Working With Activities

Workflow activities are single, pre-built, configurable actions. They are the building blocks of workflow definitions. They can be used to add, move, and modify repository items, send email notifications, and perform complex business logic based on the needs of the process being created.

All activities share common elements, like the activity name and description. Many activities have other properties in common with each other. Learn more about common properties.

Drag and drop activities on the Designer canvas to add them to a definition. Once on the canvas, arrange activities to build the workflow process.

 

 

Copying, Cutting, and Pasting Activities

The copy, paste, and cut options in the workflow designer toolbar, along with the copy, paste, and cut keyboard keys (CTRL + c, CTRL + v, and CTRL + x), let you copy or cut activities and their configuration details from one workflow and paste them onto another workflow.

You can copy, paste, and cut activities when you are using:

  • Many workflow tabs within one browser tab.
  • Many browser tabs within one browser window.
  • Many browser windows within one browser (e.g., all within Google Chrome or within Mozilla Firefox).

You cannot:

  • Copy, paste, and cut across different browsers (e.g., from Google Chrome to Mozilla Firefox).
  • Copy or cut an activity, log out, log in, and paste the activity.
  • Drag and drop activities from one canvas onto another.

Activity Name

As a best practice, change the default name of an activity to help you remember the role the activity plays in the workflow definition.

To name an activity:

  1. Add the activity to your workflow definition by dragging it from the toolbox pane and dropping it in the designer pane.
  2. Select the activity in the designer pane to highlight it.
  3. Above the Description property box in the properties pane, click the gray text and replace the default name.

Note: Activity names must be unique and no more than 100 characters. They must contain at least one alphanumeric character.

Activity Description

You can include a description of an activity to help you remember additional details about the activity. All activities have a default description that you can modify while constructing your workflow.

To add a description:

  1. Add the activity to your workflow definition by dragging it from the toolbox pane and dropping it in the designer pane.
  2. Select the activity in the designer pane to highlight it.
  3. In the Description property box in the properties pane, replace the default description.