Flow / Admins / Developers

Your A-Z Guide to the Salesforce Flow Builder

By Tim Combridge

Updated January 06, 2026

I love Salesforce Flow. Every time the Salesforce release notes drop, I head straight to the Flow section because I know each major update will bring new features for Salesforce Flow – sometimes stacks of cool improvements around the UI, functionality, and overall productivity.

I’ve updated this A-Z terminology guide for all things Salesforce Flow to include over 100 terms related to our favorite declarative automation tool. Hopefully, you’ll find some value and pick up a new term or two!

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1. Action Elements

“Flow Actions simplify the Flow building process by making it easier to create flows that connect with and perform actions on third-party systems without requiring additional integration or code.” Arnab Bose, VP of Product Management for Quip, Salesforce

Actions add superpowers to your flows. There are a number of actions that are built in and ready for use out of the box, but you can also build your own actions using Apex or download packaged actions from the AppExchange.

2. Actions and Related Records

This type of Record-Triggered Flow allows you to make changes to related records and take additional action that fires after the record is saved to the database. This is also known as an After-Trigger Flow.

3. Activate a Flow

Can you believe that prior to Winter ‘20, you couldn’t activate a Flow from within the Flow? You’d have to jump back into the Setup Menu to activate that version. Thankfully, those days are behind us! Today, we’ve grown accustomed to activating our flows from inside Flow Builder.

4. Agentforce Actions (Flows)

Many people believe that Agentforce will replace Flow, but this is far from the truth! In fact, Agentforce leverages flows that already exist to take action on your data. Think of Flow like the tool that an agent will use, just like how it always has been a tool that humans use.

5. Apex Concepts in Flow

There’s a lot of discussion around whether Flow should be the tool of choice or a code-based solution like Apex. The truth is that it differs from one scenario to another: Flow is better at times, and Apex is better at other times. The good thing is that learning Flow teaches you the basic concepts that apply with Apex, and if you’re well-versed in Apex, then you know the core concepts of Flow as well. 

6. AppExchange Flow Solutions

Did you know that there’s a way to filter the AppExchange search results to provide Flow solutions? In the sidebar, simply head to the Solution Type section and check the Flow box.

7. Approvals App

Flow Approvals were introduced to replace the legacy Approval Processes, and the Approvals App is a Lightning App that gives them a home in the main Salesforce application.

8. Asynchronous Path

When building a Record-Triggered Flow, you can choose to add an asynchronous path. These can be used when there’s no time sensitivity to the actions that are being executed, or if you need to perform an action in an external system. 

9. Autolaunched Flows

Autolaunched Flows are a series of actions without a Trigger. Typically, these are called by other flows, Apex, REST API, and more. These flows don’t require direct user input and are run in the background.

10. Automation App

Salesforce Flow used to live exclusively in the Setup Menu. This all changed with the introduction of the Automation App in the main Salesforce application. The Automation App replaced the Automation Home (Beta) feature in Setup (which was removed entirely in Winter ‘26) and gives users with access the ability to see and monitor running flows, create new flows, or edit existing flows.

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11. Background Steps

Background Steps are Autolaunched Flows that run automatically as a step in a Flow Orchestration. This kind of step requires no user interaction. 

12. Before Save

When your Flow is triggered before save (i.e. in a Fast Field Updates Flow), anything you want to do to the record can just be assigned – you don’t need to do an update because the record is already on its way to the database. You’re just making a quick change to the variable data before it gets there! 

13. Bulkification

Bulkification is a term for the process of making sure your automations work with more than one record. Salesforce enables this by automatically bulkifying some Flow types (like Schedule-Triggered) and providing tools like Collection Variables, Sorts, Filters, Loops, and Transforms.

14. Business Process

Business Processes are the functions within a business that we can use Flow to streamline and automate. By clearly defining these processes, we are able to identify areas for Flow to automate, taking the responsibility for performing some of these tasks away from the business and giving time back in their day for more important things.

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15. Cloud Flow Designer

Before Flow Builder, there was Cloud Flow Designer. This was a flash-based web tool built by Salesforce that laid the foundation for the Flow we know and love today.

16. Collection Variables

If you need to handle multiple records at once, you’ll find yourself using a Collection Variable. Collection Variables are similar to lists or sets in Apex in that you can store multiple of the same kind of variable together in a single location. For example, a Collection of Lead Records or a Collection of Number Variables.

17. Components

Components are used to build up the Screen Elements in a Screen Flow. Examples of components include Display Text, Visual Picker, Segments, and Action Buttons. Custom components can also be created to extend your screens even further.

18. Constant

A Constant is a piece of information that you use throughout your Flow, similar to a Variable, except that it is set while building the Flow and cannot be assigned a value throughout like a Variable can.

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19. Data Table Component

The Data Table Component allows you to display variables in a tabular format in a Screen Flow. The first-party component does not currently allow you to edit the content of the table when running the Flow, but third-party options can be used to achieve this.

20. Debug Tool

Flow admins can use the built-in debug tool to make sure their flows are running correctly before leaving the Flow Builder. The Debug Details in the panel will show a step-by-step breakdown of what actions are occurring, which variables are being referenced, what calculations are running, etc. The Debug Tool makes it super easy to test your flows.

21. Decision Elements

Decision Elements give you the ability to take a different set of actions based on the context of your Flow. For example, if your Record-Triggered Flow supports Opportunity records that are Open, Closed Won, and Closed Lost, but you need to take different action based on the record that is triggering the Flow, you can use a Decision. 

22. Drag Selection

Drag selection functionality inside of Flow Builder makes the flow-building experience slick and engaging.

You can click and drag to select multiple flow elements on the Flow Canvas. This allows builders to use their mouse to select multiple elements on the screen with a marquee select tool.

23. Dynamically Display Elements

Dynamic visibility allows you to set criteria within your Flow Screens to display different components or information based on the context of the flow. For example, you may want to request different fields to be populated depending on the Record Type of the Case that comes through your Screen Flow.

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24. Elements

Elements are individual tiles that are used to create a flow. Depending on the type of flow you create, different elements are available for use. For example, if you’ve created a Screen Flow, the screen element will be available. Orchestrations offer Stages, Steps, and Decisions as main elements.

25. Entry Criteria

Entry Criteria are used to filter the records that will actually trigger your flow to run. Before we had entry criteria, the recommended approach was to create one Record-Triggered Flow per Object. This is similar to how Apex Triggers work today. With the introduction of Entry Criteria, we can now create multiple smaller flows to handle specific scenarios.

READ MORE: How Many Flows Should You Have Per Object?

26. Error Handling

When your flow runs into an issue, it can cause the end user to see an error. If you can anticipate these errors, you can handle them by means of custom errors or alternate paths in your flow. Part of best practice building in flow means ensuring you’ve handled any errors that you may come across correctly. 

27. Errors and Warnings Panel

The Errors and Warnings Panel will provide you with insights into the issues your flow has in a single place. Any errors or warnings that you’re facing while building your flow will appear here.

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28. Fast Field Updates

A Fast Field Updates flow allows you to make changes to the record that triggered the flow before it is sent to the database. To make these changes, you just need to assign new values and won’t need to use an Update element.

29. Filter and Sort Elements

The Collection Filter and Collection Sort elements let you better organize your collections by sorting them or filtering out variables that you don’t need. This can be particularly handy when you need to get multiple different collections of data from a single object using a Get Records, and you can use a Collection Filter to split them into different collections.

30. Flow Approvals

A replacement for classic Approval Processes, Flow Approvals are an orchestration-adjacent tool that allows you to conduct Approvals inside the Flow Builder instead of needing to use the clunky legacy Approval Processes menu.

31. Flow Builder

Flow Builder replaced Cloud Flow Designer back in Spring ‘19 – a welcome upgrade with a simplified toolset and cleaner UI, for those who were used to building in any of the new Lightning Builder tools (Process Builder, Lightning App Builder, even the Community Builder). It laid the foundations for what would become the most powerful declarative automation tool that Sales Cloud had to offer.

Flow Builder is built using modern internet technologies, unlike the previous Cloud Flow Designer (which was built on Flash and was not able to work on mobile devices).

32. Flow Trigger Explorer

If you’ve got multiple Record-Triggered Flows set up against an object in Salesforce (as you should, read more below), the Flow Trigger Explorer allows you to visualize these flows in the order that they run. 

Inside the Flow Trigger Explorer, you can change the object that you’re viewing and also the context that you’re viewing it in (Create, Update, or Delete). 

33. Flow Types

There is an ever-growing list of Flow types that you can create in Flow Builder. These are the key types of flows you can create:

  • Screen Flow: Guides users through screens that they can access with Salesforce, such as those in a Lightning page or community.
  • Scheduled Flow: Launches a flow in the background at a scheduled time and frequency.
  • Autolaunched Flow: Launches a flow in the background from another flow, a process, a button, or code such as Apex.
  • Record-Changed Flow: Launches a flow in the background when a record is created or updated.
  • Platform Event Flow: Launches a flow in the background when a platform event message is received.
READ MORE: Your Complete Guide to Available Flow Types in Salesforce

34. Formulas (Formulae)

Similar to how they function in tools like Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or even Formula Fields in the main Salesforce Application, Formulas (or Formulae) in Salesforce Flow allow you to calculate or construct output values based on some other variables.

For example, if you want to calculate the discount on an Opportunity based on a percentage, you can create a Formula that outputs the total amount based on a percentageDiscount variable and an opportunityTotal variable. 

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35. Get Records Element

Get Records is one of the ‘pink elements’ that represent a DML Statement, and should be used cautiously. This element will query the Salesforce database and get records out that match the specified criteria for use inside the flow. For example, if you have a Record-Triggered Flow that fires on an Opportunity and you want to assess some Opportunity Products, you can use a Get Records Element to gather all Opportunity Products where the OpportunityId value is equal to the triggering record’s Id. 

36. Global Constants and Variables

Global Constants and Global Variables are unique in that you do not create them yourself, but they’re consistent across every flow. Global Constants are things like True, False, or Blank Value (Empty String) and Global Variables are things like Running Flow, API, System, or Running User.

37. Governor Limits

It is extremely important to be aware of governor limits when building flows, as your automations need to be compliant and follow best practices to avoid issues. Governor Limits are the guardrails that are built to ensure you’re not taking up too many resources that are shared among the other tenants in your multi-tenanted instance, and are there to ensure that your automations are built to run efficiently. 

READ MORE: Complete Guide to Salesforce Flow Limits and How to Avoid Them

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38. Help Text

Help Text can be applied to components in a Screen Flow to give the user more context about the element of the screen they’re looking at. This is a way of giving your users some more information about the field without overcrowding the screen.

39. Home Tab

The Home Tab in the Automation App is where you can find rich information about your org’s flows. By default, this displays a List View of recently modified flows, a List View of errored flows, a call to join the Flow Community, and a link to learn more about Flow in Trailhead. 

40. HTTP Callouts

HTTP Callouts can be used to create basic communications between Salesforce Flow and an external system. Depending on the requirement, you can either send data to an external system or request data from the external system – it can be used to both push and pull data.

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41. IdeaExchange

Any time you have an idea about how Salesforce Flow should be improved, you can check the IdeaExchange to see if someone else has suggested the same thing. If not, then congratulations, pioneer! You can create your own new Idea and allow others to vote on it.

42. Input Variables

Variables that are marked as Available for Input can be set from an external flow, Apex method, or have data passed in from a button or Lightning Page. For example, if you create a Screen Flow that provides a summary of an Account that you want to embed into the Lightning Page, you can set either a text variable or an Account record variable as the input variable so that your flow knows to provide context about the right record.

43. Interviews

An interview is essentially an instance of a flow running. For example, let’s say a Flow Admin had created a Screen Flow that is called from an action on the account page. Each time that flow is started by the user clicking on the action, it creates a new flow interview.

A Flow Admin can allow a flow to be paused and resumed. This is helpful in situations where a user will start using a flow and may need to continue it later. 

44. IsBlank/IsEmpty/IsNull

IsBlank, IsEmpty, and IsNull are three states that you can check for in Salesforce Flow. Simply put, IsBlank and IsNull are similar, but IsNull doesn’t work well with text values, so you should be using IsBlank when you need to check if a variable has a value or not. IsEmpty is used to check if a Collection is empty. 

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45. Join

You can use the Transform element to join two source collections together into a single target collection. 

46. JSON

JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a text format that you may need to structure your data in or handle results in when working in Salesforce Flow for HTTP Callouts and some Apex Actions.

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47. Key-Value Pair

A key-value pair is a type of collection that is different from a list or set, as it indexes the value with a key each time. For example, in Apex, a Map is a key-value pair collection type. As of writing this, Flow doesn’t easily support a key-value pair variable, but there is evidence that Salesforce is heavily considering this in the near future.

48. Keyboard Shortcuts

Flow Builder supports a number of keyboard shortcuts that may make your time a little easier. Some common ones include zooming in (CMD OPTION + or CTRL ALT +) or out (CMD OPTION – or CTRL ALT -), selecting multiple elements on the canvas (Shift Click), or the ability to remove elements from the canvas (Delete).

49. Knowledge Base

If you’re looking for help with Salesforce Flow, there are several places you can go searching for help. Salesforce Help is one place, the Developer site is another, and there are also sections in the Architects site. You can also keep an eye on the Flow category on the Salesforce Ben website!

READ MORE: Salesforce Flow | Salesforce Ben

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50. Lightning Web Components

Developers can extend the functionality of Screen Flow by building custom Lightning Web Components that do things that native Flow doesn’t. There are countless LWCs that are available as open-source projects, too, like the many offerings on UnofficialSF

51. Lightning Web Runtime

Salesforce Flow has been available in LWR Experience Sites since the Summer ‘22 release, meaning you can display Screen Flows on your LWR sites, assuming they don’t have any Aura components in them. 

52. List View

You can create multiple List Views and customize the columns in each of them, just like every other List View throughout the platform. As small as this is, it makes a big difference to how admins manage their flows.

53. Loop Variables

A Flow Admin can use a loop element to repeat a set of actions almost infinitely. The loop is based on a collection of variables, and the actions will repeat for each of the records in a loop (or until the loop is broken).

A loop variable is an individual item from a loop that needs to be handled individually. For example, if the flow loops through a collection of lead records, then a single lead variable will be used as the loop variable. 

Flow Admins now have the option to have the loop variables automatically created when they create a loop (a huge personal peeve of mine was creating them manually). Let’s say you had a loop called ‘lead_loop’, Flow Builder will automatically create a resource called ‘Current Item from lead_loop’. The result? It will save you a ton of time and make it much easier for new Flow users to learn how to use the tool.

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54. Merge Field

When using the Send Email Action, you can (and probably should) use Merge Fields to provide context to the email that you’re sending from your flow. Merge Fields allow you to populate pieces of information like someone’s name, a product they purchased, or the date that their subscription expires.

READ MORE: How to Effectively Use the Send Email Action in Salesforce Flow: A Deep Dive

55. Metadata

Metadata is data about data (whoa, how meta!). When talking about metadata related to a flow, you could be referring to the active status, the Flow version, or it could be talking about the structure of the flow itself, such as logic, paths, and actions it takes.

56. Migrate to Flow

During the retirement period for Workflow Rules and Process Builder, Salesforce released a tool called Migrate to Flow that was used to (you won’t believe this) migrate your legacy automations to Salesforce Flow (mindblowing!). 

57. MuleSoft Integration

You can connect your flows to MuleSoft using a series of Actions. This makes MuleSoft integration super simple to set up and use when required.

58. Multi-Select Picklist Component

The Multi-Select Picklist Component empowers users to make a selection that may result in one or more options selected in a Screen Flow. 

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59. Named Credential

When setting up integrations with third-party tools that you use alongside your flow, you may find that you’ll need to create a Named Credential to facilitate the authentication of your integration. 

READ MORE: How to Set Up Persisting OAuth Tokens in Salesforce

60. Navigation Buttons

When users are progressing through a Screen Flow, they will use navigation buttons (Next, Back, Pause, or a relabelled variant of these) to progress between Screens.

61. Nested Loops

Nested loops allow you to iterate through two different Collection Variables using a loop within a loop. This may be for purposes like trying to match a variable from one collection with a variable in another, for example.

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62. Open Source Flow Components

There are stacks of fantastic solutions out there that can be used to extend your Flow functionality, and many of them are available as open source projects. UnofficialSF is one big repository of such open-source Flow components.

63. Orchestration Flows

A more complex Flow type that uses a combination of Stages and Steps to string multiple flows together through logical paths. While these may look similar to Approval Processes, they cannot replace them (well, not yet anyway).

READ MORE: What is Salesforce Flow Orchestrator?

64. Order of Execution

You should make a point to understand the order of execution that a record goes through when it is saved in Salesforce, as there are certain points along that path that a flow will have an impact on. To save you memorizing it, we’ve made a downloadable infographic that you can refer to.

65. Output Variable

When you’re creating and managing variables in a flow, you’ll have the ability to mark one as Available for Output. What this means is that you can send a variable OUT from your flow after it has run. This is useful when building modular Subflows that will perform repeatable tasks or calculations, and you want to return something into the flow that called it, for example.

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66. Pause Element

You can use the Pause Element to empower users to pause the flow based on specified conditions. Use this carefully to ensure the workflow isn’t interrupted or data isn’t lost. Pause was replaced by Wait (Number 96 on this list).

READ MORE: Salesforce Flow Pause Element: The Best Flow Feature You Haven’t Heard of Yet

67. Picklist Component

You can use a Picklist on a Screen Flow to allow your end users to make a selection from a list of options. Picklist only allows a single selection; if multiple are required, then use a Multi-Select Picklist (Number 58 on this list).

68. Platform Event-Triggered Flow

Similar to a Record-Triggered Flow, a platform event-triggered flow is activated by something that happens within Salesforce. Instead of this trigger being based on a record being created or edited, platform event flows are triggered when a platform event message is received. 

When the flow is created, it will subscribe to the specified platform event and wait until it receives a message. When that message is received, the flow will run.

69. Process Builder

Process Builder is a legacy declarative automation tool that has been replaced by Flow. It allowed you to configure a set of criteria that should be assessed, take action if true, and then assess the next set of criteria. 

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70. Query

A Get Records Element may also be referred to as a Query, as it performs a similar task that a SOQL Query would in Apex. You can query records from the database and expose them either to your end users in a Screen Flow or allow them to be used for processing in other non-interactive flow types.

71. Quick Action

A Quick Action can be used to call a flow from a button. Simply head to the Buttons, Links, and Actions section in Object Manager, click New Action, select Flow as the type, and pick the flow you wish to call. 

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72. Record-Triggered Flows

Record-triggered flows are the declarative equivalents of an Apex trigger. Essentially, this flow type will remain dormant until a specific change is made to a record. 

The ability to handle before and after events was previously not something a declarative tool could do and was reserved for Apex only. However, with the Spring ‘20 release, flows can now run before the record is saved. This is a huge step for Flow and will grant even more power to declarative users.

73. Resources

Flows are made up of two key pieces: the elements (the tiles that can be seen on the canvas itself) and the resources (the individual variables and constants that make up the data within those elements).

Resources aren’t just the variables that are captured or calculated; they’re also things like the various screen components (fields on a screen), choice options, decision outcomes, etc. 

74. Reactive Screen Components

Reactivity gives life to your Screen Flows by having them dynamically pass data to one another. This can be useful to display new information based on information collected from your user, or change how other elements of a Screen are displayed. 

READ MORE: Understand Screen Flow Reactivity in Salesforce + Infographic

75. Retirement Timeline

Not so much a feature of Salesforce Flow, but definitely something to be aware of as a declarative developer. It’s no surprise that Workflow Rules and Process Builder are joining Salesforce Classic over the rainbow, and this timeline gives a good overview of how long that process will take.

76. Rollback Mode in Flow Debugger

With rollback mode enabled in your Flow Debugger, any changes that are executed by your flow won’t be saved while you test it. This helps to keep your data clean and tidy while you create and test your flows. This is one of those tiny changes that will have a huge impact.

Simply check the box on the first screen of the debugger to enable it, and your database will remain 100% intact.

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77. Scheduled-Triggered Flows

Let’s say you’ve got a flow that needs to run every Thursday at 1 AM and you’ve been manually calling it to date… You can now schedule it to run every Thursday at 1 AM without using a single line of code!

78. Screen Actions

Screen Actions allow your Screen Flow to call a Subflow based on actions taken within a Screen. This eliminates the need for a user to click Next to trigger the Subflow and ensures that the latest data is always provided to the end user.

READ MORE: Salesforce Summer ‘25 Release: Enhance Your Screen Flows With Screen Actions

79. Screen Flows

Screen Flows are used when a user’s input is required to achieve a goal. This may be a new record-creation wizard, or a guided phone script, or performing a checklist of actions that update a hidden field on a record, just to name a few examples.

Screens can be customized to display text or images, or capture information from users in the form of text fields, lookup fields, and checkboxes, for example. 

80. Section Component

You can use Sections in a Screen Flow to group screen components together. This allows you to make some parts of the screen single-width, some have two columns, and others have up to 12 columns, depending on the need for that particular screen.

81. Send Email Action

The Send Email Action lets you send an email from within a flow, constructed within the flow, and to recipients specified within the flow itself. 

82. Stages and Steps

Stages and Steps are the building blocks used in Flow Orchestrations. This groups together the Subflows that the parent Orchestration calls and allows them to be assigned to individual users.

83. Subflows

Subflows are a form of autolaunched flow that can be called by a parent flow and is used to keep the user interface cleaner. Flow developers can build out repetitive functionality just once and use it across multiple flows. 

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84. Testing a Flow

One of the most critical steps when building a flow is testing it before exposing it to your end users by pushing it to Production. Testing ensures that the flow does what it needs to do and nothing more. You can also automate testing of Record-Triggered Flows.

READ MORE: How to Test Your Salesforce Flow

85. Text Template

You can use Text Templates in Flow as a larger text variable that can be used in your flow. Text Templates can also contain formatting, so they can capture and store rich text.

86. Toolbox

Now hidden for the sake of simplicity and better use of screen real estate, the “Toolbox” can be found by clicking on the icon at the top-left of the Flow Builder. The Toolbox is home to any resources and elements that you’ve built in the current flow.

87. Transaction

A Transaction is a set of operations that are executed in a single unit. Each interview of a flow runs inside a single transaction, so it is important to consider what this means for governor limits (Number 37 on this list).

88. Transform Element

The Transform Element is a newer function that allows you to map fields between different collection types, convert data between fields, and standardize your data without requiring multiple Loops.

READ MORE: The Transform Element in Salesforce Flow: Simplifying Data Mapping

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89. UnofficialSF

UnofficialSF is a repository of fantastic open source Flow components that you can install in your org and use in your flows. They’re well known for their Datatable component, as this was one of the only ways to embed a table in a flow before the native solution (and remains one way of adding an EDITABLE table).

90. Update Records Element

You can use the Update Records element to push changes from the flow into the Salesforce database. Keep in mind that you should use this sparingly, as it counts as a DML Statement (see Number 37 – Governor Limits). 

91. Utility Bar

You can expose a Screen Flow as an item in the Utility Bar and have it accessible throughout the Salesforce application. 

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92. Validate Input

When users provide a value in an input field, you may want to ensure that what they’ve done is correct or follows a specified format. You can use the Validate Input to make sure that a set of criteria will flag any issues that the input may have. 

93. Variables

Think of a variable as a box of information that can carry a value and be used throughout a flow. You know what a variable will be used for, but not necessarily the specific value that it will be.

For example, if you’re creating a Record-Triggered Flow and you want to take action on an Opportunity record, you don’t know exactly which Opportunity record when you’re building the flow – you just know it will be an Opportunity record. 

Variables give context to your automations and can be changed throughout the flow as well.

94. Version

When you make changes to an active flow and save it, it will automatically create a new version and retain the older versions. You are then able to see the history of the flow as it evolves (up to 50 versions). 

95. Visual Picker

Visual Picker is similar to radio buttons and other choice components except that it provides larger buttons with icons to create a more aesthetically pleasing selection option. These are great for when your choices should be the key focus on a screen. 

READ MORE: Summer ‘25 Release: Visual Picker Component for Screen Flows

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96. Wait Element

When you need to have your flow wait until criteria are met, a specified time has passed, or a specified date, you can use one of the three Wait elements.

97. Work Item

A Work Item is a record created by a Flow Orchestration when a task needs to be assigned to one of the involved users, groups, or queues. They are accessible from within the Orchestrator Work Guide component.

98. Workflow Rule

Workflow Rules were one of the first and most primitive declarative automation tools that Flow replaced. They followed a simple “if this, then that” model and allowed admins to automate basic actions on the platform.

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99. X-Axis Location

In a flow’s XML file, the locationX tag specifies where each element sits on the canvas X axis. This is the case any time you use Flow Builder in Freeform mode.

100. XML Format

Believe it or not, when you build a flow using clicks instead of code, you’re actually creating code behind the scenes. Flows are saved as XML (Extensible Markup Language) files.

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101. Y-Axis Location

In a flow’s XML file, the locationY tag specifies where each element sits on the canvas Y axis. This is the case any time you use Flow Builder in Freeform mode.

102. Yearly Releases

Flow is a beloved tool in the admin’s toolbelt, and Salesforce provides updates to it three times a year in the Winter, Summer, and Spring releases. These are jam-packed with new Flow features and quality of life improvements. 

READ MORE: Most Recent Releases | Salesforce Ben

103. Your Responsibility

Salesforce has not implemented anywhere near as many guardrails for Flow Builder as it has with other powerful tools like Apex. This means that it is your responsibility as a Flow Developer to ensure you follow best practices and build sound declarative automations. 

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104. Zero Code

Flow is a declarative automation tool; this means that you use clicks instead of code to automate business processes. Technically speaking, Flow does support the ability to work with code (Apex Actions, custom LWCs), but you can develop entire automations that have absolutely zero code at all.

105. Zulu Time

Zulu Time is another term for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). When schedule-triggered flows run, they operate based on your org’s default time zone, which is either plus or minus a certain number of hours from Zulu Time.

That one was a stretch. YOU try and come up with some more Flow terms starting with the letter Z! 

Final Thoughts

From basic functions to more complicated Flow Builder automations, I hope this ‘A-Z’ has provided practical guidance for Salesforce Flow enthusiasts.

What are some of your favorite Salesforce Flow features? Let us know in the comments.

The Author

Tim Combridge

Tim is a Technical Content Writer at Salesforce Ben.

Leave a Reply

Comments:

    Matt Allen
    February 09, 2022 4:24 pm
    Thanks Tim. What are your thoughts on Duplicate handling when using screen flows? It seems to be a large blocker stopping us from using the functionality. For example, we have a screen flow to create a Contact, but if it hits a duplication rule, the flow just fails with no explanation? Super frustrating. Have SF really built this without considering duplicate rules?
    Alex
    February 09, 2022 5:57 pm
    Hi. Great post. Thank you! FYI: the link under Dynamically Display Elements appears to be broken. This is the address from the link: https://releasenotes.docs.salesforce.com/en-us/winter20/release-notes/rn_forcecom_flow_fbuilder_conditionals.htm?edition=&impact=
    Wu Ming
    February 09, 2022 7:02 pm
    Has the dark mode feature been added back to the Salesforce Lightning Extension for Chrome that you linked to? Their overview page says "Dark mode is temporarily disabled" but it seems like it's been "temporarily" disabled for a couple years now :(
    Ben H.
    February 09, 2022 7:51 pm
    How did you get the dark mode to work in the Lightning Extension again? I had removed the extension altogether when it was disabled a few years ago. I just installed it again and it still says it's disabled for me.
    Kerry Haymore
    February 11, 2022 12:17 am
    Thanks for the article! The link within the "dynamically display elements" looks like it's displaying a 404 error.
    Christine Marshall
    February 11, 2022 10:17 am
    Thanks for letting us know. We've updated the link!
    Christine Marshall
    February 11, 2022 10:18 am
    Thanks for letting us know. We've updated the link!
    Tim Combridgd
    February 11, 2022 8:24 pm
    Hey Matt, cheers for reading! It certainly depends on the way your Flow is built and your business is run, but my suggestion (given the high level explanation) would be to check for duplicate records BEFORE trying to push them, then use a decision to either create a new record, or update an existing one (if this is your preferred alternate action). Hope this helps!
    Tim Combridge
    February 11, 2022 8:26 pm
    Hey Matt, thanks for reading! My suggestion given your high level explanation would be to do a check BEFORE trying to insert the record. Capture the fields on the screen, check to see if that record exists already, and then use a decision to either CREATE (if it doesn't) or UPDATE (if it does, and that's your preferred alternate action). Hope this helps!
    Tim Combridge
    February 11, 2022 8:29 pm
    Still "temporarily disabled" unfortunately! We've updated the post to include a temporary alternative which provides similar functionality in the meantime. Let's hope Salesforce gets a similar feature up and running soon! My personal speculation: I reckon Salesforce will bake a similar feature into the site WITHOUT the need for a Chrome Extension. This will extend it to Firefox/Safari, etc, and abides by their 'no software' creed a bit better than a Chrome Extension. Time will tell!
    Tim Combridge
    February 11, 2022 8:29 pm
    Hey Ben, We’ve updated the post to include a temporary alternative which provides similar functionality in the meantime. Let’s hope Salesforce gets a similar feature up and running soon! My personal speculation: I reckon Salesforce will bake a similar feature into the site WITHOUT the need for a Chrome Extension. This will extend it to Firefox/Safari, etc, and abides by their ‘no software’ creed a bit better than a Chrome Extension. Time will tell!
    Rafael Cunha
    March 31, 2023 5:15 pm
    Very good article, congratulations
    Maya
    April 07, 2023 12:26 am
    Very nicely explained each and every feature. Thank you so much!!!
    cubes 2048
    April 18, 2023 10:24 am
    What a detailed guideline! Thank you for your sharing.
    Kritik Arrify
    May 30, 2023 5:39 am
    Awesome work, Tim! Your detailed guide to the Salesforce Flow Builder is a must-read for anyone looking to become a Flow Builder expert. I really appreciate how you broke down the entire process from start to finish, covering all the essential concepts and features. The step-by-step instructions and clear explanations you provided make it easy to follow along and implement flows effectively. Thank you for sharing. Much appreciated!
    Hritik
    August 23, 2023 7:18 am
    Can we update the field of custom objects in record trigger flow. and what type of ID should we use to update a field. For Example when College email is updated then update related students email field