🚀 Your Go-To Flow Designer Has Secrets (And I Found Few)

[Voona Rohila]

When I started preparing for my session, I wanted something technical yet easy to connect with - something both low-code/no-code users and developers could use in their daily work.

I began with just 2 features in mind… but the deeper I explored Flow Designer, the more secrets it uncovered. By the time I wrapped up, I had discovered 10+ hidden gems that rarely get the spotlight.

The response was amazing, and many asked me for a summary. So here's the blog-version of the highlights from my session - features that can make your everyday Flow Designer work smoother, smarter, and more fun. ✨

🎯 Actions You Might Be Missing

⚡ Update Multiple Records Action

Stop looping through records one by one! The Update Multiple Records action lets you update multiple rows in a single operation.

You can use encoded queries to filter which records to update, making it perfect for conditional bulk operations.

🔗 Add Worknote Link to Context Action

Create clickable context links directly in work notes for easy traceability. This action automatically generates links that users can click to navigate back to the related flow context.

If you have so many flows with integrations running and hard to find which one is executing when, this saves a ton of your time.

🔄 Select Multiple Steps and Convert to Subflow

One of the most underutilized features! You can select multiple steps in your flow and convert them into a reusable subflow with just a few clicks.

Time saver: The conversion automatically maps inputs and outputs, preserving all your data pill connections.

🔥 Fire Event

No more creating custom actions or using Create record action to trigger the Event! The Fire Event action lets you trigger events directly from your flow, making event-driven work much simpler to implement.

📋 Submit Catalog Item Request

Automate catalog submissions seamlessly through Flow Designer. This action enables you to programmatically submit catalog requests, opening up powerful automation scenarios.

🧠 Flow Logic Boosters

🏃‍♂️ Skip Iteration & Exit Loop

Get granular control while looping over records. These actions give you the flexibility to skip specific iterations or exit loops early based on conditions - just like break and continue statements in traditional programming.

• Skip processing records that don't meet certain criteria
• Exit early when you find what you're looking for
• Implement complex filtering logic within loops

Exit Loop strategically reduces execution time by avoiding unnecessary iterations.

🔙 Go Back To

A true hidden gem for handling retry logic or alternate processing paths. This action allows you to jump back to previous steps in your flow, creating sophisticated branching and retry mechanisms.

Power move: Combine with conditions to create intelligent retry loops with maximum attempt limits.

🎭 Dynamic Flow & Get Flow Output 

Call another flow dynamically and capture its outputs on the fly. This enables you to build modular, reusable flow architectures where flows can orchestrate other flows.

Dynamic magic: The flow name can be determined at runtime using data pills or variables.

📧 Advanced Email Processing

🔧 Advanced Inbound Email Flow Processing

Enable order and Stop processing fields on inbound email flow by setting:

glide.hub.flow.inbound_email_trigger.show_advanced = true

This system property reveals advanced configuration options for inbound email triggers, giving you more granular control over how emails are processed.

Key insight: These fields are available by default in inbound email actions, but for Flow Designer we need to enable them manually with this property.

🔌 API Access to Flow

📝 Create Code Snippet

Generate reusable code snippets for flows, subflows, actions, and decision tables.

No need to check for syntax or flow names this will automatically do that.

📱 Client Callable Flow/SubFlow/Action

Call flow/subflow/action directly from the client-side without writing additional scripts. This bridges the gap between client-side interactions and server-side flow processing along with proper ACL Setup.

Notice the 'Client' option that appears after clicking create code snippet - this is where you'll find the client-side code!

🔐 User Access and Security

👤Feature Access list

Define granular permissions for who can use Flow Designer features. This goes beyond basic role assignments to provide fine-tuned control over Flow Designer capabilities.

Example Scenarios:

• A User with Flow_designer role can create simple flows and subflows but cannot publish/use code snippet/Configure connections

📋  Content Filtering

Content Filtering in Flow Designer allows administrators to control what content (flows, subflows, actions) is visible to different roles. It ensures that users only see and use the Flow Designer content that is relevant to them.

If your HR Management team uses Flow Designer, you can filter out ITSM actions so they only see HR-related actions. Prevent users from accessing inappropriate actions while still giving them the tools they need to be productive.

🔁 Reusable Flow Triggers

Create triggers that can be shared and reused across multiple flows, reducing duplication and ensuring consistency in how similar events are handled across your instance.

Benefit: Standardize trigger logic and make maintenance easier by having one source of truth for common triggering conditions.

Efficiency gain: Update trigger conditions once and all dependent flows automatically inherit the changes.

📊 Decision Tables with Real Use Cases

Replace bulky, nested if-then-else conditions with clean, maintainable decision tables. These provide a tabular way to define complex business logic that's easier to read, test, and maintain.

📖 Refer my articles 🙂

🎉 Key Takeaways

These hidden gems in Flow Designer can transform how you build and maintain automated processes in ServiceNow. From performance improvements with bulk actions to sophisticated retry logic with "Go Back To," these features enable you to create more robust, maintainable, and user-friendly automation.

💡 Start experimenting with these features in your next flow. You'll be surprised how much they can improve both the development experience and the end-user experience.

Have you discovered any hidden Flow Designer features that weren't covered here? I'd love to hear about your findings and how you're using these capabilities in your ServiceNow implementations! 🤝