how to start a flow salesforce

How to launch a Salesforce Screen Flow from a button

• Configure your action. Let's assume for now that you've got a screen flow that handles the round-robin assignment and...
• Click it!. You're all set. Now it's time to see your action in... action. ... If you don't see the button, try the...
• Building the Screen Flow. We skipped right to the button part and just assumed...

Full Answer

How do I create a flow in Salesforce?

You get to Flows by going to Setup in your Salesforce org. On the home tab, search for "Flows". You'll find it under "Process Automation". Click it and you'll be taken to the Flow Listing. Like Process Builder, each Flow can have multiple versions and only one version can be active at any time.

What is going to happen to Salesforce flow?

This is a question that I’ve been wondering about, each time Salesforce announcements huge amounts of updates for Flow in every release. But my suspicious have been confirmed. At Dreamforce ’21, Salesforce announced that Workflow rules & Process Builders will be retired, and Flow will be the only declarative automation solution on the platform.

What are the best practices for building Salesforce flows?

When building Flows, I stick to a set of rules that are inspired by Salesforce best practice: 1. Do not hard code IDs. Salesforce IDs are unique to a specific org for the most part and as such should not be referenced directly. Instead, use a ‘Get Records’ component to dynamically find the necessary record and then use the returned ID. 2.

What is Salesforce flow builder?

Salesforce Flow empowers you to build complex business solutions using clicks, not code. Flow Builder is the most powerful tool that a Salesforce Admin has at their disposal, giving you similar powers that Salesforce developers have.

How do I launch a flow from process builder?

To launch a flow from a process, you must create and activate the flow. The flow must be autolaunched. Enter a name for this action....Set a value for the flow variable.For collection variables, use the text entry field to specify a value. ... For record variables, use the field picker to select an ID field.More items...

How do flows work in Salesforce?

A flow is the part of Salesforce Flow that collects data and performs actions in your Salesforce org or an external system. Salesforce Flow provides two types of flows: screen flows and autolaunched flows. To automate a business process that collects data from people, use a screen flow.

How do you trigger Autolaunched flow in Salesforce?

A schedule-triggered flow starts at the specified time and frequency for a batch of records. Configure the schedule trigger in the Start element of your autolaunched flow. Creating or updating a record can trigger an autolaunched flow to make additional updates to that record before it's saved to the database.

How do you make a flow?

Open Flow Builder. ... Select the flow type, then click Next.Select Freeform or Auto-Layout, depending on how you want to build your flow.Add the elements that you want to use to the canvas.If building in free-form, connect the elements to determine their order of execution. ... Save your flow.

How do you start a screen flow?

Click New Flow to open the Flow Builder canvas. Select Screen Flow, click Create....Build a Simple FlowFrom the canvas, click .Click Screen.For Label, enter My Screen.Under Configure Footer, select Hide Previous and Hide Pause.For Next or Finish Button, select Use the standard label.

How do I practice flows in Salesforce?

10 Salesforce Flow Best PracticesAlways Test Your Flows. ... Consider Using Subflows. ... Never Perform DML Statements In Loops. ... Document Your Flows. ... Never Hard Code Ids (Use Constants IF You Must) ... Plan For Faults (And Handle Them) ... Utilise Before-Save Flows for Same Record Updates.More items...•

How do I launch a flow from Apex?

For instance, to call flow from apex class, create an instance of an Interview object by using 'Flow. Interview. flowName'. It uses start() method to execute your flow.

How do you call a flow button in Salesforce?

Create a Custom ButtonFrom Setup, enter Flows in the Quick Find box, and then select Flows.Click the down arrow in the Calculate Discounts row, then click View Details and Versions.Copy the flow's URL from the Flow Detail page.Create the custom button. ... Configure the custom button's display properties.More items...

How do you call an Autolaunched flow?

The user can call only flow type Autolaunch via the Subflow element in Autolaunch flow, while the user can call the flow of both type auto-launch and screen via the subflow element.

How do I create a flow variable in Salesforce?

Create a VariableFrom Setup enter Flows in the Quick Find box and click Flows.Click New Flow.Select Screen Flow and click Create.From the toolbox, click Manager.Click New Resource.For Resource Type, select Variable.Enter an API name and description for your variable.Select the appropriate data type.More items...

How do I create a trigger flow record in Salesforce?

Create a Record-Triggered flow that automatically notifies an account owner when Closed-Lost Opportunities are deleted.Create the flow.Set the trigger criteria. Trigger the Flow When: A record is deleted. ... Add an action. ... Save the flow. ... Activate the flow.Test the flow.

How do I create a visual workflow in Salesforce?

Using Visual Workflow and process builder. Using Process builder....Enter Process name, Api name and the criteria as shown below.Step 1 : Creating Process. Click on Save button.Step 2 : Selecting Object. ... Step 3 : Adding Criteria.

How to get to flow in Salesforce?

You get to Flows by going to Setup in your Salesforce org. On the home tab, search for "Flows". You'll find it under "Process Automation". Click it and you' ll be taken to the Flow Listing. Like Process Builder, each Flow can have multiple versions and only one version can be active at any time.

What is resource flow?

Resources are things your Flow uses to get the job done. This is probably where a Flow most feels like programming. You can actually use resources to define custom variables, use formulas or even do complicated things in UIs. It's a lot.

How to update lead rating in flow?

Click the "Save" button at the top right of the Flow Builder . When prompted, set the Flow Label to "Update Lead Rating" and "Flow API Name" to "Update_Lead_Rating". It's also a good idea to enter a description so you'll know what you did. Click "Save".

What is an element in a flow?

Elements are "steps" in your Flow. They tell the Flow to do something. It could be to get a record that meets some criteria (the Get Record element), set the value of a field (Assignment) or even send a chatter message (one of many available Action elements).

Is flow more like process builder?

While Flow is a no-code tool, it's more like "programming" than Process Builder. Process Builder limits you to a "waterfall" approach of "if-condition-then-steps-else-next-condition". Flow, on the other hand, takes a much more free-form approach. You control the entire process. Think of it like making a flow chart that, instead of just defining a process, actually runs the process. You define the steps, the decisions, the logic, etc. It's a little bit more complex to learn, but it's very much worth it because Flow can do everything Process Builder can do - and way more.

Configure your action

Let's assume for now that you've got a screen flow that handles the round-robin assignment and it's all set up and activated. In our case, we've got a Screen Flow called "Assign Opportunity" that's all set up and ready to go. We'll cover a bit more about the Flow itself later in this post.

Click it!

You're all set. Now it's time to see your action in... action. Navigate to a record detail page and you should see your action translate into a button in the Lightning UI like so:

Building the Screen Flow

We skipped right to the button part and just assumed you have a working Screen Flow. If that's not the case, let's talk a little about how to set up your Flow for the use case above.

Wrapping up

With a few clicks, you can quickly add an action button on a record detail page that your users can use to kickoff context-aware, interactive Screen Flows and get more done. While our Screen Flow used Gradient Works Assignment, your Screen Flow can be any workflow you want to automate.

Hayes Davis

Hayes Davis is co-founder of Gradient Works. Previously, Hayes was SVP of Revenue Operations at Cision, where he ran a global team of 50 supporting nearly 600 sellers. He was also co-founder and CEO of Union Metrics until its successful acquisition by TrendKite in 2018. Hayes has a background in computer science.

See how we can help automate even more

The Gradient Works team loves Salesforce Flow. And we've spent hundreds of hours helping our customers automate their workflows with Flow. Can we show you?

What is Salesforce flow?

As a reminder, the official terms are: Salesforce Flow—the product that encompasses building, managing, and running flows and processes. Flow Builder—a point-and-click tool for building flows.

Why don't you start with a flow?

Instead, start with a process. If your business process needs more complex functionality than is available in Process Builder, create an autolaunched flow in addition to your process.

Top Tips for Salesforce Flows

When building Flows, I stick to a set of rules that are inspired by Salesforce best practice:

Some real-life Flowspiriation

From my own experience I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to Flows. Here are some of my top picks of the good:

Summary

Like all systems, there are limitations with Flows such as issues with Owner fields on Screen Flows and difficulties with parsing Multi-Select Picklist Values that it would be nice for Salesforce to resolve longer term.

Auto launched Flow (No Trigger)

As the name suggests, Auto launched Flows can be launched when invoked by Apex classes, process builders, or REST API. These flows are launched automatically based on specific events or conditions. Auto launched flows provide abstraction, as you can define the complex processes to be carried out in the background without a user knowing the details.

Auto launched Flow (Scheduled Flow)

On the other hand, as the name suggests, these flows only run from the specified time and frequency (once/ daily/ weekly) that the user sets. It provides Salesforce users the ability to run declarative logic on multiple records at a scheduled time.

About the Author

Keyuri Pophale is a 4x certified Salesforce Consultant and a team leader with experience of 5+ years. She is involved in client requirement gathering sessions and providing solutions including Sales cloud and communities.

How to Start a Before-Save Flow

To enable the before-save functionality in a flow, the first thing you need to do is double-click the start component. This will open the config window which allows you to change how the flow is initiated.

How to End a Before-Save Flow

In a normal flow, you have to use an Update Records element. In a before-save flow, you don’t get that option. So how do you make the actual update? You use the Assignment element in the flow! The key here is that you have to use the $Record system variable to relate the update back to the original record and appropriate field.

Configure Your Action

Click It!

• You're all set. Now it's time to see your action in... action. Navigate to a record detail page and you should see your action translate into a button in the Lightning UI like so: If you don't see the button, try the little dropdown arrow to the right of the buttons. Your action may be hiding in there. Click the button and your Flow will execute, s...

See more on gradient.works

Building The screen Flow

Wrapping Up