Create, Manage, Test & Publish Flows
All about how to create and manage flows
Creating A Flow
On the left side main menu, click on "Flows". This will take you to a page displaying all the flows that have already been created.
Click on the "Create New Flow" button, and a popup will appear on the screen.
Provide a name for your flow in the designated field.
Add a description for the flow to provide a brief overview or details about its purpose.
Select the chatbot(s) that will be associated with this flow. You can choose one or multiple chatbots for the flow.
Choose the channel category that aligns with the connected channel(s). The available chatbot features may vary depending on the selected channel category.
Optionally, you can select an avatar image for the flow. This image represents the chatbot visually.
Select the folder where you want to save this flow. Folders help you organize your chatbots systematically.
Click on "Create Flow" to create the flow.
You will be redirected to Canvas, which is the visual interface where you can start building the steps of your flow.
From there, you can begin adding and configuring the desired steps, defining the conversation flow, and customizing the chatbot's behavior.
Organizing Flows in Folders:
When you have a large number of flows, organizing them into folders can help keep them neat and easily accessible. To create a new folder, simply click on the "Create New Folder" button and provide a name for the folder.
Once a folder is created, you can move existing flows to that folder by selecting one or multiple flows and clicking on the "Add to Folder" option.
You also have the option to select a folder while creating a new flow. This allows you to assign the flow to a specific folder right from the beginning.
Searching for Flows:
To search for a specific flow, you can enter the flow name in the search bar. This will help you quickly find the desired flow based on its name.
Sorting Flows:
You can sort the flows based on different criteria or sort conditions. This helps you arrange the flows in a specific order that suits your requirements, making it easier to navigate and locate the desired flow.
Quick Menu:
The quick flow menu provides convenient access to various options related to a specific flow:
Stats: This provides an overview of the overall statistics and performance of the flow.
Data Records: This allows you to access the CRM module of the flow, where you can view all the data collected by the flow.
More Menu: Clicking on the three dots will open a menu with additional options:
Edit: This allows you to modify the flow's name, description, folder, and other settings.
Clone: You can create a copy of the flow by cloning it, which is useful for creating similar flows.
Disable: Temporarily disable the flow, preventing any new users from entering it.
Delete: This permanently deletes the flow and all associated data records. Deleted flows are moved to the Trash and can be restored within the next 30 days.
By utilizing these features, you can efficiently organize, search, and manage your flows within the platform.
To restore a deleted flow from the Trash in Picky Assist:
Click on the "Trash" button, which is typically located in the sidebar or menu.
This will take you to the Trash section where deleted flows are stored.
Locate the deleted flow you want to restore and click on the "More Options" button (usually represented by three dots or a vertical ellipsis).
From the available options, select "Restore" to restore the flow.
The flow will be restored from the Trash and will be available again in the list of flows.
Please note that you can only restore flows within 30 days from the date of deletion. After 30 days, the flow will be permanently deleted from the Trash and cannot be restored.
Global Settings of the Flow
Each flow have global settings that help business to control the flow like how many users can enter into the flow, setting up a reminder, setting up timeout, action on timeout version history, etc
Clicking on Settings opens a new side popup as shown below that has 3 tabs
Steps
You can quickly search steps and make changes to the step name or add a description, click on the step will highlight the step in the canvas for easy editing
Settings
This is where you can set the global settings for the flow for advanced controls
Bot customization
Enable the option to 'Disable Contacts from Entering the Flow More than Once'. If this is enabled, a contact will be allowed to enter this flow only once.
Choose to 'Restart the Flow from the Point Where the Contact Left Off' for incomplete flows. This is useful if a user becomes non-responsive and later sends a message. The system will then consider the conversation as part of the same thread, rather than starting a new one. If you have a flow that needs to be completed within a specific time, you may disable this setting.
Set the 'Maximum Allowed Contacts in a Flow'. This helps you restrict the number of contacts that can engage with this flow. By default, the number is unlimited, but you may edit the value here as per your needs."
Channels
You can configure the channels through which this flow should operate. Only channels from the same category are shown here. Simply select one or multiple channels as needed
Global Message Typing Delay
The global message typing delay option allows you to set a delay from 0 to 60 seconds. The bot will apply this delay between each step. For instance, if you set a 5-second delay, the bot will send the next step after waiting for 5 seconds.
You have the feature to override this setting by adding a delay into each step separately in your canvas.
Reminder
This is a global feature that allows you to send a reminder message if the user is not responding to any of your steps, according to the settings configured here. Please note that these are global settings applicable to all steps.
You also have the option to configure an individual reminder feature for each path from the canvas builder.
Timeout
'Timeout' refers to forcefully exiting the user from the flow if they are not responding to your messages within the time frame configured here. The bot will automatically remove such users from the conversation. You can customize the message and define different actions, such as handing off the conversation to a human agent, sending a WhatsApp message to your internal team members, adding a tag, and so on
After making changes make sure that you have clicked on the save button to save the changes
Version HIstroy & Restoring Flow
We maintain a version history of your last 50 published versions. If something goes wrong with your most recent published version, it's possible for you to restore any of the previous versions.
Testing a Flow
You can test your published and draft versions of the flows using the internal testing widget, which can be opened from the left side menu, "Test Bot", as shown below.
A new popup will appear on the screen where you need to add Test Contacts in order to test the flow. Test contacts are real contacts that are added to your Contact module, but there is a system flag to identify test contacts from real contacts.
Test contacts function in the same way as real contacts, where you need to provide basic details such as Name, Email, Phone Number with Country Code, and a Default Channel. You can create multiple test contacts to simulate the test under different conditions.
All the previously added test contacts will be listed here so that you can select any contact to continue testing the flow.
Click on the Contact and it will show two options to test the flow as described below:
Test Via TestBot: If you select this option, then an inline widget will appear on the screen where you can quickly test the flow.
Test Via WhatsApp: If you select this option, then it will trigger a WhatsApp message to the contact and start the flow.
If you are using WhatsApp Official / Cloud API, then make sure there is a valid contactable session to send freeform messages, otherwise, your flow's first step should be a WhatsApp approved template.
Testing a Published Flow
If you wish to test the published flow, then click on the flow name from the flow list,
It will open the published flow analytics as shown below. Click on the left side "Test Bot" menu to initiate the test.
Testing a Draft Version of Flow
You can test the draft version of the flow directly from the canvas. On the left side menu, click on "Test Bot" the same as the image shown below
Publishing Flow
After you've built and tested the flow, you can simply click on the "Publish" button located at the top right side of the screen, as shown below.
Enter a comment for the version, which will assist you in identifying the updates you made, in case you need to roll back in the future.
Click on the Publish button, and that's it. The bot is successfully published and live.
Auto Save Feature
We have implemented an auto-save feature that automatically saves any changes every 10 seconds. However, please exercise caution if the same flow is being edited by another user or if you have multiple browser tabs open, as the auto-save function may overwrite previous values."
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