Navigating the canvas
Once an automation grows past a handful of steps, the canvas gets hard to scan. The connections between steps become invisible too, because dynamic content refers to steps by ID rather than by name.
The Automation Builder has three tools for this, in the toolbar on the right edge of the canvas. All three only change what you see: none of them alter your automation, and turning them on or off is never a change you need to save.
| Tool | Icon and tooltip | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Step search | Magnifier, Search steps | Finds and highlights steps matching a keyword |
| Step references | Branch icon, Show step references | Draws lines showing which steps pass data to which |
| Minimap | Minimap icon, Hide minimap | Shows a scaled-down overview of the whole workflow, and jumps you to any part of it |
Search steps
Select the magnifier icon (Search steps) at the top of the canvas toolbar, or press Cmd+F (Mac) or Ctrl+F (Windows) inside the automation editor, to open the Search steps box. Type any keyword, such as a step name, action type, or a phrase like "email" or "update contact", and matching steps are highlighted so you can jump directly to what you need.
- Search is case-insensitive
- Works across all trigger and action steps
- Use the up and down arrows in the search box (or the arrow keys or Enter) to move between matches, or click a highlighted step to jump to it
- Select the X in the search box to close it
Step references
When a step uses dynamic content from an earlier step, the value is stored as a step ID rather than a step name, for example {.WorkflowStep.773dcc25-db4c-4d5d-882d-d3c8482e9770.response}. Opening that step later tells you a previous step is feeding it data, but not which one.
Step references answers that visually. Select the branch icon (Show step references) in the canvas toolbar, between the search and minimap icons, and the canvas draws coloured dotted lines from each source step, such as the trigger, to the later steps that reference it. The lines use different colours so you can follow several at once. Select the icon again (Hide step references) to turn the lines off.
Use it to:
- Trace where a dynamic content value came from without opening each step in turn
- See what would break before you delete, move, or reorder a step
- Get oriented in an automation someone else on your team built
Name your steps descriptively as you build. Step references shows you which step a value comes from; a clear step name tells you what that value is.
For the syntax behind these references, see Dynamic content in automations.
Minimap
The minimap is a scaled-down image of the whole workflow, shown in the bottom-right corner of the canvas. It's on by default. A highlighted rectangle marks the part of the automation you are currently viewing, so you can tell at a glance where you are in a large automation.
To hide it, select the minimap icon at the bottom of the canvas toolbar (Hide minimap). Select the icon again to show it.
Click anywhere on the minimap to jump straight to that section of the automation, which is far faster than scrolling across a wide, branching workflow.
The zoom bar sits in the bottom-left corner of the canvas. From left to right: Fit to view fits the entire automation on screen, − and + zoom out and in, the percentage shows the current zoom level (+ is unavailable at 100%), and Center yourself to the start brings the view back to the trigger at the top of the automation. Zooming out to see the full shape of a workflow and then clicking into a section on the minimap is the quickest way to move around a branching automation.
Related
- Steps: Every step your automations can perform
- Dynamic content in automations: Pass data between steps