What is a Flow

A Flow is an automated process. It reacts to an event and then runs through a series of steps — without anyone having to step in.

The empty state in the Flows area sums it up: Automate your work.

Structure

Every Flow is made up of steps, chained together by connections. There are three kinds, grouped that way in the editor too:

Kind	Tab	Role
Trigger	Trigger	The event that starts the Flow
Actions	Actions	What the Flow does
Helpers	Helpers	Control the flow of execution: branch, repeat, wait

Exactly one trigger per Flow

A Flow always has exactly one trigger. If one is already set, the editor reports This Flow already has a trigger and jumps straight to the Actions tab when you try to add another.

If the same process needs to react to multiple events, you need multiple Flows.

A simple example

Trigger: Entry via form
   ↓
Action:  Email  →  Confirmation to the person who signed up
   ↓
Action:  Update entry  →  Set status to "Confirmed"

As soon as someone submits the sign-up form, the Flow runs: confirmation email goes out, status gets set in the Grid. Done.

What can trigger a Flow

Six triggers are available:

Trigger	Starts when …
New entry	an entry is created in a Grid
Entry was changed	an existing entry is changed
Entry via form	a form creates a new entry
Entry changed via form	a form changes an entry
Webhook	an outside system sends a request
Show page	a page is opened and submitted

→ Trigger

What a Flow can do

Roughly four groups:

Work with your own data — create entry, update entry, load all entries of a Grid

Communicate outward — send email, send HTTP request, Slack, MS Teams, Firebase, HubSpot, SMS

Generate files and content — QR code, PDF to text, URL to PDF, import CSV file, speech to text, calendar entry

Interact with people — show page, create link to a page, prefilled form link

→ Actions

Controlling the flow of execution

Four helpers:

Router — Take different paths: branches the flow based on conditions
Parallel — Runs the following steps individually for each list element: the loop over a list
Merge runs — Waits for all list runs and then continues the flow
Wait — Pauses the flow for a set duration

→ Router and Parallel

Data flows from step to step

Every step can access the results of the previous ones. In the step editor, the hint Use values from previous steps leads to the selection.

That's the basic principle: the trigger delivers an entry, the first action works with it, the second uses its result, and so on.

→ Data between steps

Flow and run

Two terms that are easy to mix up:

The Flow is the blueprint — what you edit in the editor.
A run is a single execution. The interface calls this Previous executions.

Every run has its own status (Done, Error, Waiting), a duration, and a count of executed steps.

→ Run history

Where Flows live

Flows belong to a Space, not to a single Grid — even if their trigger refers to a Grid. You'll find them in the sidebar under Flows.

The editor has two tabs: Editor for building and History for past runs.

Number of Flows depends on your plan

How many Flows a Space may contain depends on your plan. Some particularly powerful steps are also reserved for the top plan and marked Pro in the editor.

Switching on and off

Every Flow has a switch. When it's set to off, the Flow and all its steps remain intact, but it no longer reacts to any event.

You'll find it in two places:

in the list under Flows, to the right of each entry
inside the Flow itself, to the right of the Editor and History tabs

A newly created Flow is switched on.

Switching off is the gentle brake

Before a large CSV import or when cleaning up a Kanban board, you don't need to rebuild the trigger — just switch the affected Flow off briefly and back on afterward.

Also useful while rebuilding a live Flow: as long as it's off, no half-finished configuration runs against real data.

Switching off also halts runs in progress

Runs that are currently in progress or waiting for page input are not resumed after switching off. They stay wherever they were.

Only people with the Manage role and the owner may operate the switch. With Edit and View, it's visible but not operable.

ApptiveGrid also switches a Flow off automatically if it fails on the same error three times in a row → Run history

When a Flow is the right tool

Task	Better suited
Send a confirmation after every sign-up	Flow
Show a value from a linked entry	Column type Use linked value
Sum up linked entries	Column type Calculate sum
Show only certain entries	Filter in a view
Report data to another system	Flow or Webhook
Model a multi-stage approval process	Flow with Show page

Calculation is not a Flow

For derived values within an entry, calculated column types are almost always the better choice: they update instantly, don't consume a Flow, and can't be interrupted by an error.

A Flow is worth it when something should happen — not when something should merely be displayed.

What is a Flow ​

Structure ​

A simple example ​

What can trigger a Flow ​

What a Flow can do ​

Controlling the flow of execution ​

Data flows from step to step ​

Flow and run ​

Where Flows live ​

Switching on and off ​

When a Flow is the right tool ​

Next ​