Build a WhatsApp Flow in the Flowella designer

The Flow designer builds a WhatsApp Flow on a blank canvas, without a HubSpot form. You add fields and screens, decide which fields show and which screen comes next, then publish. Every publish creates a new version, and every submission is stored against the version the contact completed. Use the designer when the form only needs to exist in WhatsApp, or when you don’t use HubSpot forms. To turn an existing HubSpot form into a Flow and send answers back to HubSpot, sync the form instead.

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Before you start

• A WhatsApp number is connected to Flowella. Flows belong to one WhatsApp number, so select the number you will send from before you create the Flow.
• To send the Flow, you need an approved template with a Flow button. See Send the Flow.

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Create a Flow

The designer has six tabs: Build, Submissions, Versions, Logic, Routing and Settings.

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Build tab

The Build tab has three areas: the Field palette, the Screen canvas with a live phone preview, and Field properties.

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Add fields

Select a field type in the palette to add it to the current screen:

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Set field properties

Select a field on the canvas to edit it in Properties:

• Field label and Help text: what the contact sees.
• Required: the contact cannot continue until they answer.
• Validation: for text fields, check the answer is an Email address, a Phone number or a Web address.
• Options: for choice fields, add, rename and remove options.
• Permanent field ID: the ID that identifies this field in submissions, exports and webhooks. Select Copy field ID to copy it.

Field IDs never change and are never reused. If you remove a field that is in a published version, it stays in the list marked Removed in draft, ID reserved, and you can Restore it.

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Add screens

Select Add screen to add another screen. Each screen can hold up to 50 components, which is Meta’s limit. The designer warns you as a screen gets close, and you cannot publish a screen that goes over. The phone preview shows the selected screen as the contact will see it. Use Continue and Back in the preview to move between screens.

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Logic tab

Conditional logic shows or hides fields based on earlier answers. Select Add rule, then choose:

• Trigger field: the answer the rule checks.
• Operator and Value: the condition, for example equals Yes.
• Action: Show or Hide.
• Target fields: the fields the rule shows or hides.

If a contact answers a field and a later answer hides it, Flowella keeps the answer and submits it. Don’t treat an answer as proof that the field was visible.

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Routing tab

Screen routing chooses which screen follows each answer and where every path ends.

• The first screen is the Entry screen.
• Add a Conditional branch to send the contact to a different screen depending on an answer, and a Fallback for everyone else.
• Mark the last screen of each path as a Terminal screen. A terminal screen can count as a Successful outcome and can have its own Completion message for this screen.

Back in WhatsApp returns the contact to the previous screen with their answers kept, following the path they actually took. If the routing has a problem, for example a screen no path reaches or a path with no end, the tab lists it under Fix routing before publishing and the designer won’t publish until you fix it.

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Save and publish

• Save draft keeps your changes without changing what contacts see.
• Publish v1, or Publish as v2 and so on, publishes the draft to WhatsApp as a new version.

If WhatsApp rejects the Flow, the designer shows WhatsApp could not publish this Flow, with the screen and component to fix. Fix it, save the draft and publish again. A failed publish never changes the version that is already live.

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Versions tab

Versions lists every version you have published. Published versions cannot be edited: expand one to see what it contained. The current version shows Live and earlier ones show Retired, each with its number of submissions. Carrier template shows the approved template whose Flow button opens the live version. If no template opens it yet, the tab says so.

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Submissions tab

Submissions shows each contact’s answers against the version they completed. Use the version filter to show All versions or one version. If a submission came from a retired version, its questions show with the labels they had then. Select Export CSV to download the submissions.

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Settings tab

• Completion message: what the contact sees after they submit.
• Language: the language of the Flow.
• Destinations: where submissions go. The Flowella submission store is always on, so every submission appears on the Submissions tab. You can also send each submission to one of your organisation’s webhooks. Set up webhook URLs and signing secrets in Settings → Webhooks first.

Select Save settings to keep your changes.

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Send the Flow

A Flow reaches contacts through an approved template with a Flow button.

1. Create a template with a Flow button and choose this Flow. See Buttons.
2. Submit the template for approval.
3. Send it from a bulk send, the Inbox, a HubSpot workflow or the API.

When a contact submits, the answers appear on the Submissions tab and go to any webhook you chose in Settings.

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