Drawing process flows

Steps, decisions, swimlanes and Salesforce templates — how a team works, on one page, beside the prototypes it leads to.

1. 1

   Open the Flows workspace

   In a project, choose the Process flows tab and start from a blank canvas, the sample case escalation, or one of the ten Salesforce process templates — lead to opportunity, opportunity to close, quote to cash, customer onboarding, partner deal registration and more. A template opens as a finished diagram on lanes; change what is different about yours. From any editor, the strip at the far left switches workspace.

2. 2

   Add shapes and connect them

   Drag a shape from the palette — Basics, Flowchart, Salesforce, Icons, or My shapes for your own SVGs — onto the canvas, or click it to add one in the middle. Hover a shape and drag from one of its handles to another to connect them. Select a connector to label it, make it a Yes or No branch, choose an elbow, straight or curved route, put an arrowhead at either end, and click + on it to add a bend. Double-click a shape to type its label; Properties → Style sets its fill, border and text.

3. 3

   Use lanes for who does what

   Add lane puts a swimlane under the last one; the arrow beside it adds a vertical lane, a pool with lanes inside it, or a titled container. Drag steps in, drag the lane to move them together, and select it to rename, colour, turn or resize it from the corners.

4. 4

   Link a step to a prototype and walk the flow

   Select a step and choose one of the project's prototypes under Opens prototype page. Press Interact and click the step: the page opens in front of the diagram, live, so a stakeholder goes from the process straight to the screen. A shared link opens it too.

5. 5

   Bring your own

   Add an SVG shape under My shapes brings a file in as one of the flow's own shapes; it stays with the flow and is offered to every other flow in the project. The ⋯ menu has Import a draw.io file, which reads a .drawio diagram onto the canvas, and Draft with AI, which turns a plain description into a first draft on lanes — it uses one AI build and asks first.

6. 6

   Save, export and share

   Save keeps the flow in the project and, signed in, in your account. PNG, SVG and PDF download the diagram; Download JSON saves the flow itself. Share works like a prototype: the link opens a read-only diagram, and its linked prototype pages open from there.