# Flow and variant management Flows and variants are the building blocks of how you structure, test, and maintain your form experiences in Formsort. This section covers how to organize and edit your flows, archive and restore them, manage variant versions, and monitor flow start activity. Whether you're iterating on design, setting up redirects, o r keeping track of usage, this guide will help you stay in control of your flow lifecycle. ### Editing Flows

The top-level view of flows in the Studio

You can update the **Display name** of a flow to help you stay organized. {% hint style="info" %} This change only affects how the flow appears in your Studio. It does **not** update the URL slug associated with the flow. {% endhint %} ### Archiving Flows To archive a flow, select it from your list of flows and click **Archive**.\ Archiving will: * Remove the flow from the visible list in your Studio * Prevent both new and returning responders from accessing it * Automatically archive all of its variants Archiving is reversible—you can re-activate a flow at any time if needed.

#### Redirect to URL When archiving a flow, you can optionally set a **Redirect to URL**. This ensures that any new or returning responders who attempt to access the archived flow are automatically redirected to a URL of your choosing. Redirects are especially helpful when: * There are existing links (e.g. in emails or ads) still pointing to the archived flow * A returning responder has a cached variant URL and attempts to revisit the flow If no redirect is set, users will see a generic “failed to load” screen. {% hint style="info" %} See Split Testing for more on iterating on flows and archiving old variants when it’s time to deprecate them. {% endhint %} ### Viewing archived flows 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 Variants are versions of a flow that allow you to test different content or styles while maintaining the same core objective. Think of them as A/B tests for your form. By using variants, you can continuously iterate on your flow to enhance the responder experience.

The **Integrations editor** for a flow is located in the variant-list view of the studio. Since all variants within a flow collect the same data, it makes sense to direct all submissions to the same integrations endpoint. ### Duplicating variants The **duplicate** **variant** feature allows you to make *variations*. 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 (seen in pic above). * Click **Duplicate variant** at the top right when you have a variant open.

In both cases, you'll be prompted with a modal offering three options: 1. Create a new variant in the current flow. 2. Duplicate this variant into another flow. 3. Create a completely new flow with the duplicate variant. You'll also need to provide a new name for the duplicated variant. Optionally, you can assign a new URL slug.

**Changing the URL Slug** If you're not happy with your flow's current URL slug, the duplication process is the only way to create a new URL slug. ### Archiving Variants To archive a variant, select it from the list and click **Archive**. Once archived, the variant becomes inaccessible to both new and returning responders—similar to the behavior of archived flows. You can also set a [**Redirect to URL**](#redirect-to-url) when archiving a variant. This ensures that: * Returning users with a cached variant ID are redirected to the new location. * Anyone accessing a direct link to the archived variant is taken to the URL you specify. Redirects are especially useful when links to the variant are already in circulation or bookmarked by users.

{% hint style="info" %} 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](#viewing-archived-flows). {% endhint %} *** ### Restoring Archived Flows and Variants To restore an archived flow or variant: 1. Adjust the filter controls next to the search bar to display archived items.

2. Hover over the archived item to reveal the **Restore** icon.

3. Click the icon to unarchive the flow or variant. {% hint style="danger" %} Formsort allows you to restore archived flows and variants at any time. Because of this, names and URL slugs for archived items **cannot** be reused. {% endhint %} *** ### Flow Starts A **flow start** is recorded when a responder: * Loads a flow and completes at least one step, **or** * Restarts a flow, submitting a new set of answers. If a responder returns to a previously started flow without starting over, it **does not** count as a new flow start. {% hint style="info" %} Flow start counts may take up to 15 minutes to update in the Studio. {% endhint %} #### Flow Start Limits Each workspace has a monthly limit on flow starts, tracked per calendar month. Flow activity in **non-production environments** does **not** count toward your limit. Flow starts are counted at the **workspace level**—this includes all flows and their variants. Once the monthly limit is reached, your workspace may incur **overage charges**. To view your current usage, visit the **Subscription** tab in the Studio.

{% hint style="warning" %} Need to adjust your flow start limit? Reach out to us via Intercom, and we’ll connect you with our sales team. {% endhint %}