Shape notes

Introduction

You can add notes to any shape in a process flow. This can be useful for many reasons - for example, to keep track of why certain shapes are used in more complex flows; to add reminders for any updates needed in future, or perhaps to leave guidance for another user.

Need to know

• You can add a single note or multiple notes to each shape - there's no limit

• Any single note cannot exceed 64kb

• Notes are not encrypted - we strongly advise against adding sensitive information such as API keys, login credentials, payload data, etc.

• Notes are associated with a shape, not the process flow version, so if you add notes to shapes in a draft process flow and then deploy that process flow, the notes remain in the deployed version.

Accessing shape notes

To access shape notes, click the notes icon for the required shape:

Any existing notes for this shape are displayed:

From here, you can click any existing note to open it in the notes editor, or use the add note button to add a new note.

Adding a new shape note

To add a new note for a shape, click the shape notes icon for the required shape and then click the add note button:

From here you can add required content via the notes editor, then save your note.

The notes editor

Notes are added using a markdown editor, which includes a preview pane for rendered output:

Standard markdown formatting can be used, or you can use the notes editor toolbar to apply formatting and add elements such as code blocks, tables and flow charts.

Click here to view a markdown cheat sheet.

When adding/editing a note, you can apply a colour - perhaps useful to categorise different types of notes with a visual cue.

You can also mark a note as private (so only you can see it), or make it available for all users in your organisation. Once a note is saved, the rendered version is displayed in the notes panel.

Shape note versioning

Notes persist to subsequent versions of a process flow. For example, if you add two notes to a draft process flow, then deploy that flow, the deployed process flow will have two notes.

If you go on to add one more note to the current draft version and then deploy this draft, the deployed process flow will have three notes. The inactive version will have two notes.

For more information on process flow versions, see our Process flow versioning page.