Since day one, a significant differentiator for Salesforce Flows has been the ability to create custom interactive experiences within Flow Builder and expose them in the UI for users to input data. Previously, if admins and developers needed to work together to tailor a guided wizard using code, Screen Flows changed the way and speed at which such requirements are allowed. But did you know that Screen Flows now have much more to offer?
In this post, we’ll dive into how component reactivity is transforming Screen Flows into an ace that every Salesforce Admin has up their sleeve. And as a bonus, we’ve also included a handy infographic towards the end.
Why Even Consider Reactivity?
Reactivity within Screen Flows refers to certain components that can respond to real-time changes on the same screen – gone are the days when you had to add more screens than needed to achieve your desired process.
While conditional visibility was and still is helpful, reactivity within both components and formula resources is the next level of granular control over the entire experience.
In the past, such reactive single-screen behavior could have been achieved programmatically, but this meant developers had to spend more time on it while also making the update process cumbersome, as everything was controlled through the LWC.
At that point, the flow would have become a mere mechanism to orchestrate LWCs rather than adding anything valuable to the mix. By bringing reactivity into Screen Flows directly, Salesforce built a mechanism that is useful for both admins and developers:
- Admins can satisfy more complex requirements and alleviate the users from navigating what seems like an endless step-by-step form completion.
- Developers can focus their skills on building more reusable LWCs, rather than the previous monolithic ones, which might have been needed just to satisfy the need for reactivity.
In the end, what difference does one additional screen make? When it comes to the user experience and the speed of the process, quite a lot. Rather than allowing your carefully tailored flows to become a source of frustration for your users, put yourself in their shoes when completing a form by asking the following questions:
- Are all these fields necessary?
- Can any of the fields be calculated or inferred?
- Is there any information the user should know before proceeding?
- Are the instructions clean and detailed enough?
Screen Flow Reactivity in Action
Component reactivity is supported in API version 59.0 or higher, so before diving into the examples – especially if you will be updating existing screen flows – now is the time to check the API version!
In order to get the most out of your flows in general, checking and updating the API versions should be planned, or it could become the reason you’re not seeing newer features.
With this being said, let’s proceed with an example, which is probably one of the most common use cases for Screen Flows – input data to create records. More specifically, let’s look into creating Contacts, especially when duplicate rules are in use.
While in this specific simple scenario, there are not many fields involved, imagine how annoying the scenario below is for a Sales Manager, who:
- Spent time selecting the Account, and inputting the Name and Email,
- Proceeded by clicking the Next button, only to be met with a duplicate error,
- Navigated back to the previous screen, but since there was no indication of where the duplicate is or what to do next, the flow was just abandoned.
The above example is definitely not the desired experience, especially when the cost is not getting data into the CRM. Also, Contacts are not the only example; it could be about any object and any Screen Flow currently being used in your org. So the question is, how can reactivity improve such an experience?
Well, look at that! With a few changes, the exact same screen with a few fields can become a significantly friendlier experience, and remove the need for the Sales Manager to proceed by letting them know about the duplicate as soon as they input the email address.
This is however, only one of the changes – as ultimately, reactivity is meant to work together with other component features.
Here’s what changed:
- Duplicate check based on Contact email is performed on the same screen: This is a mix of an Autolaunched Flow invoked by the reactive Screen Action, and a Display Text component which displays the output variable from the Autolaunched Flow. Since Screen Actions can be conditioned as when to fire, this happens only when the Email is not blank. The red and green banners are achieved with SLDS-scoped notifications added into the output variable alongside the text.
- Account and Email are now required fields: Contacts should be related to Accounts, and as a Salesforce Admin, you know that the duplicate rules are dependent on the email address.
- First and Last Name are also required: Since Required is not a supported attribute for the Name component at this time, this can be achieved through the Validation Input section, which has also been reactive for a while. The user does not have to click “Next” anymore to see the error.
While the above Contact creation is only one example and a glimpse into what is possible within your screens, most out-of-the-box components fully support reactivity, with a few exceptions to note. This means that you don’t even have to overhaul the entire flow if it’s not needed and instead make small updates, which will make the user experience so much better.
One example can be showing record details in a more readable manner when a record is selected in a Data Table, your team may already be using. Instead of only leveraging the columns in the data table, why not fan out the key Opportunity information, let’s say, in a nicer format?
Another widely used reactive feature may be the ability to default dates with formulas, once again directly on the same screen. Building on the example above, if after reviewing the existing Opportunities a Sales Manager wants to create a new one, let’s make it happen!
In this particular scenario, the Close Date is required, but the Installation Date is optional. We know that an Installation Date should be suggested as one month from the Close Date. The component reactivity makes this seem like magic – as soon as the Close Date is input, the Installation Date appears as well.
This is a simple example of a formula, but worth noting that ADDMONTHS() is one of the supported functions, as it will come in handy in such cases.
When users need to create new records, make sure to take a look at the fairly new Repeater component as well! For Opportunities specifically, probably only one will be created at a time in most cases, but for Leads, on the other hand, allowing users to create multiple records by continuing to input data on the same screen could be an appreciated boost in productivity.
Considerations
As with any feature, there are many benefits but also some considerations to keep in mind before leveraging reactivity across your Screen Flows. A few of these are:
- Flow must have an API version of 59.0 or higher
- Components that have their output/input mapped need to have the same data type, and you can use formulas to convert them.
- Reactivity isn’t currently supported in cross-object formulas, and formulas are currently limited to 3,900 characters.
- Reactive changes do not trigger validations, which may be applied to custom components.
These may change over time, so make sure to keep an eye on the official documentation on help.salesforce as well.
Final Thoughts
Over the last few releases, Screen Flows have seen significant improvements, and it’s not looking like these are stopping anytime soon! From numerous components supporting reactivity from the get-go, to the newer Action Buttons and Screen Actions that can make input fields completion even faster, there’s no better time to dive into everything that you achieve within only one single screen than right now.
Have you already made use of component reactivity within your Screen Flow? Let us know in the comments below.
Speaking of releases, Winter ‘26 is just around the corner, so make sure to take a look at what our customary treasure hunt uncovered so far. Spoiler alert: new Screen Flow-related are not missing!
