Flow
Flow is Salesforce's declarative automation tool that lets administrators and developers build complex business processes using a visual, drag-and-drop interface.
Definition
Flow is Salesforce's declarative automation tool that lets administrators and developers build complex business processes using a visual, drag-and-drop interface. Flows can collect user input via screens, create and update records, call Apex code, send emails, and make decisions based on data, all without writing code.
In plain English
“Imagine this: You know how a domino chain works? You push one and they all fall down automatically? Flow is like setting up dominoes in Salesforce. Once something happens (like a new customer signs up), a chain of automatic actions kicks off - emails get sent, records get updated, and tasks get created - all without anyone lifting a finger!”
Worked example
An admin at ClearPath Financial builds a Screen Flow that guides new customers through an onboarding questionnaire. The Flow collects the customer's preferences, creates a custom onboarding record, assigns a relationship manager based on the customer's portfolio size, and sends a personalized welcome email. The entire process takes two minutes instead of the previous 30-minute manual workflow.
Why Flow matters
Flow is part of Salesforce's declarative automation toolkit, which allows administrators and developers to streamline repetitive business processes. By automating manual work, teams reduce human error, accelerate cycle times, and free up people to focus on higher-value activities that require judgment and creativity.
Salesforce has been consolidating its automation tools around Flow, making this an important area to understand. Whether you are migrating from legacy tools like Workflow Rules or building new processes from scratch, understanding Flow helps you design scalable automations that can grow with your business.
How to set up Flow
Flow is Salesforce's low-code automation engine — the modern replacement for Workflow Rules and Process Builder. Setup lives under Flows; you pick a trigger type first, then drag elements onto the canvas.
- Open Setup → Flows
Top-right gear icon → Setup → quick-find "Flows" → click the result. The Flows list shows every flow in your org.
- Click New Flow
Top-right. The Flow type picker opens.
- Choose a trigger type
Record-Triggered (runs when a record is created/updated), Screen Flow (interactive UI for users), Scheduled (runs on a cron), Autolaunched (called from Apex/process), or Platform Event-Triggered.
- For Record-Triggered: configure Start
Pick the object, before-save vs after-save, entry conditions, and run order. Before-save is the fastest and cheapest — use it for same-record field updates.
- Drag elements onto the canvas
Get Records, Update Records, Decision, Loop, Assignment, Action (call Apex/email/etc.). Connect them with arrows.
- Debug, Save, Activate
Use the Debug button to dry-run with sample data. Save with a name and version note. Activate the version to make it live — only one version of a flow can be active at a time.
Record-Triggered (most common), Screen, Scheduled, Autolaunched, Platform Event. Choose carefully — type can't be changed after creation.
Before-save is ~10x faster and uses no SOQL — use it for same-record field updates. After-save is needed for related-record updates and external callouts.
Filters which records run the flow. "Run the flow when a record is updated to meet the condition requirements" stops the flow from re-firing on every update of an already-qualifying record.
When multiple flows on the same object trigger, run order (1–2000, lower runs first) decides who goes first. Default is alphabetical by API name — almost never what you want.
- Flows do all their DML at the *end* of the transaction — getting a record, updating it, then getting it again won't see your update inside the same flow. Use Assignment to mutate variables instead.
- Multiple record-triggered flows on the same object run in alphabetical order unless you set Run Order. Set Run Order on every flow to avoid surprises.
- Recursive triggers are off by default in newer orgs — toggle them carefully. Infinite recursion will blow Governor Limits in milliseconds.
How organizations use Flow
Built a Record-Triggered Flow that, when a Case's status moves to "Closed - Solved," creates a follow-up Task one week out, sends a CSAT survey, and updates the Account's customer-health score. The same workflow used to require an Apex trigger, two Workflow Rules, and a scheduled job; one Flow replaced all three.
Use Screen Flows on the Sales Console to walk reps through a structured discovery conversation - five screens, branching by industry, capturing answers to Opportunity custom fields. Reps can't skip questions, and the answers populate cleanly without free-text noise.
Run nightly Scheduled Flows to recompute Account-level fishing-quota allocations against this season's catch reports. The Flow processes ~12,000 Accounts in batches under governor limits and replaced a custom Apex job that was the on-call team's most frequent failure point.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Flow.
- FlowSalesforce Help
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Flow.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What type of Salesforce feature is Flow?
Q2. When should you consider using Flow in your Salesforce org?
Q3. What is the main advantage of using Flow over writing Apex code?
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