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A Workflow is the fulfillment pipeline for files. Every customer-facing upload flows into one. You assign it a Rule at intake, then define what happens to the files afterward — fixing, optimizing, splitting, merging, exporting. Workflows are built in the Workflows tab.
Workflows gallery showing product templates like Business Card, Large Format Poster, Apparel

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The two phases: intake and processing

This is the most important idea in a Workflow. The pipeline is split in two by a trigger.

Intake

Runs while the customer waits. The assigned Rule accepts the files and runs its preflight/validation. This phase is deliberately fast — it only decides whether the upload is good enough to proceed.

Processing

Runs after a trigger fires — not while the customer waits. This is where files are auto-fixed (based on the earlier preflight), optimized, split, merged, and exported to their final shape.
A Rule only ever governs the intake phase. Everything downstream is the Workflow’s job. That separation is why the same Rule can be reused by many different Workflows.

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Build one

1

Create a workflow

Open the Workflows tab. Use Template on a product card, or New Workflow. The editor shows the pipeline top to bottom.
2

Assign a Rule at intake

In the Intake / Upload Rule stage, Select an Upload Rule (or Create New Rule). This sets what customers can upload and what gets preflighted. See Rules.
3

Toggle Soft-proofing (optional)

Turn on Soft-proofing to show the customer a preview to approve before processing continues. See Soft-proofing.
4

Choose a Trigger

Decide when the workflow should proceed from intake into processing (below).
5

Configure processing

Set what happens to the files once triggered — autofix, optimize, split, and how to Merge the outputs.
6

Save and publish

Save the workflow. It gets an id (wf_…) you reference from the Element as workflowId, or select as the default in a plugin.

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Triggers: when processing starts

The trigger is the gate between intake and processing.
Trigger dropdown with options: Once Uploads are accepted, After Customer approves soft-proof, After an Order is placed, Manually from Admin Jobs, Via API/webhook
TriggerProcessing starts…
Once uploads are acceptedImmediately after intake passes — no waiting.
After customer approves soft-proofWhen the customer signs off on the preview.
After an order is placedWhen checkout completes (the common e-commerce choice).
Manually from Admin JobsWhen an admin clicks Run on the job.
Via API / webhookWhen an external system fires it.
Using After an order is placed means you don’t spend processing on files that never convert to a sale — preflight happens up front, the heavy work only after the customer pays.

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Processing: shaping the output

Once triggered, files run through processing steps, which differ by file kind:
  • PDF — autofix (correct the issues preflight found) → optimize (apply an Optimization Preset) → split pages.
  • Raster — autofix → optimize → convert (e.g. to PDF).
After per-file processing, the Merge stage decides what to do with the outputs:
Merge modeResult
Keep separateEach file passes through individually.
Combine into one PDFConcatenate the files into a single PDF.
ZipBundle everything into one archive.
Each run of a file through this pipeline produces a Job you can inspect and download.

Optimization Presets

Force a PDF or Raster into a target shape in the optimize step.

Jobs & output

Where the processed files end up and how to get them.