Flows and variants
A flow collects information to fulfill a specific goal within your organization: for example, a new user application flow, a collecting-feedback flow, a matching-to-an-agent flow. A flow may have multiple versions - called variants - which exist to try different designs on your form function; like an A/B test!
The top-level view in your Studio, and the list of flows
You can edit the Display name of your flow. This only updates the name of the flow as it appears in your studio - it will not update the URL slug associated with your flow.
To archive a flow, select the flow in the list and click Archive. This will remove it from the list of visible flows, and prevent new and returning responders from being able to access the flow. This can be thought of as deleting the flow, however archiving allows you to re-activate the flow in the future, if necessary.
Archiving a flow will by default archive all the variants inside of it.
When archiving, setting a Redirect to URL will ensure that new or returning responders attempting to access the archived flow will be redirected to the URL of your choosing.
Redirecting traffic in this way is useful when:
- There are links out in the wild that still point to an archived flow.
- Returning responders have an archived variant UUID cached in their browser, which will attempt to load the archived flow on their return visit.
If no Redirect to URL is set, the user will be shown a "failed to load" screen.
See our section on Split Testing for more information on iterating on flows and variants, and archiving old versions when it's time to deprecate.
To view an archived or deleted flow, change the filtering options to the right of the flow table's search to make archived and deleted flows visible.
Variants exist within a flow, and are generally used to make small variations to the same flow content. Think of variants as a form A and form B in an A/B test, which allows you to constantly measure and iterate on your flow to ultimately improve the responder experience.
The variant list for the Follow-Up-Flow
Additionally, the Integrations editor for a flow can be found in this section - since the different variants within a flow will all function to collect the same data, it makes sense to send the data to the same place for all variants!
The Duplicate feature allows you to duplicate variants so that you can make variations on a flow. These changes can be wildly different from one another in terms of style and content, but should still have the same goal and collect the same information as the other variants in the same flow.
To make a copy of a variant, you can either:
- Select Duplicate from the dropdown while in the variant list section.
- Click Save as at the top right when you have a variant open.
In either case, you will be presented with a modal that will give you three options:
- Add the duplicate to the list of variants in your current flow.
- Move the duplicate into another flow in your Studio.
- Use the duplicate to create an entirely new flow.
You will also need to give the duplicate a new name, and if desired, assign a new URL slug as well.
Not happy with the current URL slug of your flow? If you are not planning on using a Custom Domain, use this duplication process to create a new URL slug.
Variants may be archived by selecting a variant and choosing Archive. This will have a similar effect to what happens to archived flows described above: no users, returning or new, will be able to access the variant.
Setting a Redirect to URL works the same as well - any users who have previously accessed this variant will be redirected to the new variant upon returning, or any users with the specific link to this variant will be directed to the new URL if they try to access that link.
You can view your archived variants with the "Hide/Show archived" hamburger menu at the top right. It's a similar process to viewing archived flows.
To un-archive a flow or variant, change the filtering options to the right of the table's search to make archived items visible.
"Show archived" to make archived items visible
Hovering over an archived item will reveal a "restore" icon. Click the icon.
The un-archive process can be used for restoring archived flows and variants, when in either menu.
Due to the ability for Formsort to restore archived flow and variants, names for either cannot be re-used.
Last modified 4mo ago