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Creating flows from templates

Use a template as the starting point for a new flow. The template gallery hosts both your tenant's private templates and the public ones curated by mse Software and selected partners – pick anything you can see in the list.

The list​

Open AutoFlow Template Gallery from the BC search. Each row shows:

  • Publisher – the company name of the tenant that uploaded the template. For your own private templates this falls back to your registered company name.
  • Shared with me – a template another organisation (typically your partner) shared with your organisation specifically. It is not public: only the organisations they picked can see it. Use it like any other template; the publisher keeps control of it and can revoke the share, which removes it from your gallery again. Flows you already created from it are unaffected.
  • Name and Tagline – a short identifier and a one-line description.
  • Language – the language the template was authored for (e.g. de-de, en-us).
  • Version – the gallery's current version of this template.

Select a row to see two factboxes:

  • Template Details – the rendered usage notes plus the pre-requisite status.
  • Changelog – the history of versions, newest first.

Create the flow​

Click Create flow from template on the row you want.

  1. The pre-requisites are re-checked. If something is missing or out of date, you'll be told which app and the action stays disabled until you fix it.
  2. For public templates a step-preview dialog opens. It lists every action in the flow plus the external endpoints they touch (HTTP request URLs, mail recipients, …). This is your chance to review what an unknown publisher's template actually does before it lands on your tenant.
  3. A new flow is created with the template's definition and the template's Code. The flow's description defaults to the template name; if a flow with that name already exists, a numeric suffix is added until it is unique.
  4. The flow card opens so you can adjust the description, fill in any missing credentials, and publish.

The new flow is never activated automatically. AutoFlow keeps the template version as a read-only Template reference (for example 1.3.0) and gives you a working draft with the next patch number (1.3.1). Review the draft and publish it yourself when it's ready. See Flow Code and versions for how the numbers work.

When a flow with the same Code already exists​

If a flow in this company already uses the template's Code, AutoFlow asks whether to overwrite it. The question names the template that flow is linked to, if it is linked to one.

  • Yes – no new flow is created. The existing flow gets the template as a new draft version and is linked to the template from now on. Its active version keeps running until you publish the draft.
  • No – nothing is installed.

If the existing flow was created from this very template, AutoFlow treats the install as an update instead.

The new flow is linked back to the template. The flow card shows the template version it was created from, and you get two follow-up actions:

  • Update from template – brings the flow up to the gallery's current version of the template, described below. If the gallery hasn't moved past the version you already have, the action tells you so and skips the update.
  • Disconnect from template – severs the link. Use this when you've customised the flow heavily and no longer want to track the template's updates. Disconnecting also unlocks the flow's Code.

Whatever happens during an update, the result is always a new draft. The active version keeps running until you publish the draft, and all older versions stay in the version history.

No local changes​

If you haven't changed the flow since you installed the template, the new template version simply becomes the new template reference and a new draft – for example reference 1.3.0 and draft 1.3.1.

Your changes and the template's changes are combined​

If you have changed the flow, AutoFlow compares three versions: the template reference you started from, your flow and the new template version. Changes on both sides are combined as long as they don't touch the same thing – you changed one step, the template changed another; you added a note, the template added a branch. Moving steps around on the canvas doesn't count as a change. AutoFlow tells you that the changes were combined; check the draft before you publish it.

Conflicts​

When you and the template changed the same thing, the Template update – conflicts dialog opens. Each row shows the step, the setting, your value, the template's value and the reason. A conflict is, for example:

  • the same setting of the same step was changed on both sides,
  • a step you changed was deleted in the template, or the other way round,
  • a step was moved to different places in the flow on both sides,
  • both sides added a new step with the same slug,
  • a step refers to another step that no longer exists.

Choose Overwrite local changes to make the draft exactly the template version – your local changes don't end up in it – or Abort to leave the flow as it is.

Flows created from a template before version numbers

Flows you created from a template before this release don't have a template reference yet, so their first update can't combine your changes with the template's. AutoFlow only offers to overwrite the local changes with the template (or cancel). From then on, updates of that flow are combined as described above.

Credentials​

A template never carries credentials. The flow only knows the names of the credentials it needs; the actual passwords, tokens, or API keys live on each tenant separately and are never uploaded to the gallery. After spawning the flow, open the AutoFlow Credentials page and fill in the values for whatever names the flow expects. Steps that need a credential you haven't set yet won't run – they tell you which one is missing when they try.

Formatting the Usage and Changelog text​

The two factboxes accept a small set of Markdown for the Usage notes and the Changelog:

  • Headings with ## … (large) and ### … (smaller).
  • Paragraphs, separated by a blank line.
  • Bullet lists with -, *, or +.
  • Bold, italic, inline code.
  • Links like [Click here](https://example.com).
  • Horizontal rules with --- on a line by itself – useful between changelog versions.

Everything else shows up as plain text. That includes images and embedded HTML, which the factboxes don't render – good to know when you're writing your own templates.