Designer canvas

Use a designer canvas to design your workflow, agentflow, orchestration, or form, and configure your start events An event that triggers a workflow to run when it occurs. An example is Box - New file, which triggers the workflow to run when a new file is uploaded to the specified folder. and actions A tool for building the processes, logic, and direction within workflows. Actions are the steps the workflow performs to complete a process..

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Workflow designer

The Workflow designer includes the toolbar, actions toolbox, and designer canvas.

Open the Workflow designer

To open the Workflow designer for a new workflow:

  1. Go to Workflows > All workflows.

  2. Click Create workflow.

  3. Select one of the following options:

    Note: The option to add to a solution or create as a standalone is available only when you are using the new Nintex CE Platform Experience. Switch to the new experience to use this option. If you are not using the new experience, it's created as a standalone. See, Opt in to the new Nintex CE Platform.

    • Add to a solution: Create the workflow as part of a solution.

    • Create as standalone: Create as a standalone workflow, not as part of a solution.

  4. If you selected Add to a solution, select one of the following options in the Create new workflow and add to a solution dialog:

    • Add to existing solution: Select a solution from the list.

    • Add to new solution: Create a new solution to add the workflow. Click Next, specify the Solution name, Solution description, and Color in the Create a new solution dialog, then click Create.

    5. The Workflow designer is displayed.

To open the Workflow designer for an existing workflow:

  1. Go to Workflows > All workflows.

  2. Select the workflow from the Workflows list.

Add an action to the workflow

Actions define the sub processes that occur when your workflow runs.

Add from the actions toolbox

  1. On the left side of the Workflow designer, in the actions toolbox, find the action.

    • To search for actions, click inside the Search text box above the action groups and begin typing the action name.

    • To browse actions, expand action groups.

      For example, Communication includes actions for sending email messages and related tasks while Salesforce includes actions for interacting with Salesforce.

  2. Drag the action onto a drop zone () on the designer canvas.

    Initially, the action is unconfigured and indicated by (). For details on action configuration, see Action configuration panel.

Add an action directly on the designer canvas drop zone

Adding actions directly on the designer canvas drop zone is useful if you are more comfortable with using a keyboard or know exactly which action you want to add. You can more quickly design and build your workflows with this feature.

  1. Open the mini actions toolbox on the designer canvas:

    • Click on the drop zone on the designer canvas.

    • If you previously copied an action, click a drop zone () and select Add action.

  2. Select one of the five most common actions or search for and select the action that you want to add.

    Initially, the action is unconfigured (). For details on action configuration, see Action configuration panel.

Agent designer

The Agent designer includes:

  • The actions toolbox, which contains the actions available to build the agentflow.

  • The designer canvas, where you add and connect actions.

  • The toolbar, where you can test, save, and publish the agentflow.

Open the Agent designer

  1. Go to Agents > All agentflows.

  2. Open the Agent designer:

    1. New agentflow: Click Create agentflow.

    2. Existing agentflow: Select the agentflow you want from the agentflows page.

Add an action to the agentflow

Actions define the sub processes that occur when your agentflow runs.

Add from the actions toolbox

  1. On the left side of the Agent designer, in the actions toolbox, find the action.

    • To search for actions, click inside the Search text box above the action groups and begin typing the action name.

    • To browse actions, expand action groups.

      For example, Logic and flow includes actions to call a agentflow and related tasks while Operations includes actions to log instance details and set a variable value.

  2. Drag the action onto a drop zone () on the designer canvas.

    Initially, the action is unconfigured and indicated by (). For details on action configuration, see Action configuration panel.

Orchestration designer

The Orchestration designer is where you build orchestrations.

When you open a new orchestration, you will see the orchestration canvas divided into phases. The initial tiles on the canvas include:

  • Orchestration start: This defines how the orchestration begins.

  • Untitled phase: This is the first phase of your orchestration, where activities can be added.

Open the Orchestration designer

To open the Orchestration designer for a new orchestration:

  1. Go to Orchestrations > All orchestrations.

  2. Click Create orchestration.

  3. Select one of the following options:

    Note: The option to add to a solution or create as a standalone is available only when you are using the new Nintex CE Platform Experience. Switch to the new experience to use this option. If you are not using the new experience, it's created as a standalone. See, Opt in to the new Nintex CE Platform.

    • Add to a solution: Create the Orchestration as part of a solution.

    • Create as standalone: Create as a standalone Orchestration, not as part of a solution.

  4. If you selected Add to a solution, select one of the following options in the Create new Orchestration and add to a solution dialog:

    • Add to existing solution: Select a solution from the list.

    • Add to new solution: Create a new solution to add the Orchestration. Click Next, specify the Solution name, Solution description, and Color in the Create a new solution dialog, then click Create.

    5. The Orchestration designer is displayed.

To open the Orchestration designer for an existing orchestration:

  • Select the orchestration you want to open from the Orchestrations list.

Form designer

Use the Form designer to create your form and configure the form controls. The form can be a start form that starts a workflow or a task form to be sent to someone as a task.

Open the Form designer

The Form designer with drag-and-drop functionality allows you to create forms easily. You can design your form, divide your form into multiple sections, configure multi-page forms, and define the types of data your form captures by adding different form controls. If translation has been enabled by an administrator, you can also review and modify translated controls and fields.

The Form designer consists of the toolbar, form controls toolbox, and designer canvas. Form controls can be selected from the toolbox and placed anywhere in the Form designer canvas to design your form.

The Form designer canvas is the area the controls are placed to create the form. After selecting a form control from the toolbox, you can drag and drop it into the canvas area to begin configuration of the control. If translation has been enabled by an administrator, you can modify the content in translated controls. Controls can be repositioned by simply clicking and dragging them to their required position on the page to design the form layout you want.

Open the Form designer to create a start form

A start form starts a workflow when it's submitted.

  1. Go to Workflows > All workflows

  2. Click Create workflow. The Workflow designer is displayed. For more information, see Create a workflow.

  1. Click Start event.

    The Start event configuration panel is displayed.

  2. Select Nintex Form from the Start from drop-down list.

  3. Click Design form.

    The Form designer is displayed.

For information about configuring a start form, see Nintex - Form.

Open the Form designer to create a task form or anonymous task form

A task form is designed when configuring a workflow task action. The form is displayed to users interacting with tasks that are assigned to them. The task action available in Nintex Workflow is Assign a task to multiple users.

  1. Go to Workflows > All workflows

  2. Open the workflow that has the task action.

  3. Click the task action to open the action configuration panel.

  4. In the Task type section, enable the Task form toggle.

    Note: The Task form toggle is enabled by default.

  1. Click Design form.

    The Form designer is displayed.