A tour · 6 stops · 2 min
Workflow, Process Builder, Flow
The tools overlap for years. Follow what admins could build and how Salesforce began moving new automation to Flow.
This is the tour’s text. In 3D each stop frames the notes it talks about; every stop below links to its view.
A tour · Salesforce automation
How did automation get to Flow?
Workflow Rules, Process Builder and Flow overlap in this archive. Follow the changes to see what admins could build with each tool, and how Salesforce began steering new automation towards Flow.
The lit notes match names in titles. They do not measure usage or establish when each tool launched.
See this stop in 3DTitle matches, release by release
Flow was there before Process Builder
Flow appears in title matches four years before Process Builder, under its earlier Visual Workflow name. From 2019, Salesforce names Flow in more notes each year than the other tools combined.
Winter ’04
Imports bypassed the rules
The early guide excludes imports and lead conversion from workflow evaluation. Offline Edition edits run through the rules when they sync. Even with the same record and criteria, the route a change took into Salesforce could decide whether a task or email alert fired.
The archive begins here, so Workflow Rules may be older.
- The early guide’s trigger exceptions · Winter ’04Workflow rules
Winter ’15
Outbound messages were the exception
The beta could update any related record and launch a flow through immediate or scheduled actions. Salesforce says it supports Workflow Rules’ actions except outbound messages. The proposal is to consolidate several rules into a process, with more actions available but that familiar integration option missing.
The beta appears under a title that does not name Process Builder, before the first title match.
- The beta’s action list · Winter ’15Visually Automate Your Business Processes (Beta)
Winter ’23
Salesforce blocks new Workflow Rules
After 19 years in the archive, Salesforce blocks new Workflow Rules in most orgs. Admins can still activate, edit or deactivate existing rules. Developer orgs retain an exception for testing and creating rules for managed packages.
- Existing rules can still be edited · Winter ’23Block New Workflow Rule Creation
Winter ’23 onward
The older tools stay in the release notes
86 later titles name Flow, compared with 19 naming Workflow Rules or Process Builder. The overlap continues into the retirement period. These counts describe the documentation, not how many old automations remained in use.
Jev, the classification model, assigns the change types. A note naming Flow can retire an older flow designer. Read the source to see what is ending.
See this stop in 3D