Use Workflow Builder to automate tasks you do every day and work more efficiently in Slack. By default, anyone on a paid plan can create workflows. Owners and admins can choose to restrict access to Workflow Builder. If you don’t see this option, find an owner or admin and ask for help.

New to workflows? Check out our What is a Slack workflow? and Build a workflow tutorials to learn the basics.

Open Workflow Builder

Step 1: Choose how your workflow starts 

 

Step 2: Add steps to your workflow

Once you’ve decided how your workflow will start, you’ll add steps to carry out the task or process. Steps are the building blocks of any workflow; they can take a variety of actions inside and outside of Slack, and will be completed in the order you specify. 

Types of steps

Step type	Description	Who can add
Slack	Takes a Slack action, like sending a message or adding someone to a channel.	Everyone (by default)
Connector	Takes an action in a third-party service, like adding a row to a Google spreadsheet or creating a new Zoom meeting	Everyone (if approved)*
Custom	Built specifically for your organization to take whatever action the developer specifies	Collaborators (once the app is approved)**

*Available by default if app approval isn't required for your workspace or Enterprise Grid organization
**Unless the developer has set other permissions

More details about connector steps

Connectors include workflow steps you can use to take actions in other services, like adding a row to a Google Sheet or starting a Zoom meeting. If app approval is required for your workspace or Enterprise Grid org, you may need to request access to connector steps before you can add them to a workflow.

When you add a connector step to your workflow, we require authentication with that service. Workflow creators can choose whether to require individual people using their workflows to authenticate with their own accounts, or use their own credentials.

In some cases, it will only make sense to have people use their own accounts, like if a step in your workflow should be associated with the person using it. In others, using your account gives you more flexibility. For example, if your workflow collects and sends form responses to a private Google spreadsheet you don't want to grant everyone access to.

Note: By default, workflow creators can choose how they want people to authenticate, but owners and admins can restrict this permission. If you don’t see this option, find an owner or admin to ask for help. 

Add steps

To add steps to your workflow, find and select them from the step library.

Note: To configure a step to send messages to a channel, you need to have posting permissions for that channel. If you don’t have posting permissions, ask an owner or admin to grant them to you.

Customize steps

Certain steps can be customized to include information that’s been submitted to your workflow (like a response to one of the questions in a form, or the name of the person who started the workflow). If you’d like, you can use variables and buttons to customize your steps.

Edit and reorder steps

You can change and reorder steps anytime. Here's how:

• To edit a step, open a workflow and click the  pencil icon. 
• To reorder a step, click the  up arrow or  down arrow, or drag it to a new location.

Step 3: Publish your workflow

Publishing your workflow makes it available for people to use. To publish your workflow, you’ll need to add a few finishing touches.

Add a title, description, and icon

Add collaborators

Any collaborators you add will have the same permissions you do as the workflow creator.

Set access permissions

By default, everyone in your workspace can find and use your workflow, and only collaborators can make a copy. Here’s how to change the default permissions:

Tip: Once people start using your workflow, you can see how they’re interacting with it and view any errors from the workflow activity log.