Build a workflow

A workflow is a rule that does routine work on your records, such as your contacts, companies and deals. For example: “when a deal goes quiet for two weeks, create a follow-up task”. Anyone on your team can build one on the Workflows page, using a computer. On a phone you can read a workflow and switch it on or off, but not change it.

You own the workflows you save. Only you or an admin can change one or switch it on or off. The workflow acts as you, so it can only do what your role allows.

app.mesy.ai/workflows

When a Contact is created, wait 2 days, then create the task "Follow up with the new contact"

Siti RahmahTestRunAnyone can runOnly once per recordSaveWorkflows

EditorRuns

Read-only on mobile — authoring is desktop.

1. When a Contact is created
2. Add step
3. wait 2 days
4. Add step
5. create the task "Follow up with the new contact"Runs automatically
6. Add step

A workflow that creates a follow-up task two days after a new contact is added.

Start a new workflow

Templates are ready-made workflows you can change. Mesy shows the ones that fit your lists, such as a follow-up for new contacts or a task for quiet deals.

To start a workflow:

1. In the sidebar, click Workflows.
2. Click New workflow.
3. Pick a template, or click Start from scratch. The builder opens. This is the page where you set up the workflow.

Its first card is the trigger, which is what starts the workflow. At the top, Mesy writes your whole workflow as one sentence, and the sentence changes as you edit.

Let Mesy AI draft it

Mesy AI, the AI you chat with in Mesy, can write a first version for you:

1. Click New workflow, then describe what you want in the text box.
2. Click Draft it. Mesy AI opens on the right of the page and drafts the workflow.
3. In the chat, click Review workflow draft. If Mesy AI found problems, the button shows how many.
4. Check each card in the builder. Problems show in red on the card they belong to.
5. Click Save when it looks right. The workflow is saved, switched off, until you turn it on.

Nothing is saved until you click Save. You can also ask Mesy AI for a new workflow in chat.

Ask Mesy AI to change a workflow

If you own the workflow or are an admin, Mesy AI can change it for you:

1. Ask Mesy AI in chat what to change.
2. Open the workflow on a computer.
3. On the banner above the cards, click Review.
4. Check the cards marked added or changed. Removed steps are crossed out.
5. Click Save to keep the changes, or Discard to drop them. The builder now shows the version you chose.

Choose the trigger

To choose what starts the workflow:

1. Click the trigger card at the top of the builder.
2. Under When, pick a trigger.
3. Under On a, pick the kind of record it watches, such as Contact or Deal. For a schedule, this box is called For each.

These start the workflow when something happens to a record:

• A record is created
• A field changes: pick the Field, then to any new value or to a specific value. If the record has a pipeline (the steps a deal moves through), the list includes Stage.
• A record is assigned: under Assigned to, pick a teammate, or leave it on anyone to start whenever the owner changes.
• A record goes quiet: enter how many days with no activity to wait for.
• A record is deleted: only Send a notification steps can follow, because the record is already gone.
• A record is restored
• Records are merged: starts on the record that remains after the merge.

These start on other events, on a timer or by hand:

• An email is linked: starts when an email is linked to a record of this type. It runs whether someone links the email by hand or Mesy links it for you.
• A chat is linked: starts when a WhatsApp or Messenger chat is linked to a record of this type. Under Entry point, you can limit it to one WhatsApp entry point. If you pick an entry point, it also runs when an already-linked customer writes in through it. If you leave it on any chat, it runs only when the chat is first linked.
• A web form is submitted: starts when a form submission creates or updates a record of this type. Under Form, keep any web form for this type or pick one web form. If one form creates several records, such as a contact and a deal, set On a to the kind you want. After you pick a form, use Submission record to pick which of that form’s records the workflow acts on.
• A task is completed: starts once for each record the task is linked to.
• A task goes overdue: Mesy checks once a day at 8:00 SGT.
• On a schedule: pick how often under Cadence, the day for a weekly or monthly schedule, then the time in Singapore time (SGT). To limit which records it runs on, add conditions under Only for records where (optional).
• Run manually: never starts by itself. It runs when someone clicks Run and picks a record.

Each time a workflow starts on a record is called a run.

Add steps

Steps are what the workflow does after it starts, in order from top to bottom. To add one:

1. Click Add step below the card that should come before it.
2. Pick a step from the menu. It appears as a new card.
3. Fill in the settings on the card. The sentence at the top now includes the step.

Under Flow, the menu has two steps:

• Check stops the workflow here unless the record matches all the conditions you set. Pick a field, then a comparison such as is, contains or is empty. The choices change with the kind of field.
• Wait pauses the run for a number of hours or days. To wait for a date on the record instead, click Wait until a date field instead. If that date is empty, the run skips the wait. If it has passed, the run carries on at once.

Under Actions:

• Update a field
• Change stage (only when the record has a pipeline)
• Create a task: give it a Task title and, if you like, a due date in days.
• Add a note
• Send a notification: goes to the record’s owner, unless you pick someone under Notify.
• Assign the owner: only works when the workflow’s owner is a manager or an admin.
• Add a tag: enter a Tag of up to 50 characters, using letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens or underscores. If the tag is new, Mesy creates it.
• Send a template email
• Send a campaign message: pick a Campaign and write a Subject and Message. It goes only to people who opted in.
• Add to a campaign: adds the record to the campaign’s members. It sends nothing.
• Create a record
• Update a linked record: changes a record this one links to, such as the company on a deal. It shows only when the record has a field that links to one other record.
• AI: research & fill fields: Mesy searches the web and proposes values for empty fields.
• AI: draft an email: Mesy writes an email to the record’s email address. Nothing is sent until the workflow’s owner clicks Send.

Each action card shows a badge. Runs automatically means the step acts by itself. Stages for your approval means it waits for the workflow’s owner to approve it. Send a template email, Send a campaign message and the two AI steps always wait. Watch runs and fix a paused workflow explains how to approve a waiting step.

The two campaign steps also need the Marketing add-on, an extra part of Mesy your business can add.

To change the order, drag a card up or down. To remove a step, click the cross on its card.

Test it on a real record

A test shows what the workflow would do, without changing anything. It uses what’s in the builder now, even if you haven’t saved.

1. Click Test.
2. Pick a record of the kind the trigger watches.
3. Read the Test run panel. Its last line says whether the run would complete for this record.

Any change to the trigger or a step closes the panel. Test again to see the new result.

Save and switch it on

A new workflow is saved switched off, so it does nothing until you turn it on. To save it and switch it on:

1. Type a name in the box under the sentence, or leave it blank to use the sentence as the name.
2. Tick Only once per record if each record should go through the workflow only one time. For an On a schedule workflow, Mesy ticks it for you.
3. Click Save.
4. Click the on/off switch at the top of the builder. The workflow now runs whenever its trigger happens.

The switch is also in the Enabled column of the Workflows list. You can switch a workflow off at any time, and it stops straight away. Steps already waiting for your approval stay in the queue until you approve or remove them.

Run it on one record now

Once the workflow is saved and switched on, you see a Run button. It runs the saved workflow on one record, whatever its trigger.

1. Click Run.
2. Pick a record. Mesy starts the run and opens the Runs tab.

By default, anyone on your team can click Run. To limit it, change the Anyone can run menu to Managers and up or Owner and admins, then click Save. The owner and admins can always click Run. Run isn’t shown on a phone.

If something doesn’t work

• You can’t find New workflow. Your screen or browser window is too narrow (phone-sized). Use a computer, or make the window wider.
• The switch is greyed out. Point at it to see why. Either you have unsaved changes to save first, or you’re not the owner or an admin.
• Saving shows “Fix the highlighted steps and save again”. Look for the card with red text, fix it, then save again.
• Run doesn’t start on a record. Mesy shows why. For example, Only once per record is ticked and the workflow has already run on that record.
• A step other than Assign the owner shows Blocked. Your admin has set Mesy AI to Read-only for that kind of change, so the step won’t run. You can still save. Ask your admin to change the setting in Admin › AI Permissions (see Set up the AI).
• Assign the owner shows Blocked, and the workflow won’t save. The workflow’s owner is a member, and this step needs a manager or admin. Remove the step, or ask your admin to make the owner a manager.
• A campaign step says no campaign type exists yet. Your admin adds a record type in Admin › Schema and sets its Semantic Role to Campaign.
• A campaign step won’t save because the Marketing add-on isn’t on. Your admin contacts Mesy to add it. See Add-ons.
• Send a template email has no templates to pick. A manager or admin creates one first. See Workspace settings, channels and email templates.