Publishing flows as templates
Once a flow works the way you want, save it as a template so other companies in your tenant – or you yourself, on a different setup – can spawn copies of it without rebuilding it from scratch. Templates you save this way are private to your tenant: only your AutoFlow users see them.
Save a flow as a template
From any flow card, open Template → Save as template. A wizard opens.
The flow needs a Code first (see Flow Code and versions). The template is published under that Code, so it must not already be used by a public template or by another of your own templates. If it is, publishing is refused and the message names the template that uses the Code – give your flow a different Code, ideally with your own namespace, and try again.
Step 1 – metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | Shown in the gallery list. Must be unique within your tenant – the wizard checks as you type and rejects a duplicate before you continue. |
| Tagline | A one-line description shown next to the name. |
| Language | The language the template is written for (e.g. de-de, en-us). Helps users filter the list by their own language. |
| Version increase | Minor for improvements and fixes that keep the flow compatible, Major for changes users have to adapt to. When you publish a flow that is still on a 0.x version for the first time, Major is preselected, so the template starts at 1.0.0. |
| New version | The version the template is published under, worked out from the flow's current version and your choice above. It always ends in .0, for example 1.3.0. |
| Icon URL | Optional. A link to an image you want shown next to the template's name. |
| Usage | Optional. Longer notes for the user, shown in the Template Details factbox. Uses the same Markdown formatting described under Creating flows from templates. |
| Changelog | Pre-filled with a default first entry (## v1.0.0 – <today> and Initial version.); replace it with notes that explain what's in this version. |
Step 2 – app pre-requisites
The wizard suggests AutoFlow Core (and AutoFlow itself, if installed) as the minimum requirements. Add further apps via the lookup arrow on the App ID column – it opens a picker of every app currently installed on the tenant, so you don't have to know GUIDs. Each row has an inline Remove link if you need to drop one again.
App pre-requisites determine which tenants can use the resulting template: anybody whose installation is missing a required app, or has it at a lower version than the minimum, sees the template disabled with an explanatory message in the factbox.
Finish
Click Finish to upload the template. Your flow gets the same version number locally – for example 1.3.0 – and that version becomes the active version. When you edit the flow afterwards, the drafts continue as 1.3.1, 1.3.2, and so on, until you publish the next template version.
The flow card now shows Template → Update template instead of Save as template – it remembers the template you created from this flow, so the next save becomes an update of that same template. The flow card also shows which template version is currently applied; that's a handy reference if you ever need help from support.
A flow has to be published to be saved as a template – the gallery only ever holds the published version of a flow. If you're still on a draft, the wizard offers to publish first and then continues straight to the upload.
Update an existing template
If your flow is linked to one of your own templates, Template → Update template is shown instead of Save as template. The wizard:
- Pulls the gallery's current copy of your template before doing anything (so a stale local cache cannot mask conflicts).
- Pre-fills with the gallery's metadata. You pick the Version increase again, the changelog gets a new entry prepended above the prior history, and the name is locked – use Disconnect from template if you really want to rename.
- Warns you if the gallery has moved past the version this flow was based on. That happens when somebody updated the same template from another company or environment in the meantime. You can choose to continue (your version becomes the new one in the gallery) or cancel and first pull their version onto your flow with Update from template.
The new entry's heading is rendered as a Markdown title in the changelog factbox, so the history reads like a release-notes page – newest version on top.
Sharing a template with specific organisations
A private template does not have to stay inside your own organisation. If you are a partner, you can share one with individual customer organisations – they see it in their gallery, you keep control of it, and it never becomes publicly visible.
Sharing happens in the AutoFlow Portal: open Templates, pick one of your own templates, and use Share with organisations on the detail page.
- Only non-public templates can be newly shared. If the template is currently published, unpublish it first – while it is public, everybody can see it anyway.
- You can share with as many organisations as you like, one at a time. Each one appears in the list with a Revoke button.
- You can only share with organisations that have added your organisation as their partner. Organisations that have not are not offered in the picker.
- A share can be revoked at any time. The other organisation immediately stops seeing the template in its gallery; flows they have already created from it keep working and are not touched.
- A share outlives the partnership. If the partnership ends, the existing share stays until you revoke it – but you cannot create a new one for that organisation.
What the other organisation sees: the template appears in their gallery – in BC and in the portal – labelled Shared with me and showing your organisation as the publisher. They can use it, favourite it and create flows from it. They cannot edit it, publish it, or pass it on to anyone else.
Making a template public
If your organisation is enabled for the public gallery, you can make one of your private templates public with Publish to public gallery. Its Code must not be used by another public template. Private templates of other organisations never block a Code – only public ones do.
If the Code is already taken, the template stays private and the message names the public template that uses the Code. Change the Code on your flow, upload the template again with Update template, and then make it public.
Once a template is public, the Code of the flow it was made from is locked. Unpublishing the template frees its Code again.
Removing a template from the gallery
When a template is out of date, delete it: open it in the AutoFlow Portal under Templates and use Delete on the detail page, or open the AutoFlow Template Gallery in Business Central, pick the template and use Delete there. In BC the action is available to AutoFlow administrators.
You can only delete your own templates. What happens next depends on where the template stood:
- Private – it simply disappears from your gallery.
- Public – every AutoFlow tenant loses access to it.
- Shared with specific organisations – those organisations lose access. The confirmation tells you how many are affected before you commit.
In every case, flows that were already created from the template keep working unchanged – a flow is a copy, not a live link. Deleting also frees the template up against your organisation's template limit.
If you delete something by mistake, contact mse: the template is retained behind the scenes and can be restored.
Things to know
- Credentials never travel with the template. Only the names of the credentials a flow needs are part of the template. Whoever spawns a flow from it has to set their own values, the same way you set yours.
- Each upload is a new version. The gallery keeps the latest version only; older revisions live in the version history of your local flow, under the same numbers.
- Publishing to the public gallery is reserved for mse Software and for partner organisations we enable for it. See Making a template public. If your organisation is not enabled, you will not see a publish action – sharing with specific organisations (above) is available regardless.