Workflow monitors your site for changes, and following the conditions set in the rule, can Trigger actions defined in the Actions tab.
The rule builder consists of three tabs, Details, Triggers and Actions.
This article describes how to add conditions in the latest version, which includes multi-level nested conditions (for iSheet records only). If the Trigger tab is not as described in this section, please ask your administrator or HighQ representitive about updating your instance.
Example video - Using the File trigger
Watch our video on using workflows with, for example, the File trigger:
Adding triggers
The Triggers tab is an essential step when creating a rule. First, add a rule, then name and describe the rule in the Details tab before adding one or more triggers.
Change the Status to Active after you have built and checked your rule.
Triggers tab
The Triggers tab sets the condition or conditions that trigger the rule - i.e. the event that starts the action, or actions, defined in the Actions tab.
In the New rule window, click Triggers:
Selecting an object and the type of change
You must select an 'object' (the element on your site that is monitored) and the type of change that triggers the rule.
Triggers and actions are both created as an 'if [this] happens then [do that]' statement.
Select the type of object that will be monitored: iSheet record, File, Task, Date or Schedule:
- iSheet record - monitor a column from an iSheet
- File - monitor a folder on the site, or monitor files for specific authors or filenames
- Task - monitor a task list or task status
- Date - monitor an iSheet date column and compare it to the current date
- Schedule - set rules to trigger upon daily, weekly, monthly or yearly frequencies, with or without iSheet conditions
More information on each type of object is available below.
Type of change
The next drop-down menu selects the type of change that will trigger the rule - for example, when a File or iSheet record is either Added or Updated:
These options change depending on the object of the rule, for example, if you choose an iSheet record, the two options are Added or Updated. If you choose a Date, the only option is Reached.
If the iSheet type of change is set to Updated, then one of the conditions (see below) must be either Changes or Changes to:
After choosing the object to monitor you can add conditions. Set the first trigger condition from the drop-down box (or boxes). If displayed, click Add condition or Add column to add additional triggers to the rule.
Setting trigger conditions
Each trigger has conditions that are specific to the type of object: iSheet record, File, Task, Date or Schedule.
iSheet record
As described above, select iSheet record, then specify if the trigger should occur when an iSheet record is Added or Updated.
Add conditions
Select an iSheet to monitor then click Add condition.
You do not have to add conditions if your trigger is set to occur when an iSheet record is added. In this case the action will trigger when any record is added.
If necessary, change if All conditions must be met (i.e. every top-level condition must be met to trigger the action), or if Any conditions can be met (i.e. just one condition can be met to trigger the action).
Set the condition: Select a column from the iSheet, you can set the type of change (operator) and the target value. The options change according to the type of column selected. For example, an image column only allows Blank or Not Blank options; a choice column with set values only allows those set values.
Restrictions on conditions
Updated record: If the trigger is looking for an Updated iSheet record then one of the column conditions must be either Changes or Changes to:
Choice column: You may add a maximum of 15 values from a single choice column in an iSheet if the condition uses 'is equal to' 'any'.
As of version 5.6, you may use a file status system-generated column to trigger a rule, such as approval template status (approved, rejected or awaiting approval), Contract Express status (ready or incomplete), or DocuSign signature status (sent for signature or signed).
Click Save to finish.
The New rule window displays a summary of the saved condition.
You can add further conditions on columns from the same iSheet, which will act as an alternative or additional condition ('any' or 'all'). Click Add condition and create a second condition as described above. If you need more precise, multi-level, triggers you can add nested conditions.
Instead of building multiple rules for similar cases, you can create precise multi-level triggers by adding nested conditions.
Once you have created your triggers and conditions, click Save and continue to add Actions to the rule.
The Actions available in the rule depend on the Trigger selected.
File
As described above, select File, then specify if the trigger should occur when a file is Added or Updated.
Select a Folder, Author, File status or File name that will act as a trigger.
Select Include sub-folders to also monitor all the subfolders of the selected folder.
In addition to the above, you can add additional conditions to the rule. To do so, click Add condition:
And a new condition section is displayed:
Once you have created your triggers and conditions, click Save and continue to add Actions to the rule.
The Actions available in the rule depend on the Trigger selected.
As of June 2022, it is possible to select File status as a trigger:
This option is typically used to trigger actions as a file's approval status changes.
Task
As described above, select Task. A task trigger only provides an Added/Updated option.
Select List or Status that will act as a trigger.
A Task trigger can only use one condition, further refinement is not possible.
Once you have created your triggers and conditions, click Save and continue to add Actions to the rule.
The Actions available in the rule depend on the Trigger selected.
Date
Monitor the date, a date column and define date ranges that act as a trigger.
As described above, select Date. A date trigger only provides a Reached option.
Select an iSheet, the date range and an iSheet date column that acts as the trigger (typically Created date or Modified date).
In addition to the above, you can add additional conditions to the rule. To do so, click Add condition:
And a new condition section is displayed:
This section follows the steps described for an iSheet record trigger
Once you have created your triggers and conditions, click Save and continue to add Actions to the rule.
The Actions available in the rule depend on the Trigger selected.
Schedule
A schedule trigger can start an action following a set frequency: select daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, with a multiple if needed (i.e. 'every 3 days'). You can also set the time of day you want the trigger to start the action.
As of August 2022, by default, Continue until site is archived is selected, so that the rule will repeat indefinitely (until the site is archived or the rule is otherwise disabled).
You may also specify the number of occurrences before the rule is stopped. Deselect Continue until site is archived, then set the number of occurrences (maximum 999):
Additional conditions
Click Add condition to set additional iSheet conditions.
If you add iSheet conditions, the rule is triggered on the selected frequency if a specified iSheet column matches the condition. This is based on the 'passive' data that exists in an iSheet at a particular point in time (as opposed to a user action triggering a change in an iSheet record which is available in the iSheet trigger).
Use an iSheet record trigger to perform an action when a user adds or updates data that matches the conditions.
Even if multiple records match the conditions, the rule will only trigger once.
Click Add Column to add a condition on another iSheet column.
Please note that too many scheduled triggers based on iSheet conditions can cause performance issues.
Save your rule
Once you have created your triggers and conditions, click Save and continue to add Actions to the rule.
The Actions available in the rule depend on the Trigger selected.
Adding nested conditions
This article describes how to add conditions in version 5.6, which includes multi-level nested conditions (for iSheet records only). If the Trigger tab is not as described in this section, please ask your administrator or HighQ representitive about updating your instance.
As described above, select iSheet record, then specify if the trigger should occur when an iSheet record is Added or Updated.
Select the iSheet that the rule monitors, then click Add condition.
Check the iSheet record section for additional instructions and restrictions.
After you create your top-level/parent condition, click the Save button to save it.
The New rule window displays a summary of the saved condition.
Hover over the summary bar to display icons to Edit, Add or open More actions.
- Add 'Or' condition and Add 'And' condition add further 'nested' conditions to the selected condition.
Nested conditions
You may add up to two levels of additional sub-conditions under a top-level condition. These allow you to specify more complex conditions for rules that require greater precision.
These conditions are nested under the parent condition with indents; they only apply to the parent condition and other conditions at the same level.
See Creating sub-conditions with indents for instructions on how to add or remove indents.
For example, in the above example, the conditions first check that the Type is equal to a Sales agreement. Then a second condition checks the Region is equal to EMEA and, as a sub-condition, that the Value column must also be greater than or equal to 1000 the action is triggered - note that the sub-condition (Value) only applies to the Region condition.
If an And condition is set, all conditions (at that level) must be met to trigger the action. If an Or condition is set, any one condition must be met.
Add further conditions to a trigger to build a more precise rule:
For example, in the above image, four top-level (or parent) conditions exist, triggered if:
- the Type is a Sales agreement, and one of:
- the Region is EMEA and, as a sub-condition, the Value column is 1000 or greater.
- the Region is LATAM and, as a sub-condition, the Value column is 1250 or greater.
- the Region is APAC and, as a sub-condition, the Value column is 1500 or greater.
In this example, the conditions ensure that a sales agreement complies with minimum values, that vary in different regions, before the rule is triggered.
Creating sub-conditions with indents
If you have created a parent condition, or have created multiple conditions, you can create a sub-condition, or use indents to change a condition from a top-level condition to a sub-condition.
Create a new indented condition
Hold the cursor over the parent condition summary, then select the plus sign to add a new condition, or click More actions then select Add 'Or' condition or Add'And' condition.
Indent an existing condition
Hold the cursor over the condition summary, then select the right arrow to add an indent, or click More actions then select Indent.
This changes the relationship with other conditions; e.g. a top-level condition becomes a sub-condition of the condition above it.
The 'Any' and 'Or' tags to the left of the summary describe how the sub-conditions are applied:
Select the indent arrow again to further change the sub-condition:
Removing an indent
To remove an indent, click the More actions button, then select Remove indent. This removes one level of indent from the sub-condition.
A condition can be indented a maximum of two times.
List of operators
Below is a list of operators that are available when building conditions:
- is equal to - Exact match on the text string
- is not equal to - Does not contain the exact test string
- is before - Is earlier than a selected date
- is after - Is later than a selected date
- is within - Is inside a date or number range
- is greater than - Is greater than a selected number
- is less than - Is less than a selected number
- is equal to or greater than - a selected number
- is equal to or less than - a selected number
- is blank - Contains no value at all
- is not blank - Contains anything
- begins with - The text string matches the beginning of the input value
- does not begin with - The text string does not match the beginning of the input value
- contains - The text string is contained within the input value
- does not contain - The text string is not contained within the input value
- changes - The input value changes
- changes to - The input value changes to an exact match of the text string
