Add steps to a workflow
- All members (by default)
- Available on paid subscriptions
Workflows are automated multi-step tasks or processes – no coding required! – that start in your Slack workspace. They can run directly in Slack or connect with other tools and services.
Once you’ve completed your initial workflow setup, you’ll add and customise steps. Steps in your workflow will be followed in the order that you decide and can be used to collect or send information in Slack or between Slack and other services.
What you’ll learn
- What steps are and the types of steps that you can add to workflows
- How to customise steps with buttons and variables
- How to add steps to your workflow
Workflow steps overview
Steps are a series of actions taken to complete a workflow. Once your workflow starts, it will present the steps that you add in the order that you specify. There are three types of steps that you can add to workflows: messages, forms and steps from apps installed to your workspace.
Message steps
Send messages as part of your workflow to communicate information to the person who kicked it off, or others in Slack who need to take action from information submitted to a workflow. Message steps can be used to send direct messages (DMs) to certain people or post in a channel or thread. Messages in Workflow Builder support automatic message formatting and hyperlinks.
Form steps
Add forms to your workflow to organise and collect information. Forms can include space for custom responses or prompt people to choose options from a list. Once a form has been completed, you can choose to send responses to a channel or a specific person via DM.
Note: Form responses cannot be edited once they’ve been submitted via Workflow Builder.
Steps from apps
Some Slack app developers offer custom workflow steps for their apps. Steps from apps are unique and allow you to connect a workflow in Slack to other services in specific ways. In order to use an app's steps in Workflow Builder, you'll first need to add the app to your workspace, which may require admin approval.
When an app is added to your workspace, you can connect your account to take actions in another service without leaving Slack. Steps from apps are similar – by adding a step from an app to a workflow, you can send information collected by your workflow to another service or pull information from that service into Slack. Then, you can reference that information in additional steps of your workflow, or others can take action from the service – without anyone needing to copy any information between tools.
Keep in mind that app developers choose how the workflow steps for their apps work. In many cases, you can customise steps from apps after adding them to your workflow, but it’s not possible to modify the core experience that a step is designed to provide.
Note: If you don't see the option to add steps from apps, find an owner or admin to ask for help.
Workflow step library
When you’re ready to add steps to your workflow, you'll find and add them from the step library in Workflow Builder. You can search for specific steps, or browse all steps available for your workspace.
To view steps created by Slack (like message and form steps), click Built by Slack in the left column. Click your organisation’s name to see any steps available as part of custom apps built by members of your workspace. Select an app to view workflow steps created by that app’s developer.
Note: If an app is installed in your workspace and you aren’t seeing its steps in Workflow Builder, you may need to re-install or request approval for the most updated version.
Customise steps with buttons and variables
When adding steps to workflows, there may be times that you want to reference information submitted to your workflow (like a response to one of the questions in a form, or the name of the person who started the workflow). You may also want your workflow to pause at a certain step while the person using it takes a certain action or completes a particular task.
If you like, you can use buttons and variables to customise your workflow steps.
Buttons
When you add a button to a step in your workflow, the workflow won’t proceed until someone clicks the button. Buttons can only be clicked once per workflow, so we don’t recommend adding them to workflows that multiple people may need to use – for example, a scheduled date and time workflow that reminds a team of five people to share their daily status updates on a project.
Variables
Variables allow you to insert information from previous steps in your workflow in subsequent steps, giving you even more flexibility to personalise your workflows and connect information across various steps. The variables available to you will depend on how your workflow starts, who interacts with steps at various points and information passed into the workflow (like responses to a form). If you’re using any steps from apps, you may also be able to use variables unique to those steps.
Put what you’ve learned into practice
Follow the steps below to add steps to your workflow and customise them with buttons and variables, if you like.
Step 1: Add steps to your workflow
- Open your workflow in Workflow Builder.
- Click Add step to open the step library.
- Search for the step that you’d like to add, or select an option in the left column to choose a step from Slack or an app.
- Click Add next to the step that you’d like to use.
Step 2: Customise your steps
Add text and buttons or variables to message steps, set up custom forms and configure steps from apps if you’re using any.
Message steps
Form steps
Steps from apps
Basic step setup
- Below Send this message to, choose a channel or person from the drop-down menu.
- Add your message’s content in the Message text field.
- Click on Save.
Add buttons or variables
- Tick the box next to Include a button to add a button that people using your workflow can click to move on to the next step.
- Click Insert a variable to reference a variable in your message text. Variables will be highlighted in blue so that they’re easy to distinguish from other elements of your message.
- Choose a channel or person from the drop-down menu.
- If you like, click the pencil icon to edit the message and button text that will be delivered along with your form. Click Done when you’re finished.
- Enter a form title.
- Add a question to your form, and choose the question type from the drop-down menu. Click Add question to add more.
- Choose where completed responses to your form will be sent.
- Click on Save.
Tip: You can use responses to form questions as variables in any message steps that you add to your workflow after a form step.
What's next:
📍 Add steps to a workflow