Automation (Flow)

Flow lets you join steps from different tools into one recipe, start it with a button, and pick the best results as they arrive.

What it does

A flow is a map of steps on a canvas. Each step is a node: write a script, make a board, draw pictures, make clips, add a voice, save the result. You wire the nodes together and press Run all. The flow runs every step in order, shows the cost first, and stops to ask you when it needs a pick.

Every run keeps its own page with the results of each step. Finished files are saved to your Library under Flows.

When to use it

• You repeat the same chain often, for example idea, script, board, pictures and clips.
• You want a ready recipe, such as a thumbnail set or a festival post pack, without building it step by step.
• You want a person in the loop: the flow waits for your pick before it spends on the next steps.

For a single picture or video, use the tool itself. For one board you will fine tune by hand, use Storyboard. Automatic starts (a schedule, a festival, a new product) open after the launch, so today you start a flow yourself.

Step by step

Run a template

1. In the menu, open Automation (Flow). You see six tabs: My flows, Templates, Automations, Runs, Waiting for you and Apps.
2. Open Templates. Use the chips All, Storyboard, Content, Catalogue and Cross-tool to narrow the list. Each card shows the number of steps, the credits it needs and what you add, such as a photo.
3. Press a card. A new flow opens on the canvas.
4. Press a node and fill what it needs in the Inspector on the right: type a text, or press Pick from Library or Upload a photo. Upload a photo opens Assets, where you pick a picture or press Upload from device.
5. Look at the button at the bottom. It reads Run all with the estimate next to it.
6. Press Run all. The run page opens.
7. When a Waiting for you card appears, pick your favourite take and the flow carries on.

Screenshot coming soon

Build your own flow

1. On My flows, press New flow, or press Blank canvas when you have no flows yet.
2. Press the Space key or the slash key anywhere on the canvas to search for a node, or drag one from Nodes on the left.
3. Drag from an output dot of one node to an input dot of another to wire them. A flow has one Start node.
4. Press a node to set it in the Inspector. Fix any node that is marked.
5. Press Run all.

Pick a result

1. Open Waiting for you, or the run page.
2. Press a take, or press the keys 1 to 4 on your keyboard. Then press the main button under the takes, which reads Use take and the number you picked.
3. To let the flow go on without choosing, press Use suggested. To stop that branch, press Reject.
4. To change a take, open Redo with a note, write what should change, and press Make it again.

Screenshot coming soon

Every option explained

Flow home

Canvas

Inspector

Node name, Inputs (what is wired in), Settings, Direction for picture nodes, Lock result (keeps the last result even when inputs change), the cost of the node (Each item, Items, This node), Last run, Duplicate and Delete. On a phone the canvas is read only.

Nodes

What you see depends on your plan and on what is open for your account. A node that says it opens when its tool is ready cannot run yet.

Waiting for you card

Pick one, Approve all, Use suggested, Reject, Redo with a note. For approvals, the cost of making a take again shows on Make it again.

Run page

Shows who and when, the credit box (Spent so far, Held for next steps, Estimate), the picks waiting, and every step with its status. Buttons: Stop, Continue (after a pause) and Rerun failed items.

Who can use it

Free plan: not included. Pro plan: included.

On plans without Flow you see the tool under a lock bar. You can look at the templates, but building and running flows needs a higher plan. Your plan also limits the steps in a flow and the items in a run.

What it costs

Flow itself is free. Each step that makes something uses the credits of its own tool, and the canvas shows an estimate on Run all before you start. Credits are held only for the steps before the next pick, and given back for anything that fails. A Budget cap keeps a run under your limit.

Tips

• Start from a template and change one node at a time.
• Put an Approval or Pick node before expensive steps such as clips.
• Use Lock result on a picture you like, so a rerun does not spend on it again.
• Use Run changed only after small edits.
• Keep a Budget cap on while you are learning.

Common problems

"Add a Start node." Every flow needs one Start node. Add Start: Run all from the node list.

"A flow has one Start node." Delete the extra Start node.

"Fix the marked steps first." Press the marked nodes and fill what they need, then run again.

"Write what to make." A picture or video node has an empty prompt.

"Wires go round in a circle here." A node feeds itself. Remove one wire.

"This wire carries the wrong kind of thing." Wire a picture to a picture input, text to a text input.

"This input already has a wire." Remove the old wire first.

"Your plan does not include this category." Pick another category on the node.

"This category needs a photo in one of its slots." Add a reference photo.

"Skipped: the step before it did not work." Rerun the failed items.

"Nobody picked in time." The pick waited too long. Start the run again.

"Changed in another tab." Press Load the latest so you do not overwrite newer work.

"This took too long. Credits returned." Run the item again.

"Stopped by the safety check. Credits returned." Change the words or the picture and try again.