Configure workflows
Define the steps a submission follows after it's submitted - who reviews it, in what order, and what happens at each step.
How workflows work
In Droplet, every form submission is routed through a workflow - a series of steps where an assignee reviews, adds information, or takes action (approve, reject, or send back for corrections). Submissions move between steps when someone clicks the Submit or Reject button on the form.
When you first open the Workflow Editor, you'll see the simplest workflow possible: it starts at Start and goes directly to Completed.
The default workflow starts at Start and moves directly to Completed.
Add workflow steps
Click the blue approve icon or red reject icon on a step card to add a new step. Each step card is connected to the next through the button someone clicks on the form:
A path from the checkmark shows where the submission goes when the Submit button is clicked.
A path from the circle-with-line icon shows where the submission goes when the Reject button is clicked.
You can re-route your workflow by clicking a connection line and moving it to a different card.
Give each step a clear, descriptive name so your workflow is easy to understand at a glance. You can also set each step's status to In Progress, Completed, or Rejected to control how the submission appears in Droplet at that point.
Assign workflow steps
When a submission reaches a step, the assignee receives an email notification. There are several ways to assign a step:
Choose how each workflow step should be assigned.
- Unassigned
- No one is assigned. Common for terminal steps like Completed and Rejected.
- Submission Creator
- Assigns the step to the person who initiated the submission. Useful for corrections workflows where the submitter needs to make changes and resubmit.
- Someone Based on the Form (Dynamic)
- Assigns the step based on data in the submission, using an expression. For example, you can auto-assign a school principal based on the school selected in a dropdown. Dynamic assignments typically reference computed fields or datasets.
- Static
- Assigns the step to the same person every time. Select a user from the dropdown or begin typing their name into the search bar.
- Not a Droplet Account
- Assign someone who doesn't have a Droplet account by entering their name and email. Workflow assignees don't need Droplet accounts.
Configure step details
Click Edit Step on any workflow card to open the Step Details panel. From here you can:
Add or change the step assignee.
Add a Step Run Rule to skip the step under certain conditions.
Create conditional routing to determine the next step based on submission data.
The Step Details panel lets you configure assignees, conditions, and routing for each step.
Skip a step with a Step Run Rule
Sometimes a step only applies under certain conditions. For example, a finance review might only be needed when the amount is over a threshold. A Step Run Rule lets Droplet evaluate a condition when the submission arrives and skip the step automatically when it is not met.
- Click Edit Step on the step card to open the Step Details panel.
- In the Step Run Rule section (top-right corner), enter the condition (an expression) that must be true for this step to run.
If the condition is false when the submission arrives, the step is skipped automatically and the submission continues to the next step in the workflow. A skipped step does not notify an assignee.
Create conditional workflow routing
Complex forms often need to follow different paths based on the data in the submission. You can define this routing in the Step Details panel by adding a list of step transitions with expressions.
The list evaluates in order from top to bottom, routing the submission to the step of the first expression that evaluates to true.
Conditional routing sends submissions down different paths based on their data.
Always include a fallback step at the end of your list - one with no conditions attached. If all expressions evaluate to false and there's no fallback, the submission won't be able to advance and the user will see an error.
Control field visibility per step
Each form component can be set to one of four visibility states at every workflow step:
- Editable
- The field is visible and users can modify it.
- Visible
- The field is visible but locked for editing (read-only).
- Redacted
- The field stays in the layout, but its value is hidden. Use this for sensitive data (such as an SSN) that should not be shown to the assignee at this step.
- Hidden
- The field is completely removed from view at this step.
You can also control the submit and reject buttons per step (the _actions setting). On terminal steps like Completed and Rejected, the action bar is hidden so no further action can be taken.
By default, components are editable at the Start step and visible at all other steps. To customize visibility, click the Visibility tab in the Form Builder, select a component, and adjust the settings in the right-hand panel for each step.
Group related components inside a Section or Group, then set visibility on the container. If the container is hidden, everything inside it is hidden too.
Parallel workflow steps
By default, workflow steps run in sequence - one after another. With parallel steps, you can run multiple steps at the same time. This is useful when two or more people need to review or fill in different parts of a submission independently.
Each parallel step runs at the same time, and the workflow waits for all of them to finish before moving on to the next step. Setting them up has its own specific steps in the Workflow Editor, walked through in the dedicated guide below.
Parallel steps are available for workflows with two or more review steps. Each parallel branch can have its own assignee and field visibility settings.
Set up parallel workflow steps
Easily arrange workflow cards
As you build complex workflows, the step cards can become scattered or overlap in the visual editor. Click the Clean Up button in the Workflow Editor toolbar to automatically arrange all workflow cards in an orderly layout. This makes it easier to see the entire workflow at a glance and understand the flow between steps.
Attach PDFs to notifications
You can attach a PDF copy of the submission to any workflow notification email. When configuring a step's notification settings, enable the Attach PDF option. The recipient receives the email with the submission PDF as an attachment, which is useful for record-keeping or when the recipient does not have access to Droplet.