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Create a Flow Approval Process from Scratch
You can create flow approval processes in Flow Builder, including autolaunched flow approval processes from the Approvals app and autolaunched or record-triggered flow approval process from Setup.
Required Editions
| View supported editions for Flow Approval Processes. |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To open, edit, or create a flow approval process in Flow Builder: | Manage Flow |
Use the Approvals Lightning App to Create an Autolaunched Flow Approval Process
Open the Approvals app to create a new autolaunched flow approval process from scratch.
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On the navigation bar, click
.
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In the search box, enter approvals, and then select
Approvals.
The Approvals app opens.
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From the Approvals app, click Create Flow Approval
Process, and then click Start from Scratch.
Flow Builder opens.
Add elements and resources to your flow approval process.
Create a Flow Approval Process in Setup
Create autolaunched or record-triggered flows by clicking the New Flow button in Flows in Setup.
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Click
, and then select Setup.
- From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Flows, and then select Flows.
- In the Flows window, click New Flow.
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From the New Automation window, select the type of flow approval process to
create.
- To create a flow approval process that runs when a user manually submits a record for approval, search for and select Autolaunched Flow Approval Process (No Trigger).
- To create a flow approval process that runs automatically after a record is added or changed, search for and select Record-Triggered Flow Approval Process.
Flow Builder opens.
Add elements and resources to your autolaunched flow approval process. Or configure the start element of your record-triggered flow approval process.
Configure the Trigger for a Record-Triggered Flow Approval Process
Configure the Start element to control when a record-triggered flow approval process runs.
When a new record-triggered flow approval process opens, the Start element is selected, and the Configure Start panel is open.
- Under Select Object, select the object with records that trigger the flow approval process.
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Under Configure Trigger, select an option.
- To trigger the flow approval process only when a record is created, select A record is created.
- To trigger the flow approval process only when a record is updated, select A record is updated.
- To trigger the flow approval process when a record is either created or updated, select A record is created or updated.
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Set up condition requirements to limit when the flow approval process runs.
Condition Requirements When the Flow Approval Process Runs When None Always All Conditions Are Met (AND) All conditions are true. Any Condition Is Met (OR) At least one condition is true. Custom Condition Logic Is Met The custom condition is true.
If you select this option, provide the condition logic by entering up to 1,000 characters. Use:
- Numbers to refer to each condition
- AND, OR, or NOT to identify which combination of conditions must be true
- Parentheses to group parts of the string together
If you enter AND, it’s the same as if you selected All Conditions Are Met. If you enter OR, it’s the same as if you selected Any Condition Is Met. If you enter any other logic, make sure that you include a number for each condition.
For example, for 1 AND NOT(2 OR 3), the flow evaluates whether the first condition is
trueand neither the second nor third condition istrue.Formula Evaluates to True The formula evaluates to true.
If you select this option, use resources, functions, and operators to build a formula. See Create Formulas in the Flow Start Element Formula Builder in Creating Flow Formulas with Flow Formula Builder
- Save your work.
Add elements and resources to flow approval process.
Create a Flow Approval Process
Flow approval processes are made up of stage elements and decision elements. Stages contain at least 1 step. Approval and background steps call flows. Each stage can have a connected fault path that handles errors that the stage or steps within the stage encounters. Each flow approval process can also have a recall path that contains a single stage with background steps in it.
Every flow approval process requires at least 1 approval step. If a flow approval process contains no approval steps, approval submissions based on it are always approved. See Flow Approval Processes.
The structure of a flow approval process depends on whether its approval steps run consecutively or concurrently. See Record Locking in Flow Approval Processes.
Configure error handling for a flow approval process to prevent approval submissions from failing. For information about strategies to use for error handling in flow approval processes, see Error Handling in Flow Approval Processes.
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To add an element to a flow approval process, click
, select the element, and then enter a label, API name, and description.
- To add an element that stores steps in your flow approval process, select Stage.
- To add an element that determines which path to route the flow approval process to, select Decision. For information on configuring a Decision element, see Decision Flow Approval Processes Resource.
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To add steps to a stage, click Add Step, select the step type,
and then enter a label, API name and description.
- To add a step that interacts with approvers and their delegates, select Approval Step.
- To add a step that has no user interaction, select Background Step.
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Elements in a flow approval process are automatically connected to the next element.
A flow approval process can contain Decision elements and Stage elements, but there’s no
Loop element like there is for a flow. To repeat a sequence of one or more elements in a
flow approval process or to change which element runs next, use Go To connectors.
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To connect to a different element, after a decision or stage element, click
, and then click Connect to element.
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Click
on the element to go to.
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To connect to a different element, after a decision or stage element, click
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(Optional) To run steps when an in-progress flow approval process is recalled, add a
Recall path.
- Select the Start element, and then click Add Recall Path (Optional).
- In the Configure Start panel, click Add Recall Path.
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(Optional) To minimize failed approval submissions, use fault paths to add error
handing to your flow approval process.
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To add a fault path to a stage, on the stage card, click
, and then select Add Fault Path.
- Add stage and decision elements to the fault path. Stage elements on a fault path in a flow approval process can contain approval steps and background steps.
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(Optional) By default, a fault path finishes with an end element. To connect a
fault path or a decision outcome within a fault path to a stage or decision in the
main flow approval process, use Go To connectors. Click , and then click Connect to element, and then click
on the element to go to.
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To add a fault path to a stage, on the stage card, click
- Save your work.
After you create a flow approval process, test it to make sure that it’s working as you expect.
Add the Orchestration Work Guide component to the record page layout for the object with approvals managed by the flow approval process.
Activate your flow approval process.
A record-triggered flow approval process is now ready to go. For an autolaunched flow approval process, add a way for users to submit records for approval by using your flow approval process. See Make Autolaunched Flow Approval Processes Available to Users.
