Workflow Designer Interface
Many of the operations described in this topic can be performed using keyboard shortcuts.
Overview
The main parts of Workflow Designer's user interface are as follows:
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Sidebar: The sidebar has the following options:
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Toolbox: The Toolbox contains activities that you can use to build workflows. To add an activity to a workflow, drag the activity from the Toolbox to the design surface and connect it to the flowchart. By default, the Toolbox shows every activity, both built-in and custom activities. When you configure the workflow's deployment settings, the Toolbox filters the list to only show activities that work in your chosen environments. Use the Toolbox's Filter function to find a particular activity. See Search the Toolbox for an Activity for information. |
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Tabs: Every workflow in Designer is on its own tab. Click the A workflow's tab shows the workflow's title. Beside the title is an icon—either Below the workflow's title are breadcrumbs that show your current depth within the workflow. Use the breadcrumbs to navigate up one or morel levels.
Breadcrumbs to navigate the workflow's levels |
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Design Surface: The design surface is where you design workflows. To design a workflow, drag activities from the Toolbox to the design surface, connect them into a flowchart, and configure their properties. The design surface has tools to zoom in |
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Properties Panel: The Properties panel shows the properties for the currently selected activity. Click an activity on the design surface to select it and view its properties. All activities have ID, Display Name, and Description properties. Most activities also have inputs (properties whose values you configure for the workflow to operate on) and outputs (properties that are given a value by the activity when it runs). The inputs and outputs for a particular activity are described on the page for that activity in the About the Activity Reference. |
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Navigator: The Navigator provides a quick way to navigate workflows. Click an activity in the Navigator to jump to the activity in the flowchart. For more information, see Navigator. |
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Problems: Click Problems to open the Validation panel. The Validation panel lists the errors and warnings for all open workflows. Click an error or warning to navigate the flowchart to the source of the problem. For more information, see Validation Panel. |
the workflow's URL. This is the URL of the workflow's item in ArcGIS. A workflow does not have an item and a URL until it has been saved.
to sign in or out of 
to switch to the designer for a different 
or 
—that you can click to close the workflow and its tab. The circle icon indicates that there are unsaved changes.
, zoom out 
, undo 
the last change to the flowchart, and redo 
the last change that you undid using the undo tool. 
File Menu
To open the File menu, click File in the sidebar. The File menu has the following options: New, Open, Delete, Open by URL, Save, Save As, Import, and Export.
File | New
The New option creates a new workflow based on a template. To create a workflow, click File | New, select a template, and click Create or press Enter. Alternatively, double-click the template. The new workflow is a copy of the template. You can save the workflow under any title you want.
To choose a template:
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Blank Workflow Template: Use the Blank Workflow template to create a blank workflow. Alternatively, you can click the
tab to create a blank workflow. -
Other Templates: The other templates contain workflows that perform common tasks. Use one of these templates if it performs a similar task to your workflow. For example, if your workflow will do reverse geocoding, use the Reverse Geocode template and adapt it to your needs.
If you are not sure if a template exists, browse or search the list of templates. The Search function searches the titles, summaries, and descriptions of workflow items in ArcGIS. To search for a template, type some text that you think might appear in the title, summary, or description in the Search box, and then click Search or press Enter.
As an alternative to using a template, you can base a workflow on an existing workflow by saving the existing workflow under a new title.
File | Open
The Open option opens an existing workflow. To open an existing workflow, click File | Open, select the workflow, and then click Open or press Enter. Alternatively, double-click the workflow. The workflow opens on a new tab in Designer.
You can open a workflow's item in ArcGIS from the Open panel: Click the workflow's action menu 
and select the option to open it in ArcGIS.
The Open panel has Search, Filter, and Sort functions to help you find a workflow:
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Search: To search for a workflow, type some text into the Search box and click Search or press Enter. The Search function searches the titles, summaries, and descriptions of workflow items in ArcGIS.
The workflow's title in Designer is the same as the item's title. Similarly, the workflow's description on the Info panel in Designer is the same as the item's description.
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Filter: There are several options to filter the list of workflows: My Content, Favorites, and Shared With Me. These correspond to the My Content (
), My Favorites (
), and My Groups/My Organization (
) areas in ArcGIS respectively. 
The Open panel's filter options correspond to locations in ArcGIS
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My Content: The My Content option lists workflows whose items are in your My Content area in ArcGIS. This option is the default.
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Favorites: The Favorites option lists workflows whose items are in your My Favorites area in ArcGIS. To add a workflow to your list of favorites, open the workflow's item in ArcGIS and click
Add to Favorites. -
Shared With Me: The Shared With Me option lists workflows whose items are in your My Groups or My Organization area in ArcGIS. These workflows have been shared with you by another Workflow author in your organization.
Add a workflow to your favorites in ArcGIS
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Sort: There are several options to sort the list of workflows—Most Recently Modified, Least Recently Modified, Title, and Owner. You can sort by Title or Owner alphabetically (A-Z) or reverse alphabetically (Z-A). By default, the Open panel sorts the list of workflows by Most Recently Modified.
File | Delete
The Delete option deletes the selected workflow and its ArcGIS item. To delete a workflow, click File | Delete, find the workflow, select it, and then click Delete or press Enter. Alternatively, double-click the workflow. You will be prompted to confirm.
The Delete panel has Search and Sort functions to help you find a workflow:
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Search: To search for a workflow, type some text into the Search box and click Search or press Enter. The Search function searches the titles, summaries, and descriptions of workflow items in ArcGIS.
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Sort: There are several options to sort the list of workflows—Most Recently Modified, Least Recently Modified, Title, and Owner. You can sort by Title or Owner alphabetically (A-Z) or reverse alphabetically (Z-A). By default, the Delete panel sorts the list of workflows by Most Recently Modified.
File | Open by URL
The Open by URL option opens the workflow with the specified URL. To open a workflow by URL, you must have permission to access the workflow.
The Open by URL option provides an easy way to share workflows between Workflow authors in the same organization. See Share Workflows by URL for information.
File | Save
The Save option saves the current workflow under its existing title. If the workflow has not been saved before, clicking File | Save performs a Save As operation.
File | Save As
The Save As option saves the current workflow under the title you enter and creates an item for the workflow in ArcGIS with that same title. The URL of the new item is used as the workflow's URL. The URL appears on the Info panel in Workflow Designer.
File | Import
The Import option imports a previously exported workflow into Workflow Designer. For more information, see Import and Export Workflows.
File | Export
The Export option exports the current workflow in JSON format. This enables you to move workflows between portals. It also enables you to share with Workflow authors outside your organization. For more information, see Import and Export Workflows.
Navigator
To open the Navigator, click Navigator at the bottom of Workflow Designer.
Location of the button to open and close the Navigator
The Navigator shows the hierarchical structure of a workflow. Unlike the design surface, which only shows one level of the workflow at a time, the Navigator shows all the activities in the workflow and its subworkflows, in one place. This allows you to review the flow of a workflow without having to jump between levels.
Navigator, showing an activity with a description, an activity with an ID, and a subworkflow that can be collapsed 
and expanded 
You can click any activity in the Navigator to navigate the flowchart to the activity. The activity that you clicked is automatically centered and selected to show its properties.
Click an activity in the Navigator () to navigate to the activity's (sub)workflow () and select the activity ()
The Navigator is also used to display the results of activity searches initiated from an activity's Actions menu:
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Search a Workflow for All Instances of an Activity: For example, search for all the Create Value activities in the workflow.
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Search a Workflow for References to an Activity ID: For example, if the workflow has a Create Value activity with ID value1, search for all activities that use $value1 in an input.
Actions menu search options
Validation Panel
To open the Validation panel, click Problems at the bottom of Workflow Designer.
Location of the button to open and close the Validation panel
The Validation panel lists the errors and warnings for all open workflows.
Validation panel, with errors (
) and warnings (
) for the two open workflows
A workflow with errors will not run to completion. A workflow with warnings might run to completion, but even if it does, it may not give the desired results.
We strongly recommend fixing all errors and warnings before going live with a workflow.
You can collapse and expand workflows and activities in the list to focus on the problem you are working on.
Click an error or warning ( in the screen capture below) to navigate the flowchart () to the (sub)workflow with the problem. The activity causing the problem is automatically centered and selected () to show its properties. If the problem is caused by a specific input, the Properties panel scrolls to the input (
).
Navigation using warning and error messages in the Validation panel