Canvas view
Every automation can be edited two ways: List (a flat form, good for quick edits) or Canvas (a node graph you build by dragging pieces in from a sidebar palette). Canvas is the better view once a rule has more than one or two steps — it shows the actual shape of the automation instead of a stack of collapsed sections.
Anatomy of the graph
Every piece of a rule — not just the trigger and the outcome, but each individual condition and each individual action — is its own box on the canvas, connected by squared connector lines that show exactly what feeds into what:
| Node | What it is |
|---|---|
| When | The entry point. If a rule has more than one condition, this is also where you pick Any (OR) vs All (AND). |
| Condition | One trigger source (e.g. "Deal moves to a specific stage"). A rule with 3 conditions shows 3 of these, side by side — not stacked inside one card. |
| If / Else if / Else | Only present in branching rules — one decision box per branch. Its two exits are labeled with a colored pill right on the connector line: Yes (condition met, goes to that branch’s actions) and No (goes down to the next branch’s decision). The last branch is always “Else,” the mandatory fallback with no condition to check. |
| Action | One action (e.g. "Send an email"). A rule with several actions in a row shows them chained top-to-bottom, in the order they'll actually run. |
Adding pieces — the sidebar palette
The left sidebar lists every condition type and every action type, both ordered to roughly follow how you’d actually reach for them — most universal/highest-volume first, more situational sources further down:
| Order | |
|---|---|
| Conditions | Contacts → Orders → CRM → Booking → Paid Pages → Campaigns → Communities → Events → Inbox. |
| Actions | Communicate (send an email, notify me, request a review) → CRM & contact data (move/create a deal, change score, compute a value) → Flow control (wait, enroll/remove from another automation). |
Click and hold a row in the sidebar, drag it onto the canvas, and drop it. In a branching rule, hover an action over the branch you want it to belong to — that branch’s box lights up with a blue ring while you’re still dragging, so you can see exactly where it’ll land before you let go.
Clicking a sidebar row appends it the same way dragging does, without needing to aim — conditions always go to the trigger; actions go to the first branch in branching mode (drag if you need a specific branch).
Nested decisions
A branch isn’t limited to a flat list of actions — after those actions run, that SAME branch can check something else and branch again. Every decision box (top-level or nested, however deep) has two buttons at the bottom: + Action and + Nested decision. The nested decision renders one column further to the right, so a chain of “this happened, then check that” reads left to right across the canvas instead of stacking on top of itself.
Branches with the same actions merge automatically
If two or more branches currently end in the exact same action list (same actions, same settings, same order), the canvas shows it as one shared chain instead of drawing it twice — a small badge on the first action reads “Also used by…” listing which other branches point at it.
Dragging nodes around
Finding your way around a big rule
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What it means |
|---|---|
| I edited a node with an "Also used by…" badge and another branch changed too, or didn't change at all | Editing a shared chain only ever changes the branch it's attached to (the "owner"). If it looked like a sibling branch changed too, that branch actually still has identical actions to what you just set — check both branches' actions directly in List view if unsure. |
| A node landed on top of another one | Only happens the very first time a node appears (the layout is an estimate, not a measurement) — drag it clear once and its position is saved from then on. |
| A rule went back to positions I never placed it at | If this is the first time opening that rule since Sep 2026, see the callout above — the canvas rebuild changed node ids, orphaning positions saved under the old ones, once. Drag it again now and it'll hold. If it keeps resetting on every reopen after that, that's a real bug — report it. |
| Dragging from the sidebar does nothing | Make sure you're dropping it on the canvas area, not the sidebar itself. If it still doesn't work, click the row instead — it does the same thing without needing to drag. |
| The canvas feels cramped / hard to see everything | Canvas mode uses the full browser window on purpose (it hides the page header while you're in it) — try a wider window, or use the zoom controls in the bottom-left of the canvas. |