.PluginDescribeResult(); result.Name = 'Look Up Account ID By Name'; result.Tag = 'Account Classes'; result.inputParameters = new
List<Process.PluginDescribeResult.InputParameter>{ new Process.PluginDescribeResult.InputParameter('name',
Process.PluginDescribeResult.ParameterType.STRING, true)
}; result.outputParameters = new
List<Process.PluginDescribeResult.OutputParameter>{ new Process.PluginDescribeResult.OutputParameter('accountId',
Process.PluginDescribeResult.ParameterType.STRING)
}; return result;
}
}
Notice that lookupAccountAnnotation
is less than half the length (11 lines) of lookupAccountPlugin
(28 lines).
In addition, because the annotation supports bulk operations, lookupAccountAnnotation
performs one query per batch of interviews. lookupAccountPlugin
performs one query per interview.
SEE ALSO:
View Inputs and Outputs of Other Referenced Flow Versions
While configuring a subflow element, view the variables of a specified version of the referenced flow. Doing so lets you configure draft master and referenced flows at the same time.
From a subflow element, you can assign values to only the referenced flow’s variables that allow input access. Similarly, you can assign values from only the referenced flow’s variables that allow output access. The
Input/Output Type
of the variable determines this access. To change the variable’s
Input/Output Type
, open the referenced flow to edit the variable
.
By default, this drop-down list contains the variables of the currently active version of the referenced flow. If the referenced flow has no active version, the drop-down list contains the variables of the
latest version of the referenced flow.
To populate the drop-down lists with the variables of another version of the referenced flow, complete the following steps. Do the same to view the descriptions of the referenced flow’s variables.
1. On the subflow overlay, expand the
Input/Output Variable Assignments
section.
2. Click View input/output of other versions.
3. Use one or more of the following options.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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Option
Select a
Version
number in the left pane.
Select the Inputs tab or the Outputs tab.
Click OK.
Description
The Inputs and Outputs tabs display the variables in the selected version of the referenced flow.
The tab displays:
•
The variables available for input or output assignment in the selected
Version
of the referenced flow.
•
The data type of each variable.
•
The description, if any, of each variable.
The subflow overlay’s drop-down lists for selecting the referenced flow’s variables are populated with the variables of the selected
Version
of the referenced flow.
When you configure subflow input and output assignments, you can specify variables from any version of the referenced flow. This way, you can develop both the master flow and referenced flow in parallel, while keeping another version of the referenced flow active for its users. When you save the master flow, however, the Cloud Flow Designer validates against the currently active version of the referenced flow. If that flow doesn’t have an active version, the latest version is validated. If you see validation messages about variables that couldn’t be found or that were configured differently in the referenced flow, you can still save the flow. Nevertheless, resolve all validation errors before you activate the master flow.
SEE ALSO:
Clone Records with a Fast Create Element
A flow can clone records in your org. First, populate an sObject variable with an existing record’s values. Identify fields that the running user can’t edit, and map all remaining fields to another sObject variable. Then use the second sObject variable in a Fast Create element to clone the record.
Before you begin, review Which Fields Are Inaccessible When a Flow Creates or Updates Records?
1. Populate an sObject variable with the values from the existing record.
For example:
•
Look up the record with a Fast Lookup element.
•
Obtain the record from a Flows action in a process.
2. In an Assignment element, copy the writable field values to a new sObject variable.
Note:
Make sure that
Id
isn’t set in the new variable.
3. Add a Fast Create element to your flow. Select the new sObject variable to populate the values of the new clone record.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
SEE ALSO:
Copy Field Values from One sObject Variable to Another
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Add Values to a Collection Variable
After you create a collection variable, populate it with values to reference throughout your flow.
You can’t use a Record Lookup or Fast Lookup element to populate a collection variable, but there are some workarounds.
To use values from outside the flow, set the collection variable’s
Input/Output Type
to
“Input” and then use URL parameters, Visualforce controllers, or subflow inputs. When the values are coming from outside the flow, the values can be set only at the start of the flow interview.
To add values that are stored in...
A screen field
Do this...
For more information
Add the field’s entered or stored value to a collection variable by using an
Assignment element
•
•
•
•
A variable Add the variable’s stored value to a collection variable by using an Assignment element
•
•
An sObject variable Add one of the sObject variable’s stored field values to a collection variable by using an Assignment element
•
•
An sObject collection variable Loop through the sObject collection variable. Within the loop, add one of the loop variable’s stored field values to a collection variable by using an Assignment element
•
•
•
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
Flow Collection Variable Resource
Sample Flow That Populates a Collection Variable
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Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Identify which elements the flow executes and in what order by connecting the elements on your canvas together.
1. On the canvas, find the node at the bottom of the source element.
2. Drag the node onto the target element.
3. If prompted, select which outcome to assign to the path.
You can’t modify a connector’s target or source elements, so to change a path, delete the connector and then add a new one.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Remove Connectors from a Flow
You can’t modify a connector’s target or source elements, so to change a path, delete the connector and then add a new one.
If you delete a connector for a specific outcome, the outcome isn’t deleted from the source element.
However, if you delete an outcome from a decision element, the outcome’s connector is also deleted.
1. In your flow, select the connector to delete.
When you select a connector, its color changes from gray to green. If you’re having trouble selecting a connector, click and drag an area on the canvas that includes the connector.
2. Press DELETE.
SEE ALSO:
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
If your flow contains an element that interacts with the Salesforce database—such as a Record
Update or Submit for Approval element, it can fail. Modify the default behavior by adding fault paths to all elements that can fail.
What Happens When a Flow Fails?
When you’re deciding whether to customize the error handling in your flow, consider how a failed flow behaves by default.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Configure Every Fault Path to Send You an Email (Best Practice)
As a best practice, we recommend configuring the fault connectors in your flow so that you always receive an email when a flow fails. In the email, include the current values of all your flow’s resources. The resource values can give you insight into why the flow failed.
Customize the Error Message for Running Flow Users (Best Practice)
As a best practice, we recommend displaying a better message to your user than “An unhandled fault has occurred in this flow”. Do this only if the distribution method you’re using supports flows that contain screens. In other words, don’t do it if your flow is distributed through a process.
Other Examples of Error Handling in Flows
Examples of using fault connectors to handle flow errors include requesting corrections from the user and bypassing the error.
SEE ALSO:
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
What Happens When a Flow Fails?
When you’re deciding whether to customize the error handling in your flow, consider how a failed flow behaves by default.
Here’s what happens by default.
•
This error message displays to the running user—the user who was running the flow.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
An unhandled fault has occurred in this flow
An unhandled fault has occurred while processing the flow. Please contact your system administrator for more information.
•
The running user can’t proceed with the flow or return to a previous part of the flow.
•
The admin who created the flow receives a fault email. The email details the element that failed, the error message from that element, and which elements were executed during the failed interview. Here’s an example error message that can appear in a fault email.
An error occurred at element Fast_Delete_1.
DELETE --- There is nothing in Salesforce matching your delete criteria.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
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Configure Every Fault Path to Send You an Email (Best Practice)
As a best practice, we recommend configuring the fault connectors in your flow so that you always receive an email when a flow fails. In the email, include the current values of all your flow’s resources.
The resource values can give you insight into why the flow failed.
1. Create a text template that includes the values of all the flow resources.
Doing so lets you see the exact values of flow variables when the interview failed. Also, if the flow contains screens, you see exactly what the user entered and selected.
Here’s an example text template for the Customer Satisfaction Survey flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer Workbook.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
Error: {!$Flow.FaultMessage}
RESOURCE VALUES
Customer Response: {!Customer_Response}
Value of Decision's Yes outcome: {!Yes}
Company: {!Company_Name}
Satisfaction Choice Field: {!Satisfaction}
Service Choice Field: {!Service}
Other Comments:
{!OtherComments}
2. Configure a Send Email element. Use the text template as the body and your email address as the recipient.
In this example,
Body
is set to the text template we created:
{!allVariableValues}
.
3. From each element that can fail, draw a fault connecter to the Send Email element.
In this example, Record Create is the only element that supports fault connectors.
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SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Customize the Error Message for Running Flow Users (Best Practice)
As a best practice, we recommend displaying a better message to your user than “An unhandled fault has occurred in this flow”. Do this only if the distribution method you’re using supports flows that contain screens. In other words, don’t do it if your flow is distributed through a process.
1. Create a text template that contains a friendlier error message.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
<FONT FACE="Arial" STYLE="font-size:14px">
<B>Something went wrong with this flow.</B>
</FONT>
<P>Your admin has received an email about this error.</P>
2. Add a Screen element. In a Display Text field, reference the text template.
3. For every element that can fail, draw a fault connector to the Screen element.
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In this example, Record Create is the only element that supports fault connectors. After the flow displays the better error message to the user, it sends an email to the admin with debugging information.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Screen Element: Display Text Fields
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Other Examples of Error Handling in Flows
Examples of using fault connectors to handle flow errors include requesting corrections from the user and bypassing the error.
Request Corrections from Users
Draw a fault connector to a Screen element, where users can verify the values that they entered, make corrections, and proceed.
Display the Error Message
If the flow is used only internally, such as at a call center, use the fault path to display the error message to the running user. In the same Screen element, ask the user to report the error to the IT department. To do so, draw the fault connector to a Screen element with this Display
Text field.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Sorry, but you can’t read or update records at this time.
Please open a case with IT and include this error message:
{!$Flow.FaultMessage}
Create a Case
When an error occurs, automatically create a case that includes the error message and assign it to your IT department. Assign the created case’s ID to a Text variable (
{!caseId}
, for example). Then, in a Screen, display this message to the running user.
Sorry, but you can’t read or update records at this time.
We filed a case for you.
Ignore Errors
To bypass errors for a given element in your flow, draw the fault connector to the same element as the normal connector.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Flow Reference
Bookmark this page for quick access to information about flow elements, resources, events, and more.
Each element represents an action that the flow can execute. Examples of such actions include reading or writing Salesforce data, displaying information and collecting data from flow users, executing business logic, or manipulating data.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Each resource represents a value that you can reference throughout the flow.
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
When building a flow, you can reference fields for records that are related to the values that are stored in an sObject variable. To do so, manually enter the references.
Connectors determine the available paths that a flow can take at run time. In the Cloud Flow Designer canvas, a connector looks like an arrow that points from one element to another.
Operators behave differently, depending on what you’re configuring. In Assignment elements, operators let you change resource values. In flow conditions and record filters, operators let you evaluate information and narrow the scope of a flow operation.
Event Type
drives the fields that you use to define an event in a flow Wait element. You can use a platform event, which you can fully customize. You can also use an alarm consisting of a date/time value—the base time—and an optional offset from that time.
A flow or flow version’s type determines which elements and resources are supported, as well as the ways that the flow can be distributed.
A flow’s properties consist of its name, description, interview label, and type. These properties drive the field values that appear on a flow or flow version’s detail page. The properties of a flow and its flow versions are separate.
Flow Elements
Each element represents an action that the flow can execute. Examples of such actions include reading or writing Salesforce data, displaying information and collecting data from flow users, executing business logic, or manipulating data.
In the Cloud Flow Designer, the canvas and Explorer tab display the elements that exist in the flow.
The Palette tab displays the available element types that you can add to the flow by dragging them onto the canvas.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
General Settings for Flow Elements
Every flow element has three settings in common: name, unique name, and description.
Flow Activate Session-Based Permission Set Element
Activates a session-based permission set for the running user by manually specifying its name.
Flow Deactivate Session-Based Permission Set Element
Deactivates a session-based permission set for the running user by manually specifying its name.
Calls an Apex class that implements the
Process.Plugin
interface. If you used the Tag property in the
PluginDescribeResult
class, the Apex class appears under a customized section. Otherwise, it appears under the Apex
Plug-ins section.
Sets or changes values in variables, collection variables, sObject variables, and sObject collection variables.
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Calls an Apex class’s invocable method.
Flow Create Service Report Element
Creates a service report for a service appointment, work order, or work order line item.
Evaluates a set of conditions and routes users through the flow based on the outcomes of those conditions. This element performs the equivalent of an if-then statement.
Sends an email by using a workflow email alert to specify the email template and recipients. The flow provides only the record ID.
Creates Salesforce records using the field values from an sObject collection variable. Or creates one Salesforce record using the field values from an sObject variable.
Deletes Salesforce records using the ID values that are stored in an sObject collection variable. Or deletes one Salesforce record using the ID value that’s stored in an sObject variable.
Finds Salesforce records to assign their field values to an sObject collection variable. Or finds one Salesforce record to assign its field values to an sObject variable.
Updates Salesforce records using the field values from an sObject collection variable. Or updates one Salesforce record using the field values from an sObject variable. If a record’s ID is included in the variable, its field values are updated to match the other values that are stored in the variable.
Flow Generate Work Orders Element
Generates work orders from a maintenance plan.
Iterates through a collection one item at a time, and executes actions on each item’s field values—using other elements within the loop.
Creates one Salesforce record by using individual field values that you specify.
Deletes all Salesforce records that meet specified criteria.
Finds the first Salesforce record that meets specified criteria. Then assigns the record’s field values to individual flow variables or individual fields on sObject variables.
Finds all Salesforce records that meet specified criteria and updates them with individual field values that you specify.
Calls an object-specific or global quick action that’s already been configured in your organization. Only “Create,” “Update,” and “Log a Call” actions are supported.
Posts a message to a specified feed, such as to a Chatter group or a case record. The message can contain mentions and topics, but only text posts are supported.
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Displays a screen to the user who is running the flow, which lets you display information to the user or collect information from the user.
Sends an email by manually specifying the subject, body, and recipients in the flow.
Acts as a placeholder when you’re not sure which element you need.
Flow Submit for Approval Element
Submits one Salesforce record for approval.
Calls another flow in your organization. Use this element to reference modular flows and simplify the overall architecture of your flow.
Waits for one or more defined events to occur, which lets you automate processes that require a waiting period.
SEE ALSO:
General Settings for Flow Elements
Every flow element has three settings in common: name, unique name, and description.
Field
Name
Unique
Name
Description
Helps you identify the element on the canvas.
Automatically populated if empty when you fill out the
Name
field and press
TAB.
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Description
Appears after you click Add Description.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Flow Activate Session-Based Permission Set Element
Activates a session-based permission set for the running user by manually specifying its name.
Specify a session-based permission set for activation.
Important:
You can run queries, however, do not make data or object updates in flows that also activate session-based permission sets.
Field Description
Permission Set
Name
The developer name of the permission set.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Permission Set
Namespace
Optional. The permission set’s namespace.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: A junior buyer in your org occasionally requires access to your Contracts object. Create a session-based permission set with access to the object. Then, create a flow that uses the Activate Session-Based Permission Set action. Configure the action to activate the permission set. The junior buyer runs the flow to access contracts during the current user session. The action activates the permission set for the junior buyer during the current session.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Deactivate Session-Based Permission Set Element
Flow Deactivate Session-Based Permission Set Element
Deactivates a session-based permission set for the running user by manually specifying its name.
Deactivate a running session-based permission set.
Field Description
Permission Set
Name
The developer name of the permission set.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Permission Set
Namespace
Optional. The permission set’s namespace.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
Flow Activate Session-Based Permission Set Element
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Flow Apex Plug-In Element
Calls an Apex class that implements the
Process.Plugin
interface. If you used the Tag property in the
PluginDescribeResult
class, the Apex class appears under a customized section.
Otherwise, it appears under the Apex Plug-ins section.
Tip:
•
Apex classes appear in the palette as Apex plug-ins only if the
Process.Plugin
interface has been implemented.
•
If you have many plug-ins in your organization, ask your developer to use the tag property. The class appears under a special section header in the palette. Otherwise, the class appears with all the other Apex plug-ins.
•
If your developer hasn’t already implemented the
Process.Plugin
interface on the desired class, we recommend using the
@InvocableMethod
annotation instead.
Unlike the
Process.Plugin
interface, the
@InvocableMethod
annotation supports sObject, Collection, Blob, and Time data types and bulkification. It’s also much easier to implement. To see a complete comparison between the interface and the
annotation, see Invoke Apex Code from a Flow on page 458.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Inputs
Pass information from the flow to the invoked Apex method. The method determines the available input parameters and their data types.
Outputs
Pass information from the invoked Apex method to the flow. The method determines the available output parameters and their data types.
The flow assigns the values to the specified variables when the code is executed.
Usage
Note: If the Apex class creates, updates, or deletes a record, the action isn’t performed until the interview’s transaction completes.
Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Apex Developer Guide: Process Namespace
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Flow Assignment Element
Sets or changes values in variables, collection variables, sObject variables, and sObject collection variables.
In each row, specify the
Variable
whose value you want to change and the new
Value
for that variable. At run time, the variable assignments occur in the order you specify.
Column Header
Variable
Operator
Value
Description
Variable whose value you want to change.
The available operators depend on the data type selected for the
Variable
.
The
Variable
and
Value
in the same row must have compatible data types.
Options:
•
Select an existing flow resource, such as a variable, constant, or user input.
•
Select CREATE NEW to create a flow resource.
•
Manually enter a literal value or merge field.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: Change the value of a customer’s credit score based on how the customer answered questions in the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Operators in Flow Assignment Elements
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Call Apex Element
Calls an Apex class’s invocable method.
Important: To use this element to call an Apex class from a flow, ask your developer to annotate one of the class’s methods with
@InvocableMethod
. For details, see
“
InvocableMethod
Annotation” in the Force.com Apex Code Developer’s Guide.
Inputs
Pass information from the flow to the invoked Apex method. The method determines the available input parameters and their data types.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Outputs
Pass information from the invoked Apex method to the flow. The method determines the available output parameters and their data types.
The flow assigns the values to the specified variables when the method is executed.
Usage
Note:
If the invoked method creates, updates, or deletes a record, that action isn’t performed until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Create Service Report Element
Creates a service report for a service appointment, work order, or work order line item.
Inputs
Input
Parameter
Description
Record ID
Required. The ID of the service appointment, work order, or work order line item that the service report is created for.
Template
ID
Required. The ID of the standard or custom service report template that is used to create the service report.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Usage
Field Service Lightning must be enabled in your org, and you must have the Field Service Standard user permission.
Flow Decision Element
Evaluates a set of conditions and routes users through the flow based on the outcomes of those conditions. This element performs the equivalent of an if-then statement.
Outcomes
Create the outcomes for the decision. To rename the path that the flow takes when none of the other outcome conditions are met, click [Default Outcome]. Set up the conditions.
Field
Name
Description
Identifies the connector for this outcome on the canvas.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Unique Name
Conditions
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Determines whether the flow takes this outcome’s path.
Example: Using a Decision element, determine whether:
•
To give customers a return shipping address (because an item is definitely faulty) or instructions on how to resolve the problem
•
To offer a customer a loan or not (based on results of a credit scoring formula)
Tip: Configure your flow so that it does different things based on which option a user selected for a screen’s drop-down list. To do so, add a decision after the screen to create the branches of the flow based on the choices available in that drop-down list. Then you can represent each choice in your decision and connect it to a branch of your flow.
SEE ALSO:
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Email Alert Element
Sends an email by using a workflow email alert to specify the email template and recipients. The flow provides only the record ID.
Before you begin:
EDITIONS
•
on page 660.
•
Understand the daily limits for emails sent from email alerts.
•
Store the ID for the record that you want to reference in this email, such as by using a Fast
Lookup element. If the email alert has any merge fields, the referenced record is the starting point for those fields.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
The unique name for each email alert is prefixed with its object. The object type of the referenced record must match the object type of the email alert. For example, if you have an email alert with unique name “Owner_Changed” for accounts, that email alert appears in the Palette as
Account.Owner_Changed
. Because the email alert is associated with the Account object, it can reference only an account record.
Field
Record ID
Description
Select a variable that contains the ID for the record that you want the email to reference. If the email alert uses any merge fields, this record is the starting point for those merge fields.
This field accepts single-value variables of any type. The value is treated as text.
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Usage
Note: At run time, the email isn’t sent until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Fast Create Element
Creates Salesforce records using the field values from an sObject collection variable. Or creates one
Salesforce record using the field values from an sObject variable.
To create a single record with field values from regular variables and other flow resources, such as constants, formulas, and screen fields, use
.
Field
Variable
Description
The sObject variable or collection that you want to use to create the record or multiple records. The object types must match, and each ID field must not have a value.
This field accepts any sObject variable or sObject collection variable.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: Take a collection of new cases and use a Fast Create element to create records for each case in the collection. Make sure that your flow populates the sObject variable or collection with all required field values before executing the Fast Create element.
Usage
If you used an sObject variable to create a single record, the sObject variable’s ID field is updated with the new record’s ID value. If you used an sObject collection to create multiple records, the ID field of each collection item is updated with its matching new record ID value.
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Note: At run time, records aren’t created until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Create Salesforce Records from a Flow
Clone Records with a Fast Create Element
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow sObject Variable Resource
Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
Flow Fast Delete Element
Deletes Salesforce records using the ID values that are stored in an sObject collection variable. Or deletes one Salesforce record using the ID value that’s stored in an sObject variable.
Tip: Make sure that the sObject variable or collection is populated with ID values before using the Fast Delete element.
Field
Variable
Description
Identifies the sObject variable or collection that you want to use to delete records.
The variable must include the IDs of the records that you want to delete.
This field accepts any sObject variable or sObject collection variable.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Usage
Warning:
•
Be careful when testing flows that contain delete elements. Even if the flow is inactive, it triggers the delete operation.
•
To prevent deleting records by mistake, be as specific in your filter criteria as possible.
•
Records are deleted from your organization the moment the flow executes the delete element.
•
Deleted records are sent to the Recycle Bin and remain there for 15 days before they are permanently deleted.
•
Flows can delete records that are pending approval.
To delete one or more records that meet filter criteria specified by regular variables and other flow resources, such as constants, formulas,
and screen fields, use Record Delete .
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Note: At run time, the records aren’t deleted until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Delete Salesforce Records from a Flow
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow sObject Variable Resource
Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
Flow Fast Lookup Element
Finds Salesforce records to assign their field values to an sObject collection variable. Or finds one
Salesforce record to assign its field values to an sObject variable.
Field
Look up
Filter criteria
Description
Identifies the object whose records you want to look up.
Narrows down the scope of records that the flow looks up. Specify the filter criteria for selecting the record from the database.
Tip: Make sure that your filter criteria sufficiently narrows the search. If you use an sObject variable to store the results, the Fast Lookup element returns only the first record from the filtered results.
Value
must be compatible with the selected field’s data type.
Sort results by:
Variable
Sorts the filtered results before storing records in the variable. If selected, also select the field that you want to sort the results by and the sort order. Only sortable fields are available.
The variable to contain the returned field values.
This field accepts any sObject variable or sObject collection variable.
•
To contain the field values for the first returned record, use an sObject variable.
•
To contain the field values for all returned records, use an sObject collection variable.
Assign null to the variable if no records are found.
Sets the variable to null if no records meet the filter criteria. By default, the variable’s values are left unchanged.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field Description
Specify which of the record’s fields to save in the variable.
Identifies which fields on the records that meet the filter criteria to store in the variable. Values for unselected fields are set to null in the variable.
Example:
•
Look up a product’s name and description by using the bar code on its product tag.
•
Look up all customers who live in a particular city.
•
Look up customer transactions on a particular day.
Considerations for Defining Filter Criteria
•
When you define multiple filters, the filter logic usually defaults to AND. However, if multiple filters have the same field selected and use the equals operator, the filters are combined with OR.
For example, your filters check whether a case’s Type equals Problem (1), Type equals Feature Request (2), and Escalated equals true
(3). At runtime, those filters are combined to
(1 OR 2) AND 3
.
•
.
Usage
.
SEE ALSO:
Pull Values from Salesforce Records into a Flow
Operators in Flow Record Filters
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow sObject Variable Resource
Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
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Flow Fast Update Element
Updates Salesforce records using the field values from an sObject collection variable. Or updates one Salesforce record using the field values from an sObject variable. If a record’s ID is included in the variable, its field values are updated to match the other values that are stored in the variable.
Field
Variable
Description
Identifies the sObject variable or collection that you want to use to update records.
This field accepts any sObject variable or sObject collection variable.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example:
You're designing flows for a call center. To automatically update Salesforce with data collected from callers, such as new addresses or product preferences, use a Fast Update element. Have your flow populate the sObject variable or collection before using the Fast Update element. Then make sure that the sObject variable or sObject values within the collection contain the ID for the records that are being updated.
Usage
To update one or more records with field values from regular variables and other flow resources, such as constants, formulas, and screen fields, use
.
Note: At run time, records aren’t updated until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Update Salesforce Records from a Flow
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow sObject Variable Resource
Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
Flow Generate Work Orders Element
Generates work orders from a maintenance plan.
Inputs
Input
Parameter
Description
Record ID
The ID of the maintenance plan from which you want to generate work orders.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Usage
Field Service Lightning must be enabled in your org, and you must have the Field Service Standard user permission. In addition, to generate work orders, you need “Read” access to assets and “Create” access to work orders and service appointments.
You can’t generate more than 2,500 work orders at a time. You can decrease the number of work orders generated by increasing the frequency, decreasing the generation timeframe, or decreasing the number of assets related to the maintenance plan.
Flow Loop Element
Iterates through a collection one item at a time, and executes actions on each item’s field values—using other elements within the loop.
A collection is a list of items that contain, for example, field values from Salesforce records. A loop uses an sObject variable, referred to as the loop variable, to contain the values for the current item in the collection. Once the loop finishes examining an item, it copies the field values for the next item into the loop variable. Then the loop examines those values. The loop variable must have the same object type as the collection. For example, if your collection contains field values from accounts, your loop variable must also be of type Account.
Field
Loop through
Order
Loop
Variable
Description
The collection that you want to loop through.
This field accepts any sObject variable or sObject collection variable.
Ascending
begins at the start of the collection and moves to the end, while
Descending
begins at the end and moves to the start.
The variable that the flow uses to contain the current item’s values during a loop iteration.
•
If
Loop through
is set to a non-sObject collection variable, this field accepts a single-value variable with the same data type.
•
If
Loop through
is set to an sObject collection variable, this field accepts an sObject variable with the same object type.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Usage
After you add a Loop element and the elements that you want the loop to include, from the Loop element:
•
Determine which element to execute first when a new item’s values are copied into the loop variable by adding a “Next element” connector.
•
Determine which flow element to execute after the loop has processed all the items in the collection by adding an “End of loop” connector.
SEE ALSO:
Sample Flow That Loops Through a Collection
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
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Flow Record Create Element
Creates one Salesforce record by using individual field values that you specify.
Field
Create
Field values
Variable
Description
The object for which you want to create a record
Identifies the field values for the new record. Each value must be compatible with the selected field’s data type.
Important: Ensure that all required fields are populated with values; otherwise the flow fails at run time. If you don’t know which fields are required, check the object definition.
Assigns the ID of the new record to a variable so you can reference it later in the flow.
This field accepts only single-value variables of type Text.
Visual Workflow
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: A user enters a name and address into the flow. Verify that a matching user exists by using the Record Lookup element.
If a matching contact doesn’t exist, create a record for that user by using the Record Create element.
Usage
To create a single record with all field values from one sObject variable, or multiple records with all field values from an sObject collection,
Note: At run time, the record isn’t created until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Create Salesforce Records from a Flow
Operators in Flow Record Filters
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow Record Delete Element
Deletes all Salesforce records that meet specified criteria.
Field
Delete
Filter Criteria
Description
Identifies the object whose records you want to delete.
Narrows down the scope of records that the flow deletes.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Considerations for Defining Filter Criteria
•
When you define multiple filters, the filter logic usually defaults to AND. However, if multiple filters have the same field selected and use the equals operator, the filters are combined with OR.
For example, your filters check whether a case’s Type equals Problem (1), Type equals Feature Request (2), and Escalated equals true
(3). At runtime, those filters are combined to
(1 OR 2) AND 3
.
•
.
Usage
Warning:
•
Be careful when testing flows that contain delete elements. Even if the flow is inactive, it triggers the delete operation.
•
To prevent deleting records by mistake, be as specific in your filter criteria as possible.
•
Records are deleted from your organization the moment the flow executes the delete element.
•
Deleted records are sent to the Recycle Bin and remain there for 15 days before they are permanently deleted.
•
Flows can delete records that are pending approval.
To delete a single record identified by the ID in one sObject variable, or delete multiple records identified by the IDs in an sObject
Note: At run time, the record isn’t deleted until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Delete Salesforce Records from a Flow
Operators in Flow Record Filters
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow Record Lookup Element
Finds the first Salesforce record that meets specified criteria. Then assigns the record’s field values to individual flow variables or individual fields on sObject variables.
Field
Look up
Filter criteria
Description
Identifies the object whose records you want to look up.
Narrows down the scope of records that the flow looks up. Specify the filter criteria for selecting the record from the database.
Value
must be compatible with the selected field’s data type.
Tip: Make sure that your filter criteria sufficiently narrows the search.
The Record Lookup element returns only the first record from the filtered results.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Sort results by:
Description
Sorts the filtered results before storing records in the variable. If selected, also select the field that you want to sort the results by and the sort order. Only sortable fields are available.
Assign the record’s fields to variables to reference them in your flow.
Select fields from the returned record, and assign the values to variables in the flow.
The values must be compatible with each selected field.
Assign null to the variable(s) if no records are found.
Sets the variables to null if no records meet the filter criteria. By default, the variable’s values are left unchanged.
Example: Use a Record Lookup element to:
•
Input (or read) a bar code from a product tag. Use the code to find out the product name or description from the database.
•
Look up item details to check your stock for availability.
•
Look up a customer record to verify a caller’s identity.
Considerations for Defining Filter Criteria
•
When you define multiple filters, the filter logic usually defaults to AND. However, if multiple filters have the same field selected and use the equals operator, the filters are combined with OR.
For example, your filters check whether a case’s Type equals Problem (1), Type equals Feature Request (2), and Escalated equals true
(3). At runtime, those filters are combined to
(1 OR 2) AND 3
.
•
.
Usage
Use a
•
A single record and store specified field values in an sObject variable
•
Multiple records and store specified field values in an sObject collection
SEE ALSO:
Pull Values from Salesforce Records into a Flow
Operators in Flow Record Filters
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
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Flow Record Update Element
Finds all Salesforce records that meet specified criteria and updates them with individual field values that you specify.
Field
Update
Filter criteria
Description
Identifies the object whose records you want to update.
Narrows down the scope of records that the flow updates.
Important: Configure at least one filter, or the flow updates all the records for the object.
Value
must be compatible with the selected field’s data type.
Update record fields ...
Identifies which fields to update on the records that meet the filter criteria, as well as the new values.
The values must be compatible with each selected field.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: Automatically update Salesforce with data collected from customers, such as new addresses or product preferences.
Considerations for Defining Filter Criteria
•
When you define multiple filters, the filter logic usually defaults to AND. However, if multiple filters have the same field selected and use the equals operator, the filters are combined with OR.
For example, your filters check whether a case’s Type equals Problem (1), Type equals Feature Request (2), and Escalated equals true
(3). At runtime, those filters are combined to
(1 OR 2) AND 3
.
•
.
Usage
Use
•
Update a single record with all field values from an sObject variable
•
Update multiple records with all field values from an sObject collection
Note: At run time, the record isn’t updated until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Update Salesforce Records from a Flow
Operators in Flow Record Filters
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
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Flow Quick Action Element
Calls an object-specific or global quick action that’s already been configured in your organization.
Only “Create,” “Update,” and “Log a Call” actions are supported.
The unique name for each object-specific action is prefixed with the object it’s associated with. The unique name for each global action has no prefix.
Field
Related
Record ID
Description
Only for object-specific actions. The ID of the record from which the action executes.
For example, the action creates a case that’s associated with a given account.
Assign the ID for that account to
Related Record ID
.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Input
Parameter
Varies for each action.
The action layout determines which parameters are required. Required parameters appear by default and can’t be removed. If a required field has a default or predefined value, that field is optional in object-specific and global actions in the flow. If you later remove the field’s default or predefined value and you didn't set a value in the flow, the interview fails at run time.
The value must be compatible with the parameter.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: Your organization has an object-specific action that creates a case record on an account. The flow calls that action at run time and uses input assignments to transfer data from the flow to the action.
Note:
At run time, the record isn’t created or updated until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Create Salesforce Records from a Flow
Update Salesforce Records from a Flow
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
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Flow Post to Chatter Element
Posts a message to a specified feed, such as to a Chatter group or a case record. The message can contain mentions and topics, but only text posts are supported.
Inputs
Input
Parameter
Description
Community
ID
ID of a community to post to.
Valid only if Salesforce Communities is enabled. Required if posting to a user or
Chatter group that belongs to a Salesforce.com Community.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Message
The text that you want to post.
•
To mention a user or group, enter
@[reference]
, where
reference
is the ID for the user or group that you want to mention. The reference can be a literal value, a merge field, or a flow resource. For example:
@[{!UserId}]
.
•
To add a topic, enter
#[string]
, where
string
is the topic that you want to add. For example:
#[Action Required]
.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text and is limited to 10,000 characters.
Target
Name or
ID
Target
Type
Reference to the user, Chatter group, or record whose feed you want to post to.
•
To post to a user’s feed, enter the user’s
ID
or
Username
. For example:
•
To post to a Chatter group, enter the group’s
Name
or
ID
. For example:
Entire Organization
•
To post to a record, enter the record’s
ID
. For example:
001D000000JWBDx
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Required only if
Target Name or ID
is set to a username or a Chatter group name.
The type of feed that you want to post to. Valid values are:
•
User
—If
Target Name or ID
is set to a user’s
Username
, enter this value.
•
Group
—If
Target Name or ID
is set to a Chatter group’s
Name
, enter this value.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Input Parameter
Visibility
Description
Specifies whether this feed item is available to all users or internal users only.
Valid only if Salesforce Communities is enabled. Valid values are:
•
allUsers
•
internalUsers
Visual Workflow
Outputs
Output Parameter Description
Feed Item ID
Assigns the created post’s ID to a resource in the flow.
This parameter accepts any single-value variables of type Text, Picklist, or Picklist (Multi-Select).
Usage
Note:
At run time, the Chatter post isn’t created until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Screen Element
Displays a screen to the user who is running the flow, which lets you display information to the user or collect information from the user.
EDITIONS
Flow Screen Element: General Info
Identifies which navigation buttons are available for a given screen, as well as whether help text is available to the flow user.
Flow Screen Element: User Input Fields
Lets users manually enter information. A flow user input field is a text box, long text area, number, currency, date, date/time, password, or checkbox in a Screen element.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Flow Screen Element: Choice Fields
Lets users select from a set of choices. A flow choice field is a radio button, drop-down list, multi-select checkbox, or multi-select picklist in a Screen element.
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Flow Screen Element: Display Text Fields
Displays information to users while they’re running the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow Screen Element: General Info
Identifies which navigation buttons are available for a given screen, as well as whether help text is available to the flow user.
Navigation Options
Field Description
Drop-down list Determines which navigation buttons display for this screen. At run time, the system automatically determines which buttons are relevant, depending on whether any screens precede or follow the screen in the flow path. To restrict the screen from displaying either the Previous or the Finish button, use the drop-down list.
•
No navigation restrictions—(Default) The system displays all relevant navigation buttons on the screen.
•
Don’t show Previous button—Select this option if revisiting the previous screen triggers an action that must not be repeated, such as a credit card transaction.
•
Don’t show Finish button—Select this option if you need the user to go back to a previous screen to continue or complete the flow.
For example, suppose the flow prompts the user to enter information to identify an existing contact. The flow then looks up the user-entered information in the database. If no matching contact is found, the flow displays a screen to tell the user to go back and try again. For that screen, select Don’t show Finish button.
Show Pause button
Adds the Pause button to the navigation buttons for this screen, if
Let Users
Pause Flows
is enabled in your organization’s Workflow and Approvals settings. Once a user pauses a flow interview, only that user or an administrator can resume the interview.
Note: Users can’t resume paused flows from Lightning Experience, so we recommend removing the Pause button from flows that are distributed in Lightning Experience.
Paused
Message
The message that’s displayed to flow users when they pause a flow.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Help Text
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Field
Text box
Description
Information for users to see when they click Help for this form.
This field accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Visual Workflow
Usage
If you allow users to pause interviews of this flow:
•
Customize the
•
Enable
Let Users Pause Flows
in your organization’s Process Automation Settings
•
Add the Paused Flow Interviews component to the Home page layout for relevant users
SEE ALSO:
Design Home Page Layouts in Salesforce Classic
Flow Screen Element: User Input Fields
Lets users manually enter information. A flow user input field is a text box, long text area, number, currency, date, date/time, password, or checkbox in a Screen element.
Field
Label
Description
User-friendly text that displays to the left of the field.
To format the label, click .
Unique
Name
A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Automatically populated based on the type of input field you selected.
Input
Type
Default
Value
Pre-populated value for the input field. If the associated screen isn’t executed, the stored value of the input field is always null.
The data type of the default value must be compatible with the field’s data type. For example, a checkbox’s default value must be of type boolean.
Scale
Controls the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. Can’t exceed 17. If you leave this field blank or set to zero, only whole numbers display when your flow runs. Available for only Currency and Number input fields.
Required
Forces users to enter a value before they can move on to the next screen.
Validate
Enables input validation on this field.
Formula
Expression
Boolean formula expression that evaluates whether the user entered an acceptable value.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
490
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Field
Error
Message
Help Text
Description
Displays underneath the field if the user didn’t enter an acceptable value.
This field accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Adds next to the input field. In the text box, enter helpful information about this field.
This field accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Visual Workflow
SEE ALSO:
Flow Screen Element: Choice Fields
Lets users select from a set of choices. A flow choice field is a radio button, drop-down list, multi-select checkbox, or multi-select picklist in a Screen element.
Field
Label
Unique
Name
Value
Data
Type
Description
Displays to the left of the field. To format the label, click .
A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Controls which choices are available in Choice Settings. For example, if you choose
Number you can’t use a choice that has a data type of Text.
You can’t change the value data type of multi-select choice fields; only text is supported.
Scale
Controls the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. Can’t exceed 17. If you leave this field blank or set to zero, only whole numbers display when your flow runs. Available for only Currency and Number choice fields.
Required
Forces users to identify a choice before they progress to the next screen.
Default
Value
The choice that’s preselected for the user. If the associated screen isn’t executed, the stored value of the choice field is always null.
Choice
The choice options that the user can choose from. Select configured choices, dynamic record choices, or picklist choices.
Note: You can’t rearrange choices.
The choice’s data type must match Value Data Type.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Help Text box
Description
Information that users see when they click .
This field accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Visual Workflow
SEE ALSO:
Limitations for Multi-Select Choice Fields
Options for Choice Fields in Flow Screen Elements
Options for Choice Fields in Flow Screen Elements
A key part of configuring choice fields in a flow screen is selecting the choice options to display in that field. These options appear as the individual radio buttons or checkboxes or options in a drop-down list. Create choice options with at least one of these resources: choices, dynamic record choices, or picklist choices.
Dynamic record choices and picklist choices are easier to configure and don’t require as much maintenance as choices. We recommend using a flow choice resource (otherwise known as stand-alone choices) only when you can’t use the other two.
If you want the user to select...
From a set of filtered records
Use this resource
Dynamic Record Choice
From a set of values that correspond to an existing picklist or multi-select picklist field
Picklist Choice
Something that can’t be generated from a record, picklist field, or multi-select picklist field
Choice
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
Flow Screen Element: Choice Fields
Flow Dynamic Record Choice Resource
Flow Screen Element: Display Text Fields
Displays information to users while they’re running the flow.
Field
Unique
Name
Description
A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Text box
Description
Visual Workflow
The text to display to the flow user. Click to switch between the plain text editor and the rich text editor.Using
the rich text editor saves the content as HTML.
This field accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Example: Welcome users to the flow or display terms and conditions.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Send Email Element
Sends an email by manually specifying the subject, body, and recipients in the flow.
Tip:
•
Store the text for the email body in a text template.
•
To use an email template that exists in your organization, call an email alert
instead.
Specify at least one recipient for the email. You can use both email address parameters, so long as the combined number of addresses is five or fewer.
Field
Body
Description
Text for the body of the email. The email is treated as plain text; HTML formatting isn’t respected.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Subject
Text for the subject of the email.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Addresses
(comma-separated)
Optional. Recipients of the email.
For the email to send successfully, enter a value for
Addresses (comma-separated)
or
Email Addresses
(collection)
. You can use both parameters, so long as the combined number of email addresses is five or fewer.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Addresses
(collection)
Optional. Recipients of the email.
For the email to send successfully, enter a value for
Addresses (comma-separated)
or
Email Addresses
(collection)
. You can use both parameters, so long as the combined number of email addresses is five or fewer.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Sender Address
Sender Type
Visual Workflow
Description
This parameter accepts collection variables of type Text.
The organization-wide email address that’s used to send the email. Required only if
Sender Type is set to
OrgWideEmailAddress
.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Optional. Email address used as the email’s From and Reply-To addresses. Valid values are:
•
CurrentUser
—Email address of the user running the flow. (Default)
•
DefaultWorkflowUser
—Email address of the default workflow user.
•
OrgWideEmailAddress
—The organization-wide email address that is specified in
Sender
Address
.
Usage
Note: At run time, the email isn’t sent until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Step Element
Acts as a placeholder when you’re not sure which element you need.
Usage
Steps aren’t valid elements for active flows. As a flow admin, you can run a draft flow with Step elements in it. Before you activate the flow, replace the Step elements with other elements or delete them entirely.
Convert a Step element into a Screen element at any time by hovering your mouse over the step and clicking .
Note:
•
If you convert a step that has multiple connectors into a Screen, all its connectors are deleted.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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•
Once a Step element has been converted, you can’t use its original unique name.
SEE ALSO:
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Flow Submit for Approval Element
Submits one Salesforce record for approval.
Tip: Before you begin, store the ID for the record that you want to submit for approval.
Inputs
Transfer data from the flow to the approval submission.
Input Parameter
Record ID
Description
The ID of the record that you want to submit for approval.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Next Approver
IDs
The ID of the user to be assigned the approval request when the approval process doesn’t automatically assign the approver.
This parameter accepts collection variables of type Text that include exactly one item.
Approval
Process Name or ID
The unique name or ID of the specific approval process to which you want the record to be submitted. The process must have the same object type as the record you specified in
Record ID
.
Required if
Skip Entry Criteria
is set to
$GlobalConstant.True
.
If this parameter and
Submitter ID
aren’t set, the flow succeeds only when:
•
The approver on submit is determined automatically, and
•
The user who launched the flow is an allowed initial submitter
Make sure that:
•
The approver on submit is determined automatically, and
•
The initial submitters (for the approval processes related to this object) include all users who could launch this flow
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Input Parameter Description
Skip Entry Criteria
If set to
$GlobalConstant.True
, the record isn’t evaluated against the entry criteria set on the process that is defined in
Approval Process Name or ID
.
This parameter accepts any single-value resource of type Boolean.
Submission Comments
Text that you want to accompany the submission. Don’t reference merge fields or formula expressions.
Submission comments appear in the approval history for the specified record. This text also appears in the initial approval request email if the template uses the
{!ApprovalRequest.Comments} merge field.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Submitter ID
The ID for the user who submitted the record for approval. The user receives notifications about responses to the approval request.
The user must be one of the allowed submitters for the process.
If you don’t set this field, the user who launched the flow is the submitter. If a workflow rule triggers a flow that includes this element, the submitter is the user who triggered the workflow rule. Workflow rules can be triggered when a user creates or edits a record. When the record is approved or rejected, the user who launched the flow or triggered the workflow rule is notified.
This parameter accepts single-value resources of any type. That value is treated as text.
Outputs
Transfer data from the approval request to the flow. Assignments occur when the approval request is created.
Description Optional Output
Parameter
Instance ID
Instance Status
New Work Item IDs
Next Approver IDs
Record ID
The ID of the approval request that was submitted.
This parameter accepts single-value variables of type Text, Picklist, or Picklist (Multi-Select).
The status of the current approval request. Valid values are “Approved,” “Rejected,” “Removed,” or
“Pending”.
This parameter accepts single-value variables of type Text, Picklist, or Picklist (Multi-Select).
The IDs of the new items submitted to the approval request. There can be 0 or 1 approval processes.
This parameter accepts collection variables of type Text.
The IDs of the users who are assigned as the next approvers.
This parameter accepts collection variables of type Text.
The ID of the record that the flow submitted for approval.
This parameter accepts single-value variables of type Text, Picklist, or Picklist (Multi-Select).
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Usage
Note: At run time, the approval request isn’t created until the interview’s transaction completes. Transactions complete either when the interview finishes, executes a Screen element, or executes a Wait element.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Subflow Element
Calls another flow in your organization. Use this element to reference modular flows and simplify the overall architecture of your flow.
A subflow element references another flow and calls that flow at run time. When a flow contains a subflow element, we call it the master flow to distinguish it from the referenced flow.
Tip:
Create smaller flows that perform common tasks. For example, build utility flows to capture address and credit card information, and authorize a credit card purchase amount.
Then call those flows as needed from multiple product-ordering flows.
Assign values to variables in the referenced flow. Variable assignments occur when the master flow calls the referenced flow at run time.
Description Column
Header
Target
Source
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Referenced flow’s variable whose value you want to set.
By default, this drop-down list contains the variables of the currently active version of the referenced flow. If the referenced flow has no active version, the drop-down list contains the variables of the latest version of the referenced flow.
Master flow’s resource or value to assign to the target.
Options:
•
Select an existing flow resource, such as a variable, constant, or user input.
•
Select CREATE NEW to create a flow resource.
•
Manually enter a literal value or merge field.
Source
’s data type must be compatible with
Target
.
Assign values from the referenced flow’s variables to the master flow’s variables. Variable assignments occur when the referenced flow finishes running.
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Column
Header
Source
Target
Description
Visual Workflow
Referenced flow’s variable whose value you want to assign to the target.
By default, this drop-down list contains the variables of the currently active version of the referenced flow. If the referenced flow has no active version, the drop-down list contains the variables of the latest version of the referenced flow.
Master flow’s variable whose value you want to set.
Target
’s data type must be compatible with
Source
.
Usage
At run time, the master flow calls the active version of each referenced flow by default. If a referenced flow has no active version, then the master flow calls the latest version of the referenced flow. To run only the latest version of each referenced flow:
•
Open the master flow, and click Run with Latest in the button bar, or
•
Append the URL for the master flow with
?latestSub=true
Note: Only flow admins can run inactive flows. For other users, the flow fails at run time if a subflow element tries to call a flow with no active version.
SEE ALSO:
View Inputs and Outputs of Other Referenced Flow Versions
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Wait Element
Waits for one or more defined events to occur, which lets you automate processes that require a waiting period.
Define the events that the flow waits for before it proceeds.
Field
Name
Description
The name appears on the connector that’s associated with this event.
Unique Name
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Event Type
Determines whether the flow is waiting for:
•
An absolute time (such as 3 days from now), or
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Event Conditions
Wait for this event only if additional conditions are met
Waiting Conditions
Variable Assignments
[Default Path]
Description
•
A time relative to a date/time field on a Salesforce record (such as 3 days after an opportunity closes)
Determines the exact event that the flow is waiting for. Parameters vary, based on the selected event type.
If selected, the flow waits for this event only when certain conditions are met.
Determines which conditions must be true for the flow to wait for this event. Available only if
Wait for this event only if additional conditions are met
is selected.
The flow waits for the event only if the waiting conditions evaluate to true
. For details, see
on page 457.
Assigns the event’s outputs to flow variables. Parameters vary, based on the selected event type.
Determines what the flow does when all the events have unmet waiting conditions. If at least one event doesn’t have waiting conditions, the default path is never executed.
The name displays on the Wait element’s default connector. Provide a custom name for this path by replacing the predefined value.
Usage
Note:
•
Flows that contain Wait elements must be autolaunched. If a flow includes Wait elements and screens, choice, or dynamic choices, you can’t activate or run it.
•
on page 429 for details.
After you define your events, connect the Wait element to other elements on the canvas to indicate what the flow does when:
•
Each event is the first to occur. One connector (1) is available for each event that’s defined in the Wait element.
•
There are no more events to wait for, because the waiting conditions for every event are unmet. One connector (2) is available for the Wait element’s default path.
•
An error occurs related to the Wait element. One connector (3) is available for the Wait element’s fault path, and it’s always labeled
FAULT.
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If the flow waits for multiple events, consider returning the flow path to the Wait element again so that the flow waits for the other events. If you return the flow path to the Wait element, consider using waiting conditions to control when the flow waits for each event.
For an example, see Sample Flow That Waits for Many Events on page 550.
Each event that you define in a flow Wait element has optional waiting conditions. These conditions must be met for the flow interview to wait for that event at run time.
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Define the Path That a Flow Takes
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
What Are Waiting Conditions?
Each event that you define in a flow Wait element has optional waiting conditions. These conditions must be met for the flow interview to wait for that event at run time.
When an interview encounters a Wait element, it checks the waiting conditions for each event to determine which events to wait for. If the waiting conditions aren’t met for an event, the interview doesn’t wait for that event. If all events have unmet waiting conditions, the interview executes the default path.
Tip: Add a default path if:
•
All the events have waiting conditions set, and
•
You want the flow to proceed when the waiting conditions for all events are met
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: Here are two scenarios in which you would use waiting conditions.
•
The flow waits for different events based on a field value on a given record.
For example, send an email reminder to a contract’s owner before the contract’s end date. The date on which you send the email depends, however, on the rating of the contract’s account. If the account is hot, send the email a month before the end date. If the account isn’t hot, send the email two weeks before the end date.
In this example, you would create two events. The event for hot accounts occurs 30 days before the contract’s end date. Its waiting conditions would check if the
Rating
for the contract’s account is equal to “Hot.”
The second event occurs 15 days before the contract’s end date. Its waiting conditions would check if the
Rating
for the contract’s account is not equal to “Hot.”
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When a flow interview executes the Wait element during run time, the interview checks the waiting conditions for each event.
It only waits for the events whose waiting conditions are met. If the account is hot, the interview doesn’t wait for the second event.
•
The flow waits for multiple events to occur, such as to send periodic email reminders. For an example of this scenario, see
Sample Flow That Waits for Many Events on page 550.
SEE ALSO:
Operators in Flow Record Filters
Flow Resources
Each resource represents a value that you can reference throughout the flow.
In the Cloud Flow Designer, the Explorer tab displays the resources that are available in the flow.
You can create some types of resources from the Resources tab by double-clicking them. Some resources, such as global constants and system variables, are automatically provided by the system.
Other resources are provided by the system when you add an element to the flow. For example, when you add a Decision element to your flow, the system creates a resource for each outcome.
Which resources are available depend on the specific field you’re setting. Oftentimes you can create resources from within that field by expanding the CREATE NEW section of its drop-down list.
Flow
Resource
Description
Represents an individual value that can be used in choice screen fields.
Stores multiple updatable values that have the same data type, such as a group of email addresses.
Stores a fixed value.
Element
Creatable from the Resources Tab
Yes
Yes
Yes
Represents a set of choices that’s generated from an object’s records.
Yes
Any element that you add to the flow is available as a
Resource
with the was visited
criteria. An element is considered visited if the element has already been executed in the flow interview.
Any element that you add to the flow that supports a
fault connector is available as a Boolean resource. If the element
has already been successfully executed in the flow interview, the resource’s value is
True
. If the element wasn’t executed or was executed and resulted in an error, the resource’s value is
False
.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Flow
Resource
Description
Calculates a value by using other resources in your flow and Salesforce functions
Fixed, system-provided values, such as
EmptyString
,
True
, and
False
, that can be assigned as the values of flow resources.
System-provided variables that reference information about the organization or running user, such as the user’s ID or the API session ID. In Visual Workflow, global variables are available in only flow formulas.
Creatable from the
Resources Tab
Yes
If you add a Decision element to the flow, its outcomes are available as Boolean resources. If an outcome path has already been executed in the flow interview, the resource’s value is
True
.
Represents a set of choices that’s generated from the values of a picklist or multi-select picklist field.
Yes
Picklist Values System-provided values for picklist fields in sObject variables and sObject collection variables. Available for only Assignment and Decision elements.
Any screen field that you add to the flow is available as a resource. The resource value depends on the type of screen field. The value for a screen input field is what the user enters. The value for a screen choice field is the stored value of the choice that the user selects. The value for a screen output field is the text that’s displayed to the user.
Stores updatable field values for one or more Salesforce records.
Yes
Stores updatable field values for a Salesforce record.
System-provided values about the running flow interview, such as
{!$Flow.CurrentDate}
,
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
, and
{!$Flow.FaultMessage}
.
Stores formatted text.
Yes
Yes
Stores a value that can be updated as the flow executes.
If you add a Wait element to the flow, its events are available as Boolean resources. If an event’s waiting conditions are met, the resource’s value is
True
. If the event has no waiting conditions set, the resource’s value is always
True
.
Yes
Represents an individual value to use in choice screen fields.
Flow Collection Variable Resource
Stores multiple updatable values that have the same data type, such as a group of email addresses.
A flow constant represents a fixed value. Unlike variables, this value can’t change throughout a flow.
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Flow Dynamic Record Choice Resource
Represents a set of choices that’s generated from an object’s records.
Calculates a value by using other resources in your flow and Salesforce functions.
Fixed, system-provided values, such as
EmptyString
,
True
, and
False
.
Global Variables in Visual Workflow
System-provided variables that reference information about the organization or running user, such as the user’s ID or the API session
ID. In Visual Workflow, global variables are available only in flow formulas.
Represents a set of choices that’s generated from the values of a picklist or multi-select picklist field.
Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
Stores updatable field values for one or more Salesforce records.
Flow sObject Variable Resource
Stores updatable field values for a Salesforce record.
System-provided values about the running flow interview, such as
{!$Flow.CurrentDate}
,
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
, and
{!$Flow.FaultMessage}
.
Stores HTML-formatted text.
Stores a value that can be updated as the flow executes.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Choice Resource
Represents an individual value to use in choice screen fields.
Field
Label
Unique Name
Description
Value Data
Type
Description
A user-friendly label for the choice option.
A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this choice option from other resources.
Controls which choice fields this choice can be used in. For example, you can’t use a Text choice in a Currency radio button field.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Scale
Stored Value
Show Input on
Selection
Description
Controls the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. Can’t exceed 17. If you leave this field blank or set to zero, only whole numbers display when your flow runs.
Available for only Currency and Number choices.
If the user selects this choice, the choice field has this value. If a user leaves a choice blank or unselected, its stored value is set to null
.
Displays a text box below the choice option. This option isn’t available if the choice’s data type is
Boolean
.
These fields appear only if you select
Show Input on Selection
.
Field
Label
Required
Validate
Description
A user-friendly label for the text box.
Forces users to enter a value in the text box before they can progress or finish the flow.
Evaluates whether the user entered an acceptable value.
These fields appear only if you select
Validate
.
Field
Formula
Error
Message
Description
Boolean formula expression that evaluates whether the user entered an acceptable value.
Displays if the user didn’t enter an acceptable value.
Example:
If your flow asks users to choose a particular service level, create choices for Gold, Silver, and Bronze. In a screen, display the choices with a description of the features included. Then, in the same screen, let the user pick from a dropdown list.
Rich Text in Choice Labels
You can configure every choice’s label using the rich text editor, but keep in mind where you want to use the choice.
Dropdown List and Multi-Select Picklist Fields
Rich text isn’t supported. If you include a choice with rich text in a dropdown list, at runtime the choice renders the HTML characters in their escaped form.
For example, the choice label
<b>My Label</b>
renders as
<b>My Label</b>
at runtime.
Radio Button and Multi-Select Checkbox Fields
•
Rich text is supported.
•
Don’t use angle brackets (
<
and
>
) except when applying HTML markup to your label. Instead, use square brackets (
[
and
]
).
If a choice is used in a field that supports rich text, it treats anything in angle brackets as HTML. If the contents isn’t valid HTML, the content is stripped from the label.
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For example, you include the “<My Label>” choice in a radio button or multi-select checkbox field. <My Label> is considered invalid HTML, so at runtime the value is stripped from the label. Rather than display nothing—because the label doesn’t include any other value—the flow displays the choice’s unique name:
My_Label
.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Screen Element: Choice Fields
Options for Choice Fields in Flow Screen Elements
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Collection Variable Resource
Stores multiple updatable values that have the same data type, such as a group of email addresses.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Data Type
Input/Output
Type
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this collection variable from other resources.
Determines the type of values that can be assigned to the collection variable.
Determines whether the collection variable can be accessed outside the flow.
•
Private—Can be assigned and used only within the flow
•
Input—Can be set at the start of the flow using Visualforce controllers, or subflow inputs
•
Output—Can be accessed from Visualforce controllers and other flows
This field doesn’t affect how variables are assigned or used within the same flow, for example, through these types of elements: Assignment,
Record or Fast Create, Record or Fast Lookup, and Apex Plug-in.
The default value of the field is
Private
.
Warning: Disabling input or output access for an existing variable can break the functionality of applications and pages that call the flow and access the variable. For example, you can access variables
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field Description
from URL parameters, Visualforce controllers, subflows, and processes.
Visual Workflow
SEE ALSO:
Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Constant Resource
A flow constant represents a fixed value. Unlike variables, this value can’t change throughout a flow.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Data Type
Value
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this constant from other resources.
Determines the types of values that the constant can store.
The constant’s value. This value doesn’t change throughout the flow.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
Flow Dynamic Record Choice Resource
Represents a set of choices that’s generated from an object’s records.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Value Data
Type
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this resource from other resources.
Data type of the choice’s stored value.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field Description
Create a choice for each
Determines the object whose records you want to use to generate the choices
Filter Criteria Determines which records are included in the generated list of choices. If you don’t apply any filters, a choice is generated for every record of the selected object.
For example, to generate a list of all accounts in San Francisco, use filters to include only accounts whose Billing City is San Francisco.
Choice Label
Determines which field is used as the label for each generated choice. Select a field that enables users to differentiate between the generated choices.
Tip: Make sure to choose a field that contains data. If the selected field has no value for a given record, the corresponding choice’s label is blank at run time.
Choice Stored Value
Determines which field’s value is stored when the user selects this choice at run time.
Value Data
Type
determines the available options.
By default, the stored value is null. The stored value is determined by the most recent user selection of a choice within the generated set.
Sort results by
Limit number of choices to
Assign the record fields to variables...
Controls the order that the choices appear in.
When
Sort results by
is selected, also select the field that you want to order the choices by.
Then select which order the choices should appear in.
Controls the number of options that appear in the screen field that uses this dynamic record choice.
When
Limit number of choices to
is selected, also enter the maximum number (up to
200) of choices to include.
Takes field values from the record that the user chose and stores them in flow variables that you can reference later.
Note: When a multi-select choice field uses a dynamic record choice, only values from the last record that the user selects are stored in the flow variables. If multiple multi-select choice fields on one screen use the same dynamic record choice, the variable assignments obey the first of those fields.
Example:
In a support flow for a computer hardware manufacturer, users identify a product to find its latest updates. You create a dynamic record choice that displays all products whose product ID starts with a specific string of characters. However, the flow users are more likely to know the product’s name than its ID, so for
Choice Label
select the field that contains the product
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Description field values from the user-selected record to flow variables.
SEE ALSO:
Operators in Flow Record Filters
Flow Screen Element: Choice Fields
Options for Choice Fields in Flow Screen Elements
Flow Formula Resource
Calculates a value by using other resources in your flow and Salesforce functions.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Value Data Type
Scale
Formula
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this formula from other resources.
The data type for the value calculated by the formula.
Controls the number of digits to the right of the decimal point.
Can’t exceed 17. If you leave this field blank or set to zero, only whole numbers display when your flow runs.
Appears when
Value Data Type
is Number or Currency.
The formula expression that the flow evaluates at run time. The returned value must be compatible with
Value Data Type
.
Note: Some formula operators are not supported in the
Cloud Flow Designer.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
Formula Operators and Functions
Which Functions Aren’t Supported in Flow Formulas?
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
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Flow Global Constant Resource
Fixed, system-provided values, such as
EmptyString
,
True
, and
False
.
Global Constant
{!$GlobalConstant.True}
Supported Data Types
Boolean
{!$GlobalConstant.False} Boolean
{!$GlobalConstant.EmptyString} Text
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: When you create a Boolean variable,
$GlobalConstant.True
and
$GlobalConstant.False
are supported. But when you create a Currency variable, no global constants are supported.
Null vs. Empty String
At run time,
{!$GlobalConstant.EmptyString}
and null
are treated as separate, distinct values. For example:
•
If you leave a text field or resource value blank, that value is null
at run time. If you instead want the value to be treated as an empty string, set it to
{!$GlobalConstant.EmptyString}
.
•
For flow conditions, use the is null
operator to check whether a value is null
. If the condition compares two text variables, make sure that their default values are correctly either set to
{!$GlobalConstant.EmptyString}
or left blank ( null
).
SEE ALSO:
Global Variables in Visual Workflow
System-provided variables that reference information about the organization or running user, such as the user’s ID or the API session ID. In Visual Workflow, global variables are available only in flow formulas.
Example: Use
{$!User.Id}
to easily access the ID of the user who’s running the flow interview.
The following global variables are supported in flow formulas. If a value in the database has no value, the corresponding merge field returns a blank value. For example, if nobody has set a value for your organization’s Country field,
{!$Organization.Country}
returns no value.
Description Global
Variable
$Api
References API URLs or the session ID. The following merge fields are available.
•
Enterprise_Server_URL_
xxx
—The Enterprise WSDL SOAP endpoint where
xxx
represents the version of the API.
•
Partner_Server_URL_
xxx
—The Partner WSDL SOAP endpoint where
xxx
represents the version of the API.
•
Session_ID
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Global Variable
$Label
$Organization
$Permission
$Profile
Description
References custom labels. This global variable appears only if custom labels have been created in your org.
The returned value depends on the language setting of the contextual user. The value returned is one of the following, in order of precedence:
1. The local translation’s text
2. The packaged translation’s text
3. The master label’s text
References information about your company.
References information about the current user’s custom permission access.
References information from the current user’s profile, such as license type or name.
Tip:
•
Use profile names to reference standard profiles in
$Profile
merge fields.
•
Users don’t need access to their profile information to run a flow that references these merge fields.
$Setup
$System
$User
References custom settings of type “hierarchy”. This global variable appears only if hierarchy custom settings have been created in your org. You can access custom settings of type “list” only in Apex.
Hierarchical custom settings allow values at any of three different levels:
•
Organization—the default value for everyone
•
Profile—overrides the Organization value
•
User—overrides both Organization and Profile values
Salesforce automatically determines the correct value for this custom setting field based on the running user’s current context.
$System.OriginDateTime
represents the literal value of
1900-01-01 00:00:00
. Use this merge field to perform date/time offset calculations.
References information about the user who’s running the flow interview. For example, reference the user’s
ID or title.
Tip:
•
The current user is the person who caused the flow to start.
•
When a flow is started because a Web-to-Case or Web-to-Lead process changed a record, the current user is the
Default Lead Owner
or
Default Case Owner
.
$User.UITheme
and
$User.UIThemeDisplayed
identify the look and feel the running user sees on a given Salesforce page. The difference between the two variables is that
$User.UITheme
returns the look and feel the user is supposed to see, while
$User.UIThemeDisplayed
returns the look and feel the user actually sees. For example, a user may have the preference and permissions to see the
Lightning Experience look and feel, but if they are using a browser that doesn’t support that look and feel, for example, older versions of Internet Explorer,
$User.UIThemeDisplayed
returns a different value.
These merge fields return one of the following values.
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Global Variable
$UserRole
Description
•
Theme1
—Obsolete Salesforce theme
•
Theme2
—Salesforce Classic 2005 user interface theme
•
Theme3
—Salesforce Classic 2010 user interface theme
•
Theme4d
—Modern “Lightning Experience” Salesforce theme
•
Theme4t
—Salesforce1 mobile Salesforce theme
•
PortalDefault
—Salesforce Customer Portal theme
•
Webstore
—Salesforce AppExchange theme
References information about the current user’s role, such as the role name or ID.
Tip:
•
The current user is the person who caused the flow to start.
•
When a flow is started because a Web-to-Case or Web-to-Lead process changed a record, the current user is the
Default Lead Owner
or
Default Case Owner
.
Flow Picklist Choice Resource
Represents a set of choices that’s generated from the values of a picklist or multi-select picklist field.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Value Data
Type
Object
Field
Sort Order
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this resource from other resources.
Data type of the choice’s stored value.
The object whose fields you want to select from.
The picklist or multi-select picklist field to use to generate the list of choices.
Controls the order that the choices appear in. The choices sort based on the translated picklist value for the running user’s language.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: In a flow that simplifies the process of creating an account, users identify the company’s industry.
Rather than creating one choice for each industry, you add a picklist choice to the flow and populate a drop-down list with it.
When users run this flow, the picklist choice finds all the values in the database for the Industry picklist field (1) on the Account object (2).
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On top of being easier to configure than the stand-alone choice resource, picklist choices reduce maintenance. When someone adds new options to the Account Industry picklist, the flow automatically reflects those changes; you don’t have to update the flow.
Limitations
Unlike with dynamic record choices, you can’t:
Filter out any values that come back from the database.
The flow always displays every picklist value for that field—even if you’re using record types to narrow down the picklist choices in page layouts.
Customize the label for each option.
The flow always displays the label for each picklist value.
Customize the stored value for each option.
The flow always stores the API value for each picklist value.
Picklists for Knowledge Articles aren’t supported.
Labels and Values for Translated Fields
When a picklist field has been translated:
•
Each choice’s label uses the version of that picklist value in the running user’s language
•
Each choice’s stored value uses the version of that picklist value in the org’s default language
SEE ALSO:
Flow Screen Element: Choice Fields
Options for Choice Fields in Flow Screen Elements
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Flow sObject Collection Variable Resource
Stores updatable field values for one or more Salesforce records.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Input/Output
Type
Object Type
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this sObject collection variable from other resources.
Determines whether the sObject collection variable can be accessed outside the flow.
•
Private—Can be assigned and used only within the flow
•
Input—Can be set at the start of the flow using Visualforce controllers, or subflow inputs
•
Output—Can be accessed from Visualforce controllers and other flows
The default value is
Private
.
Warning: Disabling input or output access for an existing variable can break the functionality of applications and pages that call the flow and access the variable. For example, you can access variables from URL parameters, Visualforce controllers, subflows, and processes.
Type of Salesforce records that the sObject collection represents in the flow.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Usage
After you populate the sObject collection, reference it to create, update, or delete records in the Salesforce database.
Examine every item in the collection by using a Loop element. When an item is being examined in the loop, the item’s field values are copied into an sObject variable that you specify as the loop variable. If you want the loop to modify a collection item, such as to update an item’s field values:
1. Configure the elements within the loop to update the loop variable.
2. Add the variable’s field values to a separate collection.
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You can add new items to the end of the collection (Assignment element) or replace all items in the collection (Fast Lookup element).
However, you can’t update existing collection items. To get around this limitation, have the loop iteratively add the contents of the loop variable to another collection. When the loop finishes, you can update the Salesforce records with values from the new collection.
SEE ALSO:
Sample Flow That Loops Through a Collection
Flow sObject Variable Resource
Stores updatable field values for a Salesforce record.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Input/Output
Type
Object Type
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this sObject variable from other resources.
Determines whether the sObject variable can be accessed outside the flow.
•
Private—Can be assigned and used only within the flow
•
Input—Can be set at the start of the flow using Visualforce controllers, or subflow inputs
•
Output—Can be accessed from Visualforce controllers and other flows
This field doesn’t affect how variables are assigned or used within the same flow, for example, through these types of elements: Assignment,
Record or Fast Create, Record or Fast Lookup, and Apex Plug-in.
The default value of the field is
Private
.
Warning: Disabling input or output access for an existing variable can break the functionality of applications and pages that call the flow and access the variable. For example, you can access variables from URL parameters, Visualforce controllers, subflows, and processes.
Type of Salesforce record that the sObject variable represents in the flow.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Usage
When an sObject variable is created, its default value is null
. Before you reference an sObject variable’s values, make sure that the sObject variable has a value by using the is null
operator in a Decision element.
SEE ALSO:
System Variables in Flows
System-provided values about the running flow interview, such as
{!$Flow.CurrentDate}
,
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
, and
{!$Flow.FaultMessage}
.
System Variable
{!$Flow.CurrentDate} Text
,
Date
, and
DateTime
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
Supported Resource Types
Text
,
Date
, and
DateTime
Description
Date when the flow interview executes the element that references the system variable.
Date and time when the flow interview executes the element that references the system variable.
{!$Flow.FaultMessage} Text
System fault message that can help flow administrators troubleshoot run time issues.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: A flow is used only internally by call center personnel. For each flow element that interacts with the Salesforce database, a fault connector leads to a screen. A Display Text field on the screen displays the system fault message and instructs the flow user to provide that message to the IT department.
Sorry, but you can’t read or update records at this time.
Please open a case with IT, and include the following error message:
{!$Flow.FaultMessage}
SEE ALSO:
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
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Flow Text Template Resource
Stores HTML-formatted text.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Text Template
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this text template from other resources.
The text for the template. Use HTML to format the text and merge fields to reference information from other resources.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example: You’re designing a flow that registers people for an event. You create a text template that includes a registrant's name, address, and other information. Then you use the template in an email confirmation that the flow sends when it finishes.
SEE ALSO:
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Flow Variable Resource
Stores a value that can be updated as the flow executes.
Field
Unique Name
Description
Data Type
Scale
Description
The requirement for uniqueness applies only to elements within the current flow. Two elements can have the same unique name, provided they are used in different flows. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Helps you differentiate this variable from other resources.
Determines the types of values that can be assigned to the variable.
Controls the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. Can’t exceed 17. If you leave this field blank or set to zero, only whole numbers display when your flow runs.
Appears only when the
Data Type
is set to
Number
or
Currency
.
Input/Output
Type
Determines whether the variable can be accessed outside the flow.
•
Private—Can be assigned and used only within the flow
•
Input—Can be set at the start of the flow using Visualforce controllers, or subflow inputs
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Field
Default Value
Visual Workflow
Description
•
Output—Can be accessed from Visualforce controllers and other flows
This field doesn’t affect how variables are assigned or used within the same flow, for example, through these types of elements: Assignment, Record or Fast Create, Record or Fast Lookup, and Apex Plug-in.
The default value of the field depends on the release or API version in which the variable is created:
•
Private
for a variable created in Summer ’12 and later or in API version 25.0 and later.
•
Input and Output
for a variable created in Spring ’12 and earlier or in API version 24.0.
Warning: Disabling input or output access for an existing variable can break the functionality of applications and pages that call the flow and access the variable. For example, you can access variables from URL parameters, Visualforce controllers, subflows, and processes.
Determines the variable value when the flow starts. If you leave this field blank, the value is null
.
Default values aren’t available for Picklist and Picklist (Multi-Select) variables.
Usage
You can delete a variable at any time. Any variable assignments that use the deleted variable are set to null
.
SEE ALSO:
Flow sObject Variable Resource
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Cross-Object Field References in Flows
When building a flow, you can reference fields for records that are related to the values that are stored in an sObject variable. To do so, manually enter the references.
EDITIONS
Tips for Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Cross-object field values are valid wherever you can reference a flow resource or manually enter a value. Keep these implementation tips in mind when you use a cross-object field reference.
Cross-Object Field References in Flows: Simple Relationships
Most relationships are straightforward. For example,
Case.AccountId
links directly to the case’s parent account. If you know that a field relationship ties your object to exactly one other object, use this syntax.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Cross-Object Field References in Flows: Polymorphic Relationships
Some fields have relationships to more than one object. We call these relationships polymorphic. For example, if you have queues enabled for cases, a case owner can be either a user or queue. If you’re traversing from a case to its owner ID, add special syntax to identify which object you mean when you say “Owner”.
Example Cross-Object Field References in Flows
This example demonstrates how to update a contract’s owner to be the contract’s account’s owner.
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Tips for Cross-Object Field References in Flows
Cross-object field values are valid wherever you can reference a flow resource or manually enter a value. Keep these implementation tips in mind when you use a cross-object field reference.
When you create an sObject variable to reference fields on related records from, store the ID for the first related record in the variable. For example, to reference an opportunity’s contract, store
ContractId
in the sObject variable or add a value for
ContractId
by using an Assignment element.
Unsupported Relationships
The following relationships aren’t supported in cross-object field references.
•
Lead.ConvertedAccount
•
Lead.ConvertedContact
•
Lead.ConvertedOpportunity
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Avoiding Null Values
If a flow interview encounters a null value at any point in the cross-object expression, the element containing the reference fails. The reference runs successfully if the last field value in the expression is null
. For example, store a contact in
{!sObjContact}
and try to reference
{!sObjContact}.Account.Name
. The flow fails if
AccountId
on the stored contact is null
(because there isn’t an account to look at), but it succeeds if
Name
on the related account is null
.
If an element contains a cross-object reference that fails and the element doesn’t have a fault path defined, the entire interview fails. To avoid this situation, you can:
•
Make the fields that you want to reference in the expression required in Salesforce. For example, for the expression
{!sObjContact}.Account.Name
, you could require
AccountId
on contact page layouts. Then, using another flow, find any records with null values for that field and update them.
•
Determine whether each field that’s referenced in the expression has a value by using the wasSet
operator in a Decision element.
Cross-Object Field References and Org Limits
Cross-object field references in flows don’t count against your org’s limits for:
•
Cross-object relationships per object
•
DML operations per transaction
Cross-Object Field References in Flows: Simple Relationships
Most relationships are straightforward. For example,
Case.AccountId
links directly to the case’s parent account. If you know that a field relationship ties your object to exactly one other object, use this syntax.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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To reference a field on a related record, use this syntax.
{!
sObjectVariable
.
objectName1
.
objectName2
.
fieldName
} where:
•
sObjectVariable
is the unique name for the sObject variable that you want to start from.
•
objectName1
is the API name for an object that's related to sObjectVariable's object type. The API names for all custom objects end in
__r
.
•
(Optional)
objectName2
is the API name for an object that's related to
objectName1
.
Your expression must include at least one object name, but you can add more objects as needed.
•
fieldName
is the name for the field that you want to reference on the last object in the expression. The API names for all custom fields end in
__c
.
For example,
{!sOv_Contact.Account.Id}
references Id of the account that's related to the contact record represented by an sObject variable in the flow.
Cross-Object Field References in Flows: Polymorphic Relationships
Some fields have relationships to more than one object. We call these relationships polymorphic.
For example, if you have queues enabled for cases, a case owner can be either a user or queue. If you’re traversing from a case to its owner ID, add special syntax to identify which object you mean when you say “Owner”.
To reference a field on a related record, use this syntax.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
{!
sObjectVariable
.
polymorphicObjectName1
:
specificObjectName2
.
fieldName
} where:
•
sObjectVariable
is the unique name for the sObject variable that you want to start from.
•
polymorphicObject
is the API name for a polymorphic relationship for
sObjectVariable
's object type.
•
specificObjectName
is the API name for the object that you want to select from the polymorphic relationship.
•
fieldName
is the name for the field that you want to reference on the last object in the expression. All custom field API names end in
__c
.
For example:
{!sObj_Case.Owner:User.Id}
references the ID of the user who owns the case, while
{!sObj_Case.Owner:Queue.Id}
references the ID of the queue who owns the case. You can always add the polymorphic reference after several traversals (
{!sObj_Case.Account.Owner:User.Id}
) or in the middle of a reference
(
{!sObj_Case.Owner:User.Manager.Id}
).
Supported Polymorphic Relationships
Not every relationship is polymorphic, so we recommend using the polymorphic syntax only when you know that the field can link to multiple objects. The following relationships are supported.
•
Case.Source
•
FeedItem.CreatedBy
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•
Object.Owner
Where
Object
lets you set Owner to either a user or a queue.
Group.Owner
and
Queue.Owner
aren’t supported.
When you create an sObject variable to reference fields on related records from, store the ID for the first related record in the variable.
For example, to reference an opportunity’s contract, store
ContractId
in the sObject variable or add a value for
ContractId
by using an Assignment element.
Example Cross-Object Field References in Flows
This example demonstrates how to update a contract’s owner to be the contract’s account’s owner.
Example:
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
1. Use a Fast Lookup element to store the contract’s fields, including
AccountId
, in an sObject variable called varContract
.
2. Use a Decision element to verify that the value of
AccountId
was set in varContract
.
3. Use a Fast Lookup to store the fields for the contract’s account, including
OwnerId
, in another sObject variable called varAccount
.
4. Use a Decision element to confirm that the value of
OwnerId
was set in varAccount
.
5. Use an Assignment element to specify
{!varContract.Account.OwnerId}
as the value for
{!varContract.OwnerId}
.
6. Use a Fast Update element to write the values in varContract
, including the updated
OwnerId
value, to the contract in Salesforce.
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Flow Connectors
Connectors determine the available paths that a flow can take at run time. In the Cloud Flow Designer canvas, a connector looks like an arrow that points from one element to another.
Label
Unlabeled
Decision outcome name
Wait event name
Next element
End of loop
Example Description
Identifies which element to execute next.
Identifies which element to execute when the criteria of a Decision outcome are met.
Identifies which element to execute when an event that’s defined in a Wait element occurs.
Identifies which element to execute when the previous element results in an error.
Identifies the first element to execute for each iteration of a Loop element.
Identifies which element to execute after a
Loop element finishes iterating through a collection.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
Flow Operators
Operators behave differently, depending on what you’re configuring. In Assignment elements, operators let you change resource values. In flow conditions and record filters, operators let you evaluate information and narrow the scope of a flow operation.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Operators in Flow Assignment Elements
Use Assignment element operators to change the value of a selected resource.
Use condition operators to verify the value of a selected resource. Conditions are used in Decision elements and Wait elements.
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Operators in Flow Record Filters
A flow record filter narrows the scope of records that the flow operates on. For example, use a record filter to update only the contacts that are associated with the Acme Wireless account. When you add a Record Update element, use the record filters to narrow the scope to just the contacts whose parent account is Acme Wireless.
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Operators in Flow Assignment Elements
Use Assignment element operators to change the value of a selected resource.
Use this reference, organized by the data type that you select for Resource, to understand the supported operators.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Boolean
Replace a boolean resource with a new value.
Operator
equals
Description
What you enter or select for Value replaces the value of Variable.
Supported
Data Types
Boolean
Example
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Before Assignment:
{!varBoolean}
is false
.
Assignment:
{!varBoolean}
equals
{!$GlobalConstant.True}
After Assignment:
{!varBoolean}
is true
.
Collection
Replace the value of a collection variable or sObject collection variable (equals) or add an item to the end of the variable (add).
Operator
equals
Description
What you enter or select for Value replaces the value of Variable.
Supported
Data Types
Example
Collection of the same data type or object type
Before the Assignment:
•
{!collText}
is
Yellow, Green, Blue
•
{!collPicklist}
is
Blue, Red, Orange
Text, Picklist, and
Multi-Select
Picklist data types are compatible with each other.
Assignment:
{!collText}
After the Assignment:
Orange
.
equals
{!collPicklist}
{!collText}
is
Blue, Red,
.
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Operator
add
Description
What you enter or select for Value is added as a new item at the end of the collection.
Supported
Data Types
Example
Variable of the same data type or sObject variable of the same object type
Before the Assignment:
•
•
{!collText}
is
Yellow, Green, Blue
{!varPicklist}
is
Red
Assignment:
{!collText}
add
{!varPicklist}
.
Text, Picklist, and
Multi-Select
Picklist data types are compatible with each other.
After the Assignment:
{!collText}
is
Yellow,
Green, Blue, Red
.
Currency and Number
Replace (equals), add to (add), or subtract from (subtract) the value of a currency or number resource.
Example Operator
equals
Description Supported
Data Types
The number that you enter or select for Value replaces the value of
Variable.
•
Currency
•
Number add subtract
The number that you enter or select for Value is added to the value of
Variable.
•
Currency
•
Number
The number that you enter or select for Value is subtracted from the value of Variable.
•
Currency
•
Number
Before the Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
is
10
.
Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
equals
7
.
After the Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
is
7
.
Before the Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
is
10
.
Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
add
7
.
After the Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
is
17
.
Before the Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
is
10
.
Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
subtract
7
.
After the Assignment:
{!varCurrency}
is
3
.
Date
Replace (equals), add to (add), or subtract from (subtract) the value of a date/time resource.
Example Operator
equals
Description Supported
Data Types
The date that you enter or select for
Value replaces the value of Variable.
•
Date
•
Date/Time
Before the Assignment:
{!varDate}
is
1/16/2016
.
Assignment:
{!varDate}
equals
1/15/2016
.
After the Assignment:
{!varDate}
is
1/15/2016
.
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Operator
add subtract
Description
Value is added, in days, to the selected Variable’s value.
Value is subtracted, in days, from the selected Variable’s value.
Supported
Data Types
•
Currency
•
Number
•
•
Currency
Number
Example
Before the Assignment:
{!varDate}
is
1/16/2016
.
Assignment:
{!varDate}
add
7
.
After the Assignment:
{!varDate}
is
1/23/2016
.
Before the Assignment:
{!varDate}
is
1/16/2016
.
Assignment:
{!varDate}
subtract
7
.
After the Assignment:
{!varDate}
is
1/9/2016
.
Date/Time
Replace a date/time resource with a new value (equals).
Operator
equals
Description Supported
Data Types
The date that you enter or select for
Value replaces the value of Variable.
•
Date
•
Date/Time
Example
Before the Assignment:
{!varDateTime}
is
1/16/2016
01:00
.
Assignment:
{!varDateTime}
equals
1/16/2016
08:00
.
After the Assignment:
{!varDateTime}
is
1/16/2016
08:00
.
Picklist
Replace a picklist resource with a new value (equals) or concatenate a value onto the original value (add).
Note: Before values are assigned or added to a picklist resource, they’re converted into string values.
Operator
equals
Description Supported
Data Types
What you enter or select for Value replaces the value of the selected picklist.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-Select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Example
Before the Assignment:
{!varPicklist}
is
Blue
.
Assignment:
{!varPicklist}
equals
Yellow
.
After the Assignment:
{!varPicklist}
is
Yellow
.
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Operator
add
Description Supported
Data Types
What you enter or select for Value is added to the end of the selected picklist.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-Select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Example
Before the Assignment:
{!varPicklist}
is
Blue
.
Assignment:
{!varPicklist}
add
-green
.
After the Assignment:
{!varPicklist}
is
Blue-green
.
Multi-Select Picklist
Replace a multi-select picklist resource with a new value (equals), concatenate a value onto the original value (add), or add a selection to the resource (add item).
Note: Before values are assigned or added to a multi-select picklist resource, they’re converted into string values.
Operator
equal
Description Supported
Data Types
What you enter or select for Value replaces the value of the selected multi-select picklist.
•
Boolean
•
Collection
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-Select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Example
Before the Assignment:
{!varMSP}
is
Blue
.
Assignment:
{!varMSP}
equals
Yellow
.
After the Assignment:
{!varMSP}
is
Yellow
.
add What you enter or select for Value is added to the last item selected in the multi-select picklist. It doesn’t create a selection.
•
•
•
Boolean
Currency
Date
Easily add items to a multi-select picklist resource by using the “add item” operator.
•
•
Date/Time
Multi-Select
Picklist
To add semi-colon-delimited items
•
Number to a multi-select picklist variable
•
Picklist with the “add” operator, always add
•
Text
Before the Assignment:
{!varMSP}
is
Blue; Green
.
This value includes two separate selections.
Assignment:
{!varMSP}
add
Yellow
.
After the Assignment:
{!varMSP}
is
Blue;
GreenYellow
. This value includes two separate selections.
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Operator
add item
Description Supported
Data Types
Example
a single space after the semi-colon and don’t include a space before the semi-colon. This way, you can compare the variable’s values to the values of a multi-select picklist field from the Salesforce database. For example:
; Yellow
What you enter or select for Value is added as a new selection to the end of the multi-select picklist. The
Assignment automatically adds “; ” before the new item. That way,
Salesforce reads it as a separate item selected by the multi-select picklist.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-Select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Before the Assignment:
{!varMSP}
is
Blue; Green
.
Assignment:
{!varMSP}
add item
Yellow
.
After the Assignment:
{!varMSP}
is
Blue; Green;
Yellow
. This value includes three separate selections.
sObject
Replace an sObject variable with a new value (equals).
Operator
equals
Description Supported
Data Types
Example
The sObject that you select for Value replaces the value of Variable.
sObject with the same object type
Before the Assignment:
•
{!account1}
contains field values for the Acme
Wireless account
•
{!account2}
contains field values for the Global Media account
Assignment:
{!account1}
equals
{!account2}
.
After the Assignment: both
{!account1}
and
{!account2}
contain the field values for the Global Media account.
Text
Replace a text resource with a new value (equals) or concatenate a value onto the end of the original value (add).
Note:
Before values are assigned or added to a text resource, they’re converted into string values.
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Operator
equals
Description Supported
Data Types
The text that you enter or select for
Value replaces the value of Variable.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Number
•
Multi-select picklist
•
Picklist
•
Text
Example
Before the Assignment:
{!varText}
is
Blue
.
Assignment:
{!varText}
equals
Yellow
.
After the Assignment:
{!varText}
is
Yellow
.
add The text that you enter or select for
Value is added to the end of
Variable.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Number
•
Multi-select picklist
•
Picklist
•
Text
Before the Assignment:
{!varText}
is
Blue
.
Assignment:
{!varText}
add
Yellow
.
After the Assignment:
{!varText}
is
BlueYellow
.
Operators in Flow Conditions
Use condition operators to verify the value of a selected resource. Conditions are used in Decision elements and Wait elements.
Use this reference, divided up by the data type that you select for Resource, to understand the supported operators.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Boolean
Check whether a Boolean resource’s value matches another value or resource.
Operator True if...
Supported Data
Types
Boolean does not equal equals
The value of the selected Resource doesn’t match what you enter or select for Value.
was set was visited
The value of the selected Resource matches what you enter or select for Value.
An outcome resolves to true if the flow interview took that outcome. A wait event resolves to true if all of the waiting conditions for that event are met.
Boolean
The value for Resource is a field in an sObject variable, and that field has been populated with a value in the flow at least once.
Boolean
The selected Resource is an element in the flow, and it has been visited during the flow interview.
Boolean
Choice
Every choice resource has a data type and obeys the operator rules for that data type. However, choice resources support one extra operator that other resources don’t, no matter what their data type is.
Operator True if...
was selected A user selected that choice or dynamic record choice in a screen choice input field.
If your flow references the same choice option in multiple screens, was selected always evaluates to the most recent screen that the flow visited.
If your flow references the same choice option with a user input in more than one place on the same screen, this operator always evaluates the first usage in the screen.
Supported Data
Types
Boolean
Collection
Check whether a Collection resource’s value contains or matches another value or resource.
Operator
contains
True if...
Supported Data
Types
An item in the collection that’s selected for Resource contains the exact same value as Value Varies
If the resource is an sObject collection variable, only sObject resources with the same object type are supported.
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Operator
does not equal equals is null
True if...
Supported Data
Types
Otherwise, only resources with the same data type are supported.
The collection that’s selected for Resource doesn’t match the collection that’s selected for
Value
Two sObject collection variables are unequal if they include different fields or if the fields have different values.
Collection
If the resource is an sObject collection variable, only sObject collection variables with the same object type are supported.
Otherwise, only collection variables with the same data type are supported.
The collection that’s selected for Resource matches the collection that’s selected for Value
Two sObject collection variables are equal if they include the same fields and those fields have the same values.
Collection
If the resource is an sObject collection variable, only sObject collection variables with the same object type are supported.
Otherwise, only collection variables with the same data type are supported.
The collection that’s selected for resource isn’t populated with any values Boolean
Currency and Number
Check whether a Currency or Number resource’s value matches, is larger than, or is smaller than another value or resource.
Operator True if...
does not equal
The value for Resource doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
Supported Data
Types
•
Currency
•
Number equals The value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Currency
•
Number
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Operator
greater than
True if...
The value of the Resource is larger than what’s entered or selected for Value
Supported Data
Types
•
Currency
•
Number greater than or equal
The value of the Resource is larger than what’s entered or selected for Value or is the same
•
Currency
•
Number less than less than or equal is null was set
The value of the Resource is smaller than what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Currency
•
Number
The value of the Resource is smaller than what’s entered or selected for Value or is the same
•
Currency
•
Number
Resource isn’t populated with a value Boolean
The value for Resource is a field in an sObject variable, and that field has been populated with a value in the flow at least once
Boolean
Date and Date/Time
Check whether a Date or Date/Time resource’s value matches, is before, or is after another value or resource.
Operator
does not equal less than or equal
True if...
The value for Resource doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value equals The value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Date
•
Date/Time greater than The value of the Resource is a later date or time than what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Date
•
Date/Time greater than or equal
The value of the Resource is a later date or time than what’s entered or selected for Value or is the same date or time
•
Date
•
Date/Time less than
Supported Data
Types
•
Date
•
Date/Time
The value of the Resource is an earlier date or time than what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Date
•
Date/Time
The value of the Resource is an earlier date or time than what’s entered or selected for Value or is the same date or time
•
Date
•
Date/Time
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Operator
is null was set
True if...
Supported Data
Types
Boolean Resource isn’t populated with a value
The value for Resource is a field in an sObject variable, and that field has been populated with a value in the flow at least once
Boolean
Picklist
Check whether a Picklist resource’s value matches or contains another value or resource.
Note: These operators treat the resource’s value as a text value.
Operator True if...
contains The value for Resource contains what’s entered or selected for Value
For example, if the value of
{!varPicklist}
is yellow-green
, the condition
{!varPicklist}
contains
green
evaluates to true.
does not equal
The value for Resource doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value equals The value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value
Supported Data
Types
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
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Operator
was set
True if...
Supported Data
Types
•
Picklist
•
Text
The value for Resource is a field in an sObject variable, and that field has been populated with a value in the flow at least once
Boolean
Multi-Select Picklist
Check whether a multi-select picklist resource’s value matches or contains another value or resource.
Note: These operators treat the resource’s value as a text value. If the resource’s value includes multiple items, the operators treat the value as one string that happens to include semi-colons. It doesn’t treat each selection as a different value. For example, the operators treat red; blue; green
as a single value rather than three separate values.
Operator
contains does not equal equals
True if...
Supported Data
Types
The value for Resource contains what’s entered or selected for Value
Tip: When you use this operator for a multi-select picklist resource, be aware of the values that a user can enter. If you want to check that a specific value is included and that value is also included as part of another value, create a flow formula resource that uses the INCLUDES function.
For example, your organization has a Color multi-select picklist value. Among the possible values are “green” and “yellow-green”. If both “green” and “yellow-green” are acceptable values, use the contains operator in a flow condition. If only “green” is an acceptable value, create a formula that uses the INCLUDES() function.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
The value for Resource doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
Note:
Order matters. If you aren’t sure which order the values that you’re checking for will appear in, use the INCLUDES() function in a flow formula. For example, if you compare “red; blue; green” to “blue; green; red” using the does not equal operator, that condition resolves to true.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
The value for Resource exactly matches what’s entered or selected for Value
Note: Order matters. If you aren’t sure which order the values that you’re checking for will appear in, use the INCLUDES() function in a flow formula. For example, if you compare “red; blue; green” to “blue; green; red” using the equals operator, that condition will resolve to false.
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
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Operator
was set
True if...
Supported Data
Types
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
The value for Resource is a field in an sObject variable, and that field has been populated with a value in the flow at least once
Boolean
sObject
Check whether an sObject resource’s value matches another value or resource.
Operator True if...
does not equal equals is null
The value for Resource doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
The value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value
Resource isn’t populated with a value
Supported Data
Types
sObject with the same object type sObject with the same object type
Boolean
Text
Check whether a Text resource’s value matches, contains, ends with, or starts with another value or resource.
Note: Before values are compared to a text resource, they’re converted into string values.
Operator True if...
contains does not equal
The value for Resource contains what’s entered or selected for Value
The value for Resource doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
Supported Data
Types
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
•
Boolean
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Operator
equals ends with
True if...
The value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value
The end of the value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value is null starts with
Resource isn’t populated with a value
The beginning of the value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value
Supported Data
Types
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Boolean
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select
Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
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Operator
was set
True if...
Supported Data
Types
The value for Resource is a field in an sObject variable, and that field has been populated with a value in the flow at least once
Boolean
Operators in Flow Record Filters
A flow record filter narrows the scope of records that the flow operates on. For example, use a record filter to update only the contacts that are associated with the Acme Wireless account. When you add a Record Update element, use the record filters to narrow the scope to just the contacts whose parent account is Acme Wireless.
Use this reference, organized by the data type of the field that you select, to understand the supported operators.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
External Lookup Relationship Fields
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Checkbox Fields
When you select a checkbox field under Field, these operators are available.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Operator
does not equal equals is null
Filters to records where the selected field’s value ...
Supported Data Types
Doesn’t match what you enter or select for
Value
Boolean
Matches what you enter or select for Value Boolean
Hasn’t been populated with a value yet (if you select True for Value)
Boolean
Visual Workflow
Tip: Flow treats null
as a different value than false
. If you filter for records whose checkbox field is null, no records are returned.
Currency, Number, and Percent Fields
When you select a currency, number, or percent field under Field, these operators are available.
Operator
does not equal equals greater than greater than or equal is null less than less than or equal
Filters to records where the selected field’s value ...
Supported Data Types
Doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Currency
•
Number
Matches what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Currency
•
Number
Is larger than what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Currency
•
Number
Is larger than what’s entered or selected for
Value or is the same
•
Currency
•
Number
Hasn’t been populated with a value yet (if you select True for Value)
Boolean
Is smaller than what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Currency
•
Number
Is smaller than what’s entered or selected for Value or is the same.
•
Currency
•
Number
Date and Date/Time
When you select a date or date/time field under Field, these operators are available.
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Operator
does not equal equals greater than greater than or equal is null less than less than or equal
Filters to records where the selected field’s value ...
Supported Data Types
The value for Resource doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Date
•
Date/Time
The value for Resource matches what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Date
•
Date/Time
The value of the Resource is a later date or time than what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Date
•
Date/Time
The value of the Resource is a later date or time than what’s entered or selected for
Value or is the same date or time
•
Date
•
Date/Time
Hasn’t been populated with a value yet (if you select True for Value)
Boolean
The value of the Resource is an earlier date or time than what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Date
•
Date/Time
The value of the Resource is an earlier date or time than what’s entered or selected for
Value or is the same date or time
•
Date
•
Date/Time
Picklist and Text Fields
When you select a picklist or text field under Field, these operators are available.
Operator
contains does not equal
Filters to records where the selected field’s value ...
Supported Data Types
Contains what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
Visual Workflow
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Operator
equals ends with is null starts with
Filters to records where the selected field’s value ...
Supported Data Types
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Matches what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Ends with what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Hasn’t been populated with a value yet (if you select True for Value)
Boolean
Begins with what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Multi-Select Picklist Fields
When you select a multi-select picklist field under Field, these operators are available.
Visual Workflow
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Tip: Be careful when using these operators to filter records based on a multi-select picklist field. Even if two resources have the same items in a multi-select picklist, they can be mismatched if these cases differ.
•
The spacing before or after the semi-colon. For example, one resource’s value is “red; green; blue” and the other’s value is
“red;green;blue”
•
The order of the items. For example, one resource’s value is “red; green; blue” and the other’s value is “red; blue; green”
For best results, use the INCLUDES function in a flow formula.
Operator
does not equal equals ends with is null starts with
Filters to records where the selected field’s value ...
Supported Data Types
Doesn’t match what’s entered or selected for Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Matches what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Ends with what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Hasn’t been populated with a value yet (if you select True for Value)
Boolean
Begins with what’s entered or selected for
Value
•
Boolean
•
Currency
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Operator
Visual Workflow
Filters to records where the selected field’s value ...
Supported Data Types
•
Date
•
Date/Time
•
Multi-select Picklist
•
Number
•
Picklist
•
Text
Flow Event Types
Event Type
drives the fields that you use to define an event in a flow Wait element. You can use a platform event, which you can fully customize. You can also use an alarm consisting of a date/time value—the base time—and an optional offset from that time.
The following applies to both types of alarms.
The base time, which is required, is the date/time value from which the alarm is based. If there’s no offset for the alarm, the alarm is set to the exact value of the base time. The base time can be composed of one or multiple fields, based on the event type that you choose.
The offset, which is optional, is the amount of time before or after the base time at which the alarm occurs. An offset is always composed of two fields:
Offset Number
and
Offset Unit
. For example, if you want your alarm to occur three days after the base time, the number is
3
and the unit is
Days
.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Flow Wait Event Type: Platform Events
If you’ve defined platform events in your org, you can choose that event as the
Event Type
in your wait event.
Flow Wait Event Type: Absolute Time Alarms
An absolute time alarm waits for a defined time that’s based off an absolute date/time value. For example, you can use this event type in a Wait element to do something a day after the flow interview starts to wait.
Flow Wait Event Type: Relative Time Alarms
A relative time alarm waits for a defined time that’s based off a date/time field on a record. For example, you can use this event type to do something three days before a contract ends.
SEE ALSO:
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Flow Wait Event Type: Platform Events
If you’ve defined platform events in your org, you can choose that event as the
Event Type
in your wait event.
When you configure a Wait element in a flow:
•
Define what the flow is waiting for
•
Assign information from the event after it occurs to flow variables
Event Conditions
The parameters for a platform event are the fields available on that event’s definition.
For an example of a flow that waits for a platform event, see
Sample Flow That Waits for a Platform
.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Event Outputs
Platform events return one output value: one sObject value for the entire published event.
Parameter
Event
Description Example
To reference data from the platform event in your flow, pass the event into an sObject variable. When you create the sObject variable, for Object select the event definition’s API name.
{!vendorResponse}
For example, to reference Expected Delivery Date from a Vendor Response event, pass the Vendor Response data to the {!vendorResponse} sObject variable. Then reference {!vendorResponse.Expected_Delivery_Date__c} to get the specific field value.
Flow Wait Event Type: Absolute Time Alarms
An absolute time alarm waits for a defined time that’s based off an absolute date/time value. For example, you can use this event type in a Wait element to do something a day after the flow interview starts to wait.
When you configure a Wait element in a flow:
•
Define what the flow is waiting for
•
Assign information from the event after it occurs to flow variables
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Event Conditions
The following parameters are available to define events with an
Event Type
of Alarm: Absolute
Time.
Parameter
Base Time
Description Example
A date/time value. If you enter values for
Offset Number
and
Offset
Unit
, this field value is the base for the offset.
{!$Flow.CurrentDate}
You can manually enter a date/time value or reference a merge field or flow resource.
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Parameter
Offset Number
Offset Unit
Description Example
Optional. The number of days or hours to offset
Base Time
. Required if you set a value for
Offset Unit
.The value must be a manually entered integer. You can’t use a merge field or flow resource for this value.
To set the alarm to occur before
Base Time
, use a negative number. To set the alarm to occur after
Base Time
, use a positive number.
-3
Optional. The unit to offset
Base Time
. Required if you set a value for
Offset Number
.
Manually enter
Days
or
Hours
. You can’t use a merge field or flow resource for this value.
Days
Visual Workflow
For an example of a flow that waits for an absolute time alarm, see
Sample Flow That Waits for a Single Event
.
Event Outputs
Reference information from the event in your flow by assigning its outputs to flow variables.
Parameter
Base Time
Event Delivery
Status
Description Example
The actual time at which the event occurred and the flow interview resumed.
11/26/2014 10:12 AM
The status of the event when the flow interview resumed. After an event occurs, Salesforce delivers the event to the flow that’s waiting for it, so that the flow knows to resume. Valid values are:
Delivered
•
Delivered: The event was successfully delivered.
•
Invalid: An error occurred during delivery, but the flow successfully resumed.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Wait Event Type: Relative Time Alarms
A relative time alarm waits for a defined time that’s based off a date/time field on a record. For example, you can use this event type to do something three days before a contract ends.
When you configure a Wait element in a flow:
•
Define what the flow is waiting for
•
Assign information from the event after it occurs to flow variables
Event Conditions
The following parameters are available to define events with an
Event Type
of Alarm: Relative
Time.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Parameter
Object Type
Description Example
The API name of the object whose field you want to base the alarm on. See
You must manually enter a string. You can’t use a merge field or flow resource for this value.
Contract
Base Date/Time Field
The API name for a date or date/time field on the specified object.
If you enter values for
Offset Number
and
Offset Unit
, this field value is the base for the offset.
Manually enter a string.
EndDate
Record ID
Offset Number
Offset Unit
ID of the record that the alarm is based on. The record’s object type must match
Object Type
.
You can enter a string, merge field, or flow resource.
{!ContractId}
Optional. The number of days or hours to offset
Base
Date/Time Field
. Required if you set a value for
Offset
Unit
.
The value must be a manually entered integer. You can’t use a merge field or flow resource for this value.
To set the alarm to occur before
Base Date/Time Field
, use a negative number. To set the alarm to occur after
Base
Date/Time Field
, use a positive number.
-3
Optional. The unit to offset
Base Date/Time Field
. Required if you set a value for
Offset Number
.
Days
Manually enter
Days
or
Hours
. You can’t use a merge field or flow resource for this value.
Visual Workflow
or
Sample Flow That Waits for Many Events
.
Event Outputs
Reference information from the event in your flow by assigning its outputs to flow variables.
Parameter
Base Time
Event Delivery
Status
Description Example
The actual time at which the event occurred and the flow interview resumed.
11/26/2014 10:12 AM
The status of the event when the flow interview resumed. After an event occurs, Salesforce delivers the event to the flow that’s waiting for it, so that the flow knows to resume. Valid values are:
•
Delivered: The event was successfully delivered.
Delivered
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Parameter Description
•
Invalid: An error occurred during delivery, but the flow successfully resumed.
Supported Objects
You can create a relative time alarm for any custom object or any of the following standard objects.
•
Account
•
Asset
•
Campaign
•
CampaignMember
•
Case
•
CaseComment
•
Certification
•
CertificationDef
•
CertificationSectionDef
•
CertificationStep
•
CertificationStepDef
•
Contact
•
Contract
•
ContractLineItem
•
DandBCompany
•
DuplicateRecordItem
•
DuplicateRecordSet
•
EmailMessage
•
Entitlement
•
EntitlementContact
•
EnvironmentHubMember
•
EnvironmentHubMemberRel
•
Event
•
ExternalEventMapping
•
FeedItem
•
Goal
•
GoalLink
•
Idea
•
IdentityProvEventLog
•
Lead
•
LiveAgentSession
•
LiveChatTranscript
Example
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•
LiveChatTranscriptEvent
•
LiveChatTranscriptSkill
•
Macro
•
MacroAction
•
MacroInstruction
•
Metric
•
MobileDeviceCommand
•
Opportunity
•
OpportunityLineItem
•
OpportunitySplit
•
OpportunityTeamMember
•
Order
•
OrderItem
•
Organization
•
PersonAccount
•
Product2
•
ProfileSkill
•
ProfileSkillEndorsement
•
ProfileSkillUser
•
Question
•
QuickText
•
Quote
•
QuoteLineItem
•
Reply
•
SOSSession
•
SOSSessionActivity
•
ServiceContract
•
SignupRequest
•
Site
•
SocialPersona
•
SocialPost
•
Solution
•
SsoUserMapping
•
StreamingChannel
•
Task
•
UsageEntitlementPeriod
•
User
•
UserLicense
•
UserProvisioningRequest
•
WorkBadge
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•
WorkBadgeDefinition
•
WorkCoaching
•
WorkFeedback
•
WorkFeedbackQuestion
•
WorkFeedbackQuestionSet
•
WorkFeedbackRequest
•
WorkFeedbackTemplate
•
WorkGoal
•
WorkPerformanceCycle
•
WorkReward
•
WorkRewardFund
•
WorkRewardFundType
•
WorkThanks
•
WorkUpgradeAction
•
WorkUpgradeCustomer
•
WorkUpgradeUser
•
articleType_kav
SEE ALSO:
Flow Types
A flow or flow version’s type determines which elements and resources are supported, as well as the ways that the flow can be distributed.
Standard Flow Types
The following flow types are supported in the Cloud Flow Designer.
Type Description
Flow Requires user interaction, because it has one or more screens, steps, choices, or dynamic choices.
This flow type doesn’t support wait elements.
A flow can be implemented with a custom button, custom link, direct
URL, Visualforce page, or Salesforce1 action.
Autolaunched
Flow
Doesn’t require user interaction.
This flow type doesn’t support screens, steps, choices, or dynamic choices.
Supported in
Translation
Workbench
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Type
User
Provisioning
Flow
Description
An autolaunched flow can be implemented any way that a flow can, as well as with a process action, workflow action (pilot), or Apex code.
Provisions users for third-party services. A user provisioning flow can only be implemented by associating it with a connected app when running the User Provisioning Wizard. Provisions users for third-party services. For example, use this flow type to customize the user provisioning configuration for a connected app to link Salesforce users with their Google Apps accounts.
Supported in
Translation
Workbench
Other Flow Types
Not all flow types are supported in the Cloud Flow Designer. Some flow types are used in other parts of Salesforce. You can’t create or edit these flows in the Cloud Flow Designer, so you don’t see them in the list of flows. However, the Paused and Waiting Interviews list on the flow management page can display interviews with one of these types.
For example, when you run a process (from the Process Builder), a flow interview is created. You can monitor that interview in the Paused and Waiting Interviews list by looking for the type “Workflow”.
Type Description Supported in
Translation
Workbench
Workflow
Transaction
Security Flow
A running instance of a process created in the Process Builder.
A flow used in the Transaction Security App.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Properties
A flow’s properties consist of its name, description, interview label, and type. These properties drive the field values that appear on a flow or flow version’s detail page. The properties of a flow and its flow versions are separate.
Tip:
The properties for a given flow’s versions automatically match the active version’s properties by default. In other words, if you have three versions and you activate version 2,
Salesforce updates the properties for versions 1 and 3 to match version 2. However, if you edit the properties for an inactive version, that version’s properties are no longer automatically updated to match the active version.
From the Cloud Flow Designer, click to update the properties for a flow or a flow version.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Property
Name
Unique Name
Description
Type
Interview Label
Visual Workflow
Description
The name for the flow or flow version. The name appears in the flow management page and flow detail page. It also appears in the run time user interface.
You can edit the name for inactive flows and flow versions.
The unique name for the flow. The unique name is used to refer to this flow from other parts of
Salesforce, such as in a URL or Visualforce page. A unique name is limited to underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores. The unique name appears on the flow detail page.
You can’t edit the unique name after the flow has been saved.
The description for the flow or flow version. The description appears in the flow management page and flow detail page.
You can edit the description for inactive flows and flow versions.
The type for the flow or flow version. The type appears in the flow management page and flow detail page. It determines which elements and resources are supported in the flow or flow version, as well as the ways that the flow can be implemented. For details, see
If the type is Login Flow, you can’t update the type after the flow has been saved.
The label for the flow’s interviews. An interview is a running instance of a flow. This label appears in:
•
The Paused and Waiting Interviews list on the flow management page
•
The Paused Interviews component on the Home tab
•
The Paused Interviews item in Salesforce1
You can edit the interview label for inactive flows and flow versions. By default, the interview label contains the flow name and the
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
system variable.
Use a text template to reference multiple resources in the label. For example,
Flow Name -
{!Account.Name} - {!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}.
SEE ALSO:
Sample Flows
Sometimes showing is better than telling. Check out these sample flows to get a feel for how to work with advanced things like Wait elements and collection variables.
Sample Flow That Populates a Collection Variable
Populate a collection variable by populating an sObject collection variable. Then individually assign the sObject collection variable’s values to the collection variable.
Sample Flows That Wait for Events
Configure a flow to wait for events in one of three ways.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Sample Flow That Loops Through a Collection
Transfer ownership of accounts from one user to another by using sObject variable collections and loops. The flow already has the required user IDs.
Sample Flow That Populates a Collection Variable
Populate a collection variable by populating an sObject collection variable. Then individually assign the sObject collection variable’s values to the collection variable.
EDITIONS
Scenario
In this scenario, you’re designing a flow to send an email to every employee who lives in San
Francisco.
The Send Email element allows you to easily send emails from a flow. However, the Recipients parameter only accepts text variables and text collection variables. Since multiple users live in San
Francisco, use a collection variable (rather than entering the email address for each individual user).
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
You can't use a Fast Lookup or Record Lookup to populate collection variables. First populate a User-based sObject collection variable with field values, including
, from the employees who live in San Francisco. Then add those emails to the collection variable.
Once the collection variable is populated, you simply use the collection variable as the value for the Send Email element’s
Addresses (collection)
parameter.
Example: This flow already contains these resources.
•
A User-based sObject collection variable called employeesInSF
•
A User-based sObject variable called loopVariable
•
A Text-based collection variable called emails_employeesInSF
The example flow:
1. Finds all user records whose
City
is "San Francisco" and populates employeesInSF
with those records’
.
Because employeesInSF
is an sObject collection variable, use a Fast Lookup element to populate the variable.
2. Loops through the sObject collection variable so that it can look at each individual user record. The loop copies the values of each item in employeesInSF
to loopVariable
.
3. For each iteration, assigns the user's
to a collection variable that has a Data Type of Text.
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4. When the loop ends, the flow sends an email to the users whose emails are now stored in emails_employeesInSF
.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Collection Variable Resource
Add Values to a Collection Variable
Sample Flows That Wait for Events
Configure a flow to wait for events in one of three ways.
Sample Flow That Waits for Many Events
This flow waits for many events to occur, rather than just the first event. The base times for these events are field values, so this example uses relative time alarms.
Sample Flow That Waits for Only the First Event
This flow waits for the first of multiple events to occur before proceeding. The base times for these events are field values, so this example uses relative time alarms.
Sample Flow That Waits for a Single Event
This flow waits for a single event. The base time for the event in this example, which is an absolute alarm, is the
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
system variable.
Sample Flow That Waits for a Platform Event
You’re designing a flow that places a supply order and waits for shipment confirmation from the vendor. Then it assigns an installation task the day after the supplies are expected to be delivered.
SEE ALSO:
Sample Flow That Waits for Many Events
This flow waits for many events to occur, rather than just the first event. The base times for these events are field values, so this example uses relative time alarms.
You’re designing a flow that reminds contract owners to follow up with their customers before the contract ends. Rather than sending just one reminder, however, the flow sends them regularly. This example shows how to use one Wait element to send a reminder two weeks before and then again one week before the contract ends. You could easily extend this flow to send reminders at more intervals, such as three days and one day before the contract ends.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Example
This flow already contains these populated variables.
•
{!contract}
is an sObject variable that contains the contract’s
Id
and
OwnerId
•
{!oneWeekVisited}
is a Boolean variable whose default value is
{!$GlobalConstant.False}
•
{!twoWeeksVisited} is a Boolean variable whose default value is
{!$GlobalConstant.False}
Before the flow executes the Wait element, it looks up and stores the contract’s
Id
and
OwnerId
.
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Because the flow sends the reminder emails both two weeks and a week before the contract’s end date, the Wait element defines two relative alarm events.
Tip:
Every alarm event consists of a base time and an offset. With relative time alarms, the flow needs three pieces of information to determine the base time: the object, the date/time field, and the specific record. The offset for relative time alarms works the same as it does for absolute time alarms. The flow needs to know the unit (either
Days
or
Hours
) and the number of those units. To wait for a number of days or hours before the base time, set
Offset Number
to a negative integer.
For both of these events, the offset is declared in
Days
, because weeks isn’t an acceptable offset unit.
The base time for the first event (“2 Weeks”) is the value of
Contract.EndDate
(1) on the record whose ID is stored in
{!contract.Id}
(2). The offset is -14 days (3) to represent two weeks.
You want to use the same Wait element for every reminder, so after a flow interview sends one email reminder, it returns to the Wait element. But first, to ensure that the interview doesn’t send the same email again and again, use waiting conditions. When an interview executes a Wait element, it first checks the waiting conditions for each event to determine whether to wait for those events. If an event has waiting conditions set and those conditions aren’t met, the interview doesn’t wait for that event.
For the first event, the interview checks whether the Boolean variable
{!twoWeekVisited}
is set to false. The variable’s default value is set to
{!$GlobalConstant.False}
, so the flow waits for the event until the variable’s value is changed.
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Indicate what the flow does when the “2 Weeks” event occurs by connecting the Wait element to other elements. Then, before you return the flow path to the Wait element, change the value of
{!twoWeeksVisited}
to
{!$GlobalConstant.True}
. You can do so with an Assignment element. If the value for
{!twoWeeksVisited}
isn’t false when the Wait element is executed, the flow doesn’t wait for the “2 Weeks” event to occur. Essentially, the interview checks whether the first event has occurred yet, since the variable is changed to true only in that event’s path. If that event has occurred (and the variable isn’t set to false), the interview knows not to wait for that event.
The second event (“1 Week”) has the same base time as the first event (4); the offset is -7 days (5) to represent a week.
For the second event, the flow checks whether the Boolean variable
{!oneWeekVisited}
is set to false. If it isn’t, the flow doesn’t wait for this event.
Like with the first event, use an Assignment element to change the value of
{!oneWeekVisited}
to
{!$GlobalConstant.True}
before the flow path returns to the Wait element. As long as
{!oneWeekVisited}
isn’t false, the flow doesn’t wait for the “1 Weeks” event to occur.
Tip: When a flow executes a Wait element and all the events have waiting conditions that aren’t met, the flow executes the default
event path. Because this flow is finished after it sends the final reminder, don’t connect the default path to another element.
Just in case something goes wrong, set a fault path. In this example, the fault path sends an email that contains the fault message to the user who created the flow.
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Sample Flow That Waits for Only the First Event
This flow waits for the first of multiple events to occur before proceeding. The base times for these events are field values, so this example uses relative time alarms.
You’re designing a flow that reminds account owners to follow up with their customers a week before either the account renews or the contract ends. The flow sends a reminder email for whichever date occurs first.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Example
This flow already contains these populated variables.
•
{!accountId}
contains the ID for the account
•
{!contractId}
contains the ID for the contract
•
{!accountOwner}
contains the ID for the account’s owner
•
{!ownerEmail}
contains the account owner’s email address
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Before the flow executes the Wait element, it looks up and stores the contract’s
ID
, its parent account’s
ID
and
OwnerId
, and the account owner’s
.
The Wait element defines two relative alarm events.
Tip:
Every alarm event consists of a base time and an offset. With relative time alarms, the flow needs three pieces of information to determine the base time: the object, the date/time field, and the specific record. The offset for relative time alarms works the same as it does for absolute time alarms. The flow needs to know the unit (either
Days
or
Hours
) and the number of those units. For both of these events, the base time is offset by -7 days, because weeks isn’t an acceptable offset unit.
The base time for the first event (“Week before account renews”) is the value of
Account.Renewal_Date__c
(1) on the record whose ID is stored in
{!accountId}
(2). The offset is -7 days (3).
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The base time for the second event (“Week before contract expires”) is the value of
Contract.EndDate
(4) on the record whose
ID is stored in
{!contractId}
(5). The offset is -7 days (6).
You only want to send one follow-up reminder and the flow always waits for both events, so neither of these events need waiting conditions. However, just in case something goes wrong, set a fault path. In this example, the fault path sends an email that contains the fault message to the user who created the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Wait Event Type: Relative Time Alarms
Flow Wait Event Type: Relative Time Alarms
Sample Flow That Waits for a Single Event
This flow waits for a single event. The base time for the event in this example, which is an absolute alarm, is the
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
system variable.
You’re designing a flow that requests feedback from customers after a contract is activated, but you want to delay the email by a day.
Example
This flow already contains the following populated variables.
•
{!customerEmail}
contains the email address for the customer
•
{!creatorEmail}
contains the email address for the flow’s creator
The flow activates a contract (1) and then waits (2).
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Within the Wait element, a single event is defined (1 day after activated). The flow sends the feedback request one day after the contract is activated, so use an absolute time alarm. The base time is the
{!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
system variable (3), and the offset is one day (4).
Because there’s only one event and you only want the feedback request to be sent once, don’t set any waiting conditions for this event.
However, just in case something goes wrong, don’t forget to set a fault path. In this example, the fault path sends an email that contains the fault message to the user who created the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Wait Event Type: Absolute Time Alarms
Sample Flow That Waits for a Platform Event
You’re designing a flow that places a supply order and waits for shipment confirmation from the vendor. Then it assigns an installation task the day after the supplies are expected to be delivered.
The vendor that you buy supplies from has set up a platform event for you to subscribe to. This event, called Vendor Response, includes the order number, order status, and expected delivery date.
Note: This flow is part of a larger example. It gets launched by a process that starts when a
Printer Status platform event occurs. For details about the process, see
The Order Printer Supplies flow starts when the Printer Management process launches it. The process populates the following variables in the flow.
•
{!assetId}
—The asset’s ID
•
{!assetOwner}
—The asset’s owner
•
{!inkManufacturer}
—The manufacturer of the printer’s ink
•
{!inkNeeded}
—Whether the printer needs more ink
•
{!inkType}
—Specific type of ink that the printer uses
•
{!paperNeeded}
—Whether the printer needs more paper
•
{!paperSize}
—Paper size that the printer uses
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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•
{!serialNumber}
—The asset’s serial number
First, the flow determines whether to order ink or paper. Based on the decision, it invokes Apex code to order ink or paper from the vendor. Then it waits for the vendor to send a platform event of type Vendor Response that says the order has been shipped. When
Salesforce receives the specified event, the flow resumes and creates a task for the asset’s owner to install the new supplies.
Decision Element
The decision includes two outcomes: Ink and Paper. The Ink outcome is true if the variable
{!inkNeeded}
is true. The Paper outcome is true if the variable
{!paperNeeded}
is true.
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Apex Elements
The flow includes two Apex elements that submit a supply order with a vendor but provide different information to it based on whether the flow executed the Ink outcome or Paper outcome. All the variables used for input values (like
{!serialNumber}
and
{!paperSize}
) are set when a process launches the flow.
The first Apex element provides information about which ink to order.
The second Apex element provides information about which paper to order.
In both Apex elements, after the class submits the order, it returns an order number. The flow stores that value in the
{!orderNumber} variable to use in the Wait element.
Wait Element
After the Apex class submits the supply order, the flow waits for confirmation that the order has been shipped. That confirmation is received through the Vendor Response platform event.
The flow waits for a specific Vendor Response. The order number must be the same as the order number that the Apex class provided.
And the order status must be Shipped.
When the correct event occurs and the flow resumes, the flow stores the event’s data in an sObject variable. That way, you can reference the expected delivery date to calculate when the supplies are scheduled to be installed.
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Record Create Element
When the flow resumes, it creates a task for the asset owner to install the new supplies.
For the task’s field values, the flow uses these resources.
•
{!installDate}
—A formula that calculates the day after the event’s expected delivery date.
•
{!taskDescription}
—A text template that gives more details about the installation.
•
{!assetOwner}
—Provided by the process that launches the flow
•
{!assetId}
—Provided by the process that launches the flow
Visual Workflow
Sample Flow That Loops Through a Collection
Transfer ownership of accounts from one user to another by using sObject variable collections and loops. The flow already has the required user IDs.
EDITIONS
First, create an Account-based sObject collection variable called it with all account records that John Smith owns.
collAcctJSmith
and populate Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Then create a loop that iterates through the collection. For each item in the collection, the loop does the following:
1. Assigns the collection item to the loop variable.
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
2. Evaluates whether the account has more than 10,000 employees.
3. If the account has more than 10,000 employees, assigns Madison’s user ID to the
OwnerId field in the loop variable.
4. If the account doesn’t have more than 10,000 employees, assigns Amber’s user ID to the
OwnerId
field in the loop variable.
5. Adds the loop variable’s values as a new item in a second collection called collReassignedAccts
.
Finally, create a Fast Update element to update the accounts in collReassignedAccts
with the new
OwnerId
after the loop finishes iterating through the collection.
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This section of the flow uses a single query to look up the list of accounts and a single DML statement to update those accounts. If you created a similar flow by using Record Update elements, you would use:
•
One Record Update element to find all accounts that John owns and have more than 10,000 employees (1 query). Then update those records’
OwnerId
to Madison’s Id (1 DML statement).
•
One Record Update element to find all accounts that John owns and don’t have more than 10,000 employees (1 query). Then update those records’
OwnerId
to Amber’s Id (1 DML statement).
Manage Your Flows
Use the flow detail page to do anything with your flow outside of designing it—such as activating a flow, testing it, or viewing its properties.
To visit a flow’s detail page, from Setup, enter
Flows
in the
Quick Find
box, select Flows, and then click a flow name.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
View information about a flow and its versions on the flow detail page, like its name and URL.
To modify a flow, open it in the Cloud Flow Designer.
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Test your flows before you activate them to make sure they’re working as expected.
Activate or Deactivate a Flow Version
You can have several different versions of a single flow in Salesforce, but only one version of each flow can be active at a time. To activate or deactivate a version of a flow, go to that flow’s detail page in Setup.
Delete a Paused or Waiting Flow Interview
If you no longer need to wait for a long-running flow interview to finish or for a user to resume a paused interview, delete the interview. For example, when you’re updating or deleting the associated flow version.
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To delete an active flow version, first deactivate it. If a flow has any paused or waiting interviews, it can’t be deleted until those interviews are finished or deleted. Flows that have never been activated can be deleted immediately.
Enable your users to pause a flow interview that they can’t finish yet by customizing your organization’s process automation settings.
A flow interview is a running instance of a flow. For example, a customer service representative can pause a flow interview when the customer doesn’t have all the necessary information.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Managing Flows
Flow and Flow Version Fields
View information about a flow and its versions on the flow detail page, like its name and URL.
Property
Active
Version
Description
Identifies which version is active.
Description
The description for the flow or flow version
Flow Name
Name
The name for the flow. It appears in the run time user interface.
The name for the flow version. It becomes the
Flow Name
when this version is active.
Namespace
Prefix
Type
Status
Unique
Name
URL
Version
The flow’s namespace prefix, if it was installed from a managed package. The
Cloud Flow Designer can’t open flows that are installed from managed packages.
Determines which elements and resources are supported in the flow or flow version, as well as the ways that the flow can be distributed. For details, see
Identifies whether the flow version is active or not.
Lets you refer to the flow from other parts of Salesforce, such as in Visualforce page.
The relative URL that you can use to run the flow, such as from a custom button or Web tab.
The number of the flow version.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
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Open and Modify a Flow
To modify a flow, open it in the Cloud Flow Designer.
You can’t save changes to an active flow version. You can, however, open an active version of a flow, modify it, and then save as a new version or a new flow.
1. From Setup, enter
Flows
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Flows.
2. Click the name of the flow.
3. Open the flow.
•
To open a specific version, click the Open link next to that version number.
•
To open the active version of the flow, click the Open button. If there isn’t an active version, the latest version opens.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open a flow in the Cloud
Flow Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Designing Flows
Activate or Deactivate a Flow Version
Test a Flow
Test your flows before you activate them to make sure they’re working as expected.
Warning: Be careful when testing flows that contain delete elements. Even if the flow is inactive, it triggers the delete operation.
We recommend that you test all possible paths through the flow, so that you can find and fix any errors before activating the flow. For example, incomplete data in the flow can cause a data element
(create, update, lookup, or delete) to fail at run time. Add a fault connector to a path that corrects the data and allows the flow to successfully finish.
1. From Setup, enter
Flows
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Flows.
2. Click the name of the flow you want to run.
3. Run the flow.
•
To run a specific version, click the Run link for that version.
•
To run the active version of the flow, click the Run button. If there isn’t an active version, the latest version runs.
•
To run a flow version from the Cloud Flow Designer, open that version and then click Run from the button bar.
Tip: If you recently modified the flow that you’re testing, save it. Only the most recently saved changes are included when you run a flow.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To run an active or inactive flow from the flow detail page:
To run a flow from within the
Cloud Flow Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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Once you’re confident that your flow is working as expected, activate the version that you tested and then distribute the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Activate or Deactivate a Flow Version
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Considerations for Running Flows
Activate or Deactivate a Flow Version
You can have several different versions of a single flow in Salesforce, but only one version of each flow can be active at a time. To activate or deactivate a version of a flow, go to that flow’s detail page in Setup.
When you activate a new version of a flow, the previously activated version (if one exists) is automatically deactivated. Any running flow interview continues to run using the version with which it was initiated.
1. From Setup, enter
Flows
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Flows.
2. Click the name of the flow.
3. Click Activate or Deactivate next to the relevant version of the flow.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Managing Flows
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To activate or deactivate a flow:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
Delete a Paused or Waiting Flow Interview
If you no longer need to wait for a long-running flow interview to finish or for a user to resume a paused interview, delete the interview. For example, when you’re updating or deleting the associated flow version.
1. From Setup, enter
Flows
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Flows.
If there are waiting interviews for any of your flows, the Paused and Waiting Interviews related list appears underneath the list of flows.
2. For each interview that you want to delete, click Del.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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Delete a Flow Version
To delete an active flow version, first deactivate it. If a flow has any paused or waiting interviews, it can’t be deleted until those interviews are finished or deleted. Flows that have never been activated can be deleted immediately.
1. From Setup, enter
Flows
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Flows.
2. Click the name of the flow.
3. To delete the flow completely, including all versions, click the Delete button.
4. To delete an individual version, click the Del link for that version.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Managing Flows
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To delete a flow:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
Let Users Pause Flows
Enable your users to pause a flow interview that they can’t finish yet by customizing your organization’s process automation settings. A flow interview is a running instance of a flow. For example, a customer service representative can pause a flow interview when the customer doesn’t have all the necessary information.
1. From Setup, enter
Process Automation Settings
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Process Automation Settings.
2. Select
Let Users Pause Flows
.
3. Click Save.
Screens don’t automatically display the Pause button once
Let Users Pause Flows
is enabled. If you want your users to be able to pause at a given screen, select “Show Pause button” when you configure that screen.
SEE ALSO:
Flow Screen Element: General Info
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To edit process automation settings:
•
Customize Application
Distribute Your Flow
After you’ve created and activated a flow version, distribute it to users so that they can run it. Which distribution method you use depends on the users that you want to distribute the flow to: internal users, external users, systems, or other orgs.
Tip: Users can’t resume paused flows from Lightning Experience, so we recommend removing the Pause button from flows that are distributed in Lightning Experience.
Internal users
•
Create a flow action, and add it to a page layout.
•
Distribute a flow URL directly or through a custom button, link, or web tab.
•
Embed the flow in a Lightning page, such as a record page or an Email Application pane, by using the Lightning App Builder.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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•
Add the flow as an item in your app’s utility bar.
•
Embed the flow in a Visualforce page, and give users access via a custom button, link, or Visualforce tab.
External users
•
Embed the flow in a Lightning Community.
•
Embed a custom flow Lightning component in an external app or page.
•
Embed the flow in a Visualforce page, and add that page to a community or portal.
Systems
Start a flow automatically by:
•
Using the Apex start()
method.
•
Using the Invocable Action resource in the Force.com REST API.
•
Adding a flow trigger workflow action to a workflow rule (Pilot).
•
Adding a flow action to a process in the Process Builder.
Other organizations
Deploy a flow with change sets or a package.
For details about distributing flows with each of these methods, see “Distribute Your Flow” in the
Visual Workflow Guide
.
Depending on how a flow is distributed, users see either the Classic runtime or Lightning runtime UI when they run the flow. Like its name suggests, Lightning runtime looks and feels like Lightning Experience.
When you distribute your flow via a URL, you can configure a number of things directly from the URL, including values for the flow’s input variables and what happens when the flow finishes.
Flows in Change Sets and Packages
Flows created in the Cloud Flow Designer can be included in change sets and packages. The recipient organization of either the change set or package must have Visual Workflow enabled.
SEE ALSO:
Set Flow Variables with the Flow URL
Visualforce Developer Guide: Render Flows with Visualforce
Managing Force.com Site Visualforce Pages
Flow Runtime Experiences
Depending on how a flow is distributed, users see either the Classic runtime or Lightning runtime
UI when they run the flow. Like its name suggests, Lightning runtime looks and feels like Lightning
Experience.
Here’s the same flow rendered in Classic runtime (left) and Lightning runtime (right).
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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Which Runtime Experience Do My Users See?
Flows that run from a Visualforce page always use Classic runtime. Flows that run from a Lightning page always use Lightning runtime.
All other methods depend on whether Lightning runtime has been enabled in your org’s Process Automation settings.
This table summarizes which runtime experience your users see based on how you distribute the flow.
Flow Distribution Method
Visualforce page
Custom button
Custom link
Web tab
Direct link
Lightning page
When Lightning Runtime for Flows is
Not selected Selected
Classic runtime
Classic runtime
Classic runtime
Lightning runtime
Classic runtime
Classic runtime
Classic runtime
Lightning runtime
Lightning runtime
Lightning runtime
Lightning runtime
Lightning runtime
SEE ALSO:
Choose Your Org’s Runtime Experience for URL-Based Flows
Considerations for Running Flows
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Customize Your Flow URL
When you distribute your flow via a URL, you can configure a number of things directly from the
URL, including values for the flow’s input variables and what happens when the flow finishes.
EDITIONS
Choose Your Org’s Runtime Experience for URL-Based Flows
Are you distributing a flow via a URL? That includes things like direct URLs and custom buttons, as well as links in Setup. You can flip one switch to upgrade all those flows to Lightning runtime.
Render Two-Column Screens from a Flow URL
When you distribute a flow using a URL, you can control whether to display the screens with one column or two columns. Two-column screens are supported only for orgs that have enabled
Lightning runtime.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Set Flow Variables with the Flow URL
When you distribute a flow using a URL, you can set variables within that flow using parameters in the URL.
Set Flow Finish Behavior with a Flow URL
By default, when a flow interview that uses screens finishes, a new interview for that flow begins, and the user is redirected to the first screen. If you want to redirect users to another page within Salesforce when they click Finish, use the retURL
parameter in the flow URL.
Choose Your Org’s Runtime Experience for URL-Based Flows
Are you distributing a flow via a URL? That includes things like direct URLs and custom buttons, as well as links in Setup. You can flip one switch to upgrade all those flows to Lightning runtime.
We have two flavors of runtime experience for your flow users. Classic runtime looks more like a standard Visualforce page. Lightning runtime fits right in with Lightning Experience. To see a comparison of the two runtime experiences, check out
To render all URL-based flows in Lightning runtime:
1. From Setup, enter
Process Automation Settings
in the
Quick Find
box, then select Process Automation Settings.
2. Select Enable Lightning Runtime for Flows.
3. Save your changes.
This setting also lets you control whether a flow displays in one or two columns if you distribute the flow via a URL or via a Lightning page.
When enabled, flows use Lightning runtime when they’re run from:
•
A direct link
•
A custom button or link
•
The Run button in the Cloud Flow Designer
•
A Run link on the flow list page
•
The Run button on a flow detail page
SEE ALSO:
Render Two-Column Screens from a Flow URL
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To edit process automation settings:
•
Customize Application
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Render Two-Column Screens from a Flow URL
When you distribute a flow using a URL, you can control whether to display the screens with one column or two columns. Two-column screens are supported only for orgs that have enabled
Lightning runtime.
Prerequisites
Enable Lightning runtime so that your flows respect the specified layout.
1. From Setup, go to Process Automation Settings.
2. Select Enable Lightning Runtime for Flows.
Format
To display a flow’s screens in two columns:
/flow/
flowName
?
flowLayout=twoColumn
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Examples
This example displays a “Case Management” flow in two columns.
/flow/Case_Management?
flowLayout=twoColumn
This example displays a “User Info” flow in two columns and sets the varUserFirst and varUserLast variables (both of type Text) to the running user’s FirstNameand LastName field values.
/flow/User_Info?varUserFirst={!$User.FirstName}&varUserLast={!$User.LastName}&
flowLayout=twoColumn
SEE ALSO:
Choose Your Org’s Runtime Experience for URL-Based Flows
Considerations for Two-Column Flows
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Set Flow Variables with the Flow URL
When you distribute a flow using a URL, you can set variables within that flow using parameters in the URL.
You can’t set the values for sObject variables and sObject collection variables using URL parameters.
If the flow uses Lightning runtime, you also can’t set the values for picklist variables, multi-select picklist variables, and collection variables of any data type. The variable must have its
Input/Output Type
set to allow input access.
These steps assume you’re using a relative URL in your org to direct users to the flow.
1. From Setup, enter
Flows
in the Quick Find box, then select Flows.
2. Click the name of the flow.
3. Copy the URL for the flow.
4. At the end of the flow URL, append
?
name=value
, where
name
is the unique name of the variable or collection variable in the flow that you want to set and
value
is the value you want to set it to. If you want to set multiple variable values, append
?
name1=value1&name2=value2
to the end of the flow URL. If you want to set the values for multiple items in the same collection variable, append
?
name=value1&name=value2
.
For example:
/flow/MyFlow?varNumber=100&varString=Hello
Here are the valid values for each flow variable and collection variable based on its data type.
Variable
Type
Boolean
Acceptable Values
•
Merge field of type Checkbox
•
True values: true
or
1
•
False values: false
or
0
Currency
Date
DateTime
Multi-Select
Picklist
Number
Picklist
Text
Merge field of type Number or a numeric value
Merge field of type Date or
YYYY-MM-DD
Merge field of type Date/Time or
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ
Merge field of any type or a string in this format: value1; value2
Merge field of type Number or a numeric value
Merge field of any type or a string
Merge field of any type or a string
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To view a flow’s detail page:
•
View Setup and
Configuration
To create and edit custom buttons, links, and Web tabs:
•
Customize Application
Note: When you distribute a flow, don’t pass a currency field value from a Salesforce record into a flow Currency variable with a URL parameter. When a currency field is referenced through a merge field (such as
{!Account.AnnualRevenue}
), the value includes the unit of currency’s symbol (for example, $). Flow variables of type Currency can accept only numeric
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Example: The following example is a flow URL that is used in a custom button on a case page layout. When a user clicks that button, the flow launches with the varID variable (of type Text) set to the case record’s
CaseNumber
field value.
/flow/Case_Management?varID={!Case.CaseNumber}
The following example sets the varUserFirst and varUserLast variables (both of type Text) to the running user’s
FirstName
and
LastName
field values.
/flow/User_Info?varUserFirst={!$User.FirstName}&varUserLast={!$User.LastName}
The following example is a flow URL that is used in a custom button on a contact page layout. When a user clicks that button, the flow launches and adds text values from the contact as items in the {!collNames} text collection variable.
/flow/Contact_Info?collNames={!Contact.FirstName}&collNames={!Contact.LastName}
SEE ALSO:
Set Flow Finish Behavior with a Flow URL
Set Flow Finish Behavior with a Flow URL
By default, when a flow interview that uses screens finishes, a new interview for that flow begins, and the user is redirected to the first screen. If you want to redirect users to another page within
Salesforce when they click Finish, use the retURL
parameter in the flow URL.
Format
To redirect users to a specific page in Salesforce after they click Finish:
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
/flow/
flowName
?retURL=
url
where
url
is a relative URL (the part of the URL that comes after https://yourInstance.salesforce.com/
or https://
yourInstance
.lightning.force.com/).
URL Options
You can't redirect flow users to a URL that’s external to your Salesforce org.
Tip: Use Salesforce Classic URLs. Lightning Experience URLs always redirect to the home page in Lightning Experience.
•
For Salesforce Classic URLs, Salesforce redirects your users to the right page in whichever Salesforce experience they’ve enabled —
Lightning Experience or Salesforce Classic. If the page doesn’t exist in Lightning Experience, Salesforce redirects the user to the page in Salesforce Classic.
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•
For Lightning Experience URLs, Salesforce always redirects your users to the home page in Lightning Experience ( one/one.app
), even if the user has Salesforce Classic enabled. Users who don’t have permission to access Lightning Experience see an error message.
•
If your URL redirects users to a web tab, Salesforce renders the web tab in Salesforce Classic.
•
Web tabs in Lightning Experience can redirect only to Visualforce pages.
Redirect Destination
Chatter
Home page
List view
Relative URL
_ui/core/chatter/ui/ChatterPage home/home.jsp
objectCode
?fcf=
listViewId
Example
_ui/core/chatter/ui/ChatterPage home/home.jsp
006?fcf=00BD0000005lwec
Object home page, such as Accounts home
objectCode
/o
Specific record, such as a contact, report, dashboard, user, profile, or Chatter post
recordId
Visualforce page
Web tab
001/o
0D5B000000SKZ7V apex/
pageName
apex/myVisualforcePage servlet/servlet.Integration?lid=
webTabId
servlet/servlet.Integration?lid=01rD0000000A88h
Limitations
•
You can’t use a flow variable as the value for the retURL
parameter. If you want to use a flow variable to redirect a user, such as to a specific record, distribute the flow by using Visualforce.
•
retURL
can cause nested top and side navigation bars to render on the destination page.
Examples
This flow URL redirects users to Accounts home, which exists in both Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic.
/flow/myFlow?
retUrl=001/o
When Lightning Experience users finish the flow interview, Salesforce redirects them to http:// yourInstance.lightning.force.com/one/one.app#/sObject/Account/home
. When Salesforce
Classic users finish the flow interview, Salesforce redirects them to http:// yourInstance.salesforce.com/001/o
. Either way, Salesforce redirects users to Accounts home in their respective experience.
This flow URL redirects users to a Visualforce page that exists only in Salesforce Classic.
/flow/myFlow?retUrl=apex/myPage
When users finish the flow interview, Salesforce redirects them to http:// yourInstance.salesforce.com/apex/myPage in Salesforce Classic. When they navigate away from the Visualforce page, Salesforce reverts to their original experience.
For instance, after viewing the Visualforce page, users navigate to the home page. For Lightning Experience users, Salesforce renders the Lightning Experience home page (http://
yourInstance
.lightning.force.com/one/one.app). For Salesforce Classic users, Salesforce renders the Salesforce Classic home page ( http://
yourInstance.salesforce.com/home/home.jsp)
.
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This flow URL sets the
varUserFirst
and
varUserLast
variables (both of type Text) to the running user’s
FirstName
and
LastName
field values. When the flow interview finishes, the user is redirected to the home page for whichever Salesforce experience is enabled.
/flow/User_Info?varUserFirst={!$User.FirstName}
&varUserLast={!$User.LastName}&
retURL=home/home.jsp
SEE ALSO:
Set Flow Variables with the Flow URL
Flows in Change Sets and Packages
Flows created in the Cloud Flow Designer can be included in change sets and packages. The recipient organization of either the change set or package must have Visual Workflow enabled.
Considerations for Deploying Flows with Change Sets
Before you use change sets to deploy a flow, understand the limits and unexpected behaviors that are related to component dependencies, deployment, and flow triggers.
Considerations for Deploying Flows with Packages
Flows can be included in both managed and unmanaged packages. Before you deploy one, understand the limitations and behaviors of packages that contain flows.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Installed Flows
Limits and Considerations for Visual Workflow
Considerations for Deploying Flows with Change Sets
Before you use change sets to deploy a flow, understand the limits and unexpected behaviors that are related to component dependencies, deployment, and flow triggers.
EDITIONS
Component Dependencies
•
If you plan to deploy a flow with change sets, consider limitations in migration support.
Make sure your flows reference only fields and components that are available in change sets.
•
When you view the dependent components for the change set, the Component
Dependencies page lists the dependencies for all versions of the flow. Add all interdependent components for the relevant flow version to the outbound change set.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
•
If a component is referenced by the following flow elements, the Component Dependencies page doesn’t display that component. To deploy the flow successfully, manually add those referenced components to the change set.
–
Post to Chatter
–
Send Email
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–
Submit for Approval
For example, if you deploy a flow that includes a Submit for Approval element, manually add the referenced approval process.
Deployment
•
You can include only one version of a flow in a change set.
•
An active flow in a change set is deployed to its destination as inactive. Activate the flow manually after deployment.
•
If the flow has no active version when you upload the outbound change set, the latest inactive version is used.
•
Deploying or redeploying a flow with change sets creates a version of the flow in the destination organization.
Flow Triggers
Flow triggers aren’t available in change sets.
The pilot program for flow trigger workflow actions is closed. If you've already enabled the pilot in your org, you can continue to create and edit flow trigger workflow actions. If you didn't enable the pilot in your org, use the
in Process Builder instead.
Considerations for Deploying Flows with Packages
Flows can be included in both managed and unmanaged packages. Before you deploy one, understand the limitations and behaviors of packages that contain flows.
Component Dependencies
EDITIONS
•
If you plan to deploy a flow with packages, consider limitations in migration support. Make sure your flows reference only packageable components and fields.
•
Referential integrity works the same for flows as it does for other packaged elements.
•
If any of the following elements are used in a flow, packageable components that they reference aren’t included in the package automatically. To deploy the package successfully, manually add those referenced components to the package.
–
Post to Chatter
–
Send Email
–
Submit for Approval
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
For example, if you deploy a flow that posts to a particular Chatter group, manually add the referenced Chatter group to the package.
Flow Status
You can package only active flows. The active version of the flow is determined when you upload a package version. If none of the flow’s versions are active, the upload fails.
Updating Packages
•
To update a managed package with a different flow version, activate that version and upload the package again. You don’t need to add the newly activated version to the package. However, if you activate a flow version by mistake and upload the package, you’ll distribute that flow version to everyone. Be sure to verify which version you really want to upload.
•
You can’t include flows in package patches.
Other Limitations
•
If you register your namespace after you referenced a flow in a Visualforce page or Apex code, don’t forget to add the namespace to the flow name. Otherwise, the package will fail to install.
•
If someone installs a flow from a managed package, error emails for that flow’s interviews don’t include any details about the individual flow elements. The email is sent to the user who installed the flow.
•
Flow triggers aren’t packageable.
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The pilot program for flow trigger workflow actions is closed. If you've already enabled the pilot in your org, you can continue
in Process Builder instead.
•
In a development organization, you can’t delete a flow or flow version after you upload it to a released or beta managed package.
SEE ALSO:
Considerations for Installed Flows
Why Did My Flow Interview Fail?
To troubleshoot a failed flow interview, use the flow fault email. You can also set up temporary
Screen or Send Email elements to identify the problem.
EDITIONS
Every time a flow interview fails, the admin who created the associated flow gets an email. The email includes the error message from the failure and details about every flow element that the interview executed.
Add Temporary Elements to a Flow
Add Screen or Send Email elements to the flow so you can check what the resources’ values are at any given time. Once you’ve solved the problem, delete temporary Screen elements.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
If you’re distributing a flow and the custom button, custom link, or a direct flow URL isn’t working as expected, verify the referenced flow. In addition, verify its variables if you’re passing values into a flow from the URL.
Emails About Flow Errors
Every time a flow interview fails, the admin who created the associated flow gets an email. The email includes the error message from the failure and details about every flow element that the interview executed.
Note:
This release contains a beta version of the flow error email that is production quality but has
known limitations . You can provide feedback and suggestions for the flow error email
on the IdeaExchange .
If the interview failed at multiple elements, the admin receives multiple emails, and the final email includes an error message for each failure. If a flow uses fault connectors, its interviews can fail at multiple elements.
Example:
An error occurred at element Apex_Plug_in_1.
List index out of bounds: 0.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
An error occurred at element Fast_Delete_1.
DELETE --- There is nothing in Salesforce matching your delete criteria.
An error occurred at element Email_Alert_1.
Missing required input parameter: SObjectRowId.
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Limitations of Emails About Flow Errors (Beta)
The email about errors in flow interviews has some limitations for Screen, Lookup, Create, and Subflow elements—as well as some general limitations.
SEE ALSO:
Limitations of Emails About Flow Errors (Beta)
Customize What Happens When a Flow Fails
Why Did My Flow Interview Fail?
Limitations of Emails About Flow Errors (Beta)
The email about errors in flow interviews has some limitations for Screen, Lookup, Create, and
Subflow elements—as well as some general limitations.
EDITIONS
Note:
This release contains a beta version of the flow error email that is production quality but has known limitations. You can provide feedback and suggestions for the flow error email on the IdeaExchange .
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
General
•
If the user who started the flow doesn’t have a first name, null
replaces the user's first name in the “How the Interview Started” section.
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
•
Variable assignments display in this pattern:
{!variable} (prior value) = field/variable (new value)
. If the variable had no prior value, the parentheses display as empty. For example:
{!varStatus} () = Status (Delivered)
•
If you install a flow from a managed package, error emails for that flow’s interviews don’t include any details about the individual flow elements. The email is sent to the user who installed the flow.
Screen elements
Password fields display in plain text, just like if you reference a password field in a Display Text field.
Lookup elements
The email displays lookup elements as “query” elements. Record Lookup displays as Record Query, and Fast Lookup displays as Fast
Query.
Subflow elements
•
The merge field annotation (
{!variable}
as opposed to just variable
) is missing for variables in a referenced flow. For example, when an interview enters a subflow and gives details about the inputs, the subflow's variable is subVariable instead of
{!subVariable}
.
•
If the error occurs in a referenced flow, the email gets sent to the author of the master flow, but the subject references the name of the referenced flow.
•
If you see multiple “Entered flow
ReferencedFlowName
version
ReferencedFlowVersion
” messages with no
“Exited
ReferencedFlowName
version
ReferencedFlowVersion
” messages in between them, the flow user navigated backwards. To prevent this scenario, adjust the navigation options in the first screen of the referenced flow so that the user can’t click Previous.
SEE ALSO:
Why Did My Flow Interview Fail?
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Add Temporary Elements to a Flow
Add Screen or Send Email elements to the flow so you can check what the resources’ values are at any given time. Once you’ve solved the problem, delete temporary Screen elements.
1. Create a single text template that contains the values of all resources and the fault message.
2. For each fault path, use the text template to configure one of the following elements.
•
A Screen element that uses the text template in a Display Text Field. (Only if the flow’s type supports Screen elements.)
•
A Send Email element that uses the text template as the body and your email as the recipient.
•
A Post to Chatter element that uses the text template as the message. Consider creating a
Chatter group specifically for flow errors.
3. Test the flow.
Example: Here’s a text template for the Calculate Discounts on Opportunities flow in the
Cloud Flow Designer Workbook.
RESOURCE VALUES for “Calculate Discounts on Opportunities” opptyID: {!opptyID}
AccountID: {!AccountID}
AccountRevenue: {!AccountRevenue}
Full_Discount outcome: {!Full_Discount}
Partial_Discount outcome: {!Partial_Discount}
Discount: {!Discount}
ERROR
{!$Flow.FaultMessage}
After each element in the flow, add a temporary Post to Chatter element. Each Post to Chatter element is configured to use:
•
The text template as the post’s message
•
The “Flow Troubleshooting” Chatter group as the post’s target
Configure the Record Lookup and Record Update elements’ fault connecters so that they route to the Post to Chatter elements.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To open, edit, or create a flow in the Cloud Flow
Designer:
•
Manage Force.com Flow
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This way, the flow posts to the Chatter group after the Record Lookup, Decision, Assignment, and Record Update elements are executed. Each post provides insight into the values of each resource throughout the flow. If the flow fails, the error is included in the Chatter posts.
After you identify and fix the problem with the flow, remove the temporary elements.
SEE ALSO:
Why Did My Flow Interview Fail?
Troubleshoot Flow URLs
If you’re distributing a flow and the custom button, custom link, or a direct flow URL isn’t working as expected, verify the referenced flow. In addition, verify its variables if you’re passing values into a flow from the URL.
To make sure that the URL can find the right flow, verify that:
•
The flow that the URL references hasn’t been deleted or deactivated.
•
The flow name is spelled and capitalized correctly. It must be an exact, case-sensitive match to the flow’s
Unique Name
.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
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If your flow URL references a specific flow version, verify that the version hasn’t been deleted or deactivated.
If you’re using the URL to pass values into the flow and the URL can’t access the variable, the parameter that references the variable is ignored.
To make sure that the URL can find the right flow variable, verify that each variable you’re trying to pass values into:
•
Is spelled and capitalized correctly. It must be an exact, case-sensitive match to the variable.
•
Allows input access. The variable’s
Input/Output Type
must be set to “Input Only” or “Input and Output.”
•
Hasn’t been renamed in the flow.
•
Hasn’t been removed from the flow.
•
Isn’t an sObject variable or an sObject collection variable.
In addition, make sure the value that you’re trying to pass into the variable is compatible with the variable’s data type and is correctly formatted.
SEE ALSO:
Set Flow Finish Behavior with a Flow URL
Set Flow Variables with the Flow URL
Why Did My Flow Interview Fail?
Flow Interviews
A flow interview is a running instance of a flow. A flow is an application built by your administrator that asks you for inputs and does something in Salesforce based on those inputs.
For example, a flow could provide a call script for customer support calls and use the information you provide to create a case. What the flow does with the information you provide is entirely up to your administrator.
When you run a flow interview, whether through a link, button, or tab, you're running a single instance of a flow. If the terminology is confusing, consider the difference between a record and an object. You create an account record, which is a single instance of the Account object that your administrator customized.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Note:
Keep these tips in mind when you run a flow.
•
Don't use your browser's Back or Forward buttons to navigate through a flow. Doing so can result in inconsistent data between the flow and Salesforce.
•
A single flow can have up to 50 different versions. When you run a flow, you see the active version, but your admin could have a more recent version.
If your administrator has configured a given flow to do so, you can pause its interviews. Pausing is useful, for example, when a call with a customer drops or the customer can't find their account number and plans to call you back.
If you paused a flow interview, resume it after you have all the necessary information.
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If you paused a flow interview and don’t plan to resume it, delete it. By removing unnecessary interviews, you make sure that your pending list includes only interviews that you still plan to act on.
SEE ALSO:
Pause a Flow Interview
If your administrator has configured a given flow to do so, you can pause its interviews. Pausing is useful, for example, when a call with a customer drops or the customer can't find their account number and plans to call you back.
1. In an open flow interview, click Pause.
2. Explain why you had to pause the flow.
This step is optional, but it helps differentiate between the different flow interviews that you've paused, especially if you paused multiple interviews of the same flow. This explanation can be up to 255 characters long.
3. Click OK.
The flow interview is saved until you resume or delete it later. Any valid values that you entered before you paused are saved with the interview, so you don't have to reenter that information when you resume.
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
SEE ALSO:
Resume a Flow Interview
If you paused a flow interview, resume it after you have all the necessary information.
Note:
If you pause an interview and the associated flow is updated before you resume, the resumed interview doesn’t use the updated flow. Instead, it uses the version of the flow that was active when you paused.
1. Go to a place that lists all of your paused flow interviews.
Depending on your administrator's configurations, you can find all the flow interviews that you've paused in one of these places.
•
"Paused Flow Interviews" on the Home tab in the full Salesforce site
•
"Paused Flow Interviews" in the left navigation in Salesforce1
If you paused a flow interview and can't find the place where you're supposed to resume the interviews from, contact your administrator.
2. Resume the appropriate flow interview.
If you entered values before you paused, all valid values are restored to those fields when you resume. If you don’t see something that you entered before you paused, that value was invalid and the flow didn’t save it.
USER PERMISSIONS
To pause a flow interview:
•
Run Flows
OR
Force.com Flow
User
field enabled on the user detail page
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To resume a flow interview:
•
Run Flows
OR
Force.com Flow
User
field enabled on the user detail page
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If you enter “Acme, Inc.” for a field that only accepts numbers and then pause, that field is blank when you resume the flow interview.
Warning: Once you resume a flow interview, that interview is removed from your Paused Flow Interviews list. If you resume an interview and then change your mind, click Pause. If you close the interview before pausing, you can’t resume the interview later.
SEE ALSO:
Delete a Flow Interview
If you paused a flow interview and don’t plan to resume it, delete it. By removing unnecessary interviews, you make sure that your pending list includes only interviews that you still plan to act on.
1. Go to a place that lists all of your paused flow interviews.
Depending on your admin’s configurations, you can find all the flow interviews that you've paused in one of these places.
•
"Paused Flow Interviews" on the Home tab in Salesforce Classic
•
"Paused Flow Interviews" in the left navigation in Salesforce1
If you paused a flow interview and can't find the place where you're supposed to resume the interviews from, contact your admin.
2. Delete the flow interview that’s unnecessary.
SEE ALSO:
EDITIONS
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To delete a flow interview:
•
Run Flows
OR
Force.com Flow
User
field enabled on the user detail page
Visual Workflow Terminology
The following terminology is used for Visual Workflow in Salesforce:
Cloud Flow Designer
Cloud-based application that lets administrators create a flow for use in Salesforce.
EDITIONS
Connector
Connectors determine the available paths that a flow can take at run time.
Element
Each element represents an action that the flow can execute. Examples of such actions include reading or writing Salesforce data, displaying information and collecting data from flow users, executing business logic, or manipulating data.
Available in: both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in: Enterprise,
Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Flow
A flow is an application that can execute logic, interact with the Salesforce database, call Apex classes, and collect data from users.
You can build flows by using the Cloud Flow Designer.
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