Shopify guide · Manual Flow Triggers
How to run a Shopify Flow workflow manually on an order, customer or product
Updated
Short answer
Shopify Flow lets staff run a workflow from More actions > Run Flow automation, but only workflows that start with an event trigger such as Order created, so the same workflow also runs by itself every time that event happens. A workflow that should only run when someone chooses needs a manual trigger. Toolbench's Manual Flow Triggers adds 15 of them, 5 each for orders, customers and products, that staff run from the record's page or from the list.
How to do it with Toolbench
Toolbench's Manual Flow Triggers adds 15 Flow triggers that only fire when staff run them: Manual order 1 to 5, Manual customer 1 to 5 and Manual product 1 to 5. Build a workflow in Flow that starts with one, then name the trigger in Toolbench, such as "Resend to warehouse", so staff know what it does. Staff run it on one record from More actions > Tools on the order, customer or product page, or on up to 250 selected records from the list. Each run passes the trigger's name, the staff member who ran it and where it was run from into the workflow.
- Install Toolbench from the Shopify App Store, open Manual Flow Triggers and click Turn on.
- In Shopify Flow, click Create workflow and choose a Toolbench trigger, such as Manual order 1.
- Add the conditions and actions the workflow should run, and turn it on. The trigger then shows as On in Toolbench.
- In Toolbench, rename the trigger after what it does, such as Resend to warehouse.
- To run it on one order, open the order, choose More actions > Tools and use the Flow tab. To run it on many, select orders in the orders list and choose Run manual Flow trigger from the actions menu.
Workflows stores run by hand
- Resend an order to the warehouse, 3PL or ERP.
- Tag a customer for review and post a message to the team's Slack channel.
- Add a tag and an internal note to a batch of orders.
- Unpublish selected products from a sales channel.
Why this happens
Some jobs need a person to decide: send this order to the warehouse again, flag this customer for review, take these products off a sales channel. Flow is good at the actions, but it starts from events, and none of these is an event.
Teams work around it with tags that a workflow reacts to. It works, but staff have to know which tag does what, and the tag has to come off again before the next run.
Your options in Shopify
Run Flow automation (More actions)
On an order, draft order, customer or product page, More actions > Run Flow automation runs an active workflow on that record, and the list pages run it on up to 50 selected records. Only workflows that start with a matching trigger appear: Order created, Order paid or Order deleted for orders; Customer created, deleted, enabled or disabled for customers; Product created for products.
Tag workarounds
Staff add a tag such as resend-to-3pl and a workflow acts on it. Staff need to know the tag, and removing it afterwards is one more step.
Scheduled workflows
Flow's Scheduled time trigger runs a workflow on a schedule across the records it looks up. It's for routine jobs, not for a record someone picked.
The catch with Run Flow automation: Order created, Customer created and the other triggers it accepts are events, so a workflow you run by hand also runs automatically on every new order, customer or product, unless you add a condition to stop it. That's a poor fit for an action that should only happen when staff decide.
You only approve what Manual Flow Triggers needs
Toolbench asks for no permissions when you install it. When you turn on Manual Flow Triggers, Shopify asks you to approve only what this tool uses: read orders, customers and products.
It doesn't ask for inventory, discounts, checkout settings or write access to anything. Each of Toolbench's other tools asks for its own access separately, and only if you turn that tool on, so you never grant access for tools you don't use. Read access means Toolbench can see that data but can't change it.
Before you turn it on
- There are 15 triggers: 5 for orders, 5 for customers and 5 for products. Draft orders aren't covered.
- The trigger only starts the workflow. What happens next depends on the workflow's actions, which run with Flow's own permissions.
- Shopify doesn't let apps read workflow names, so staff see the names you give the triggers in Toolbench.
- A list run covers the records selected on that page, up to 250.
- Toolbench keeps the history of runs for 90 days.
Pricing
Manual Flow Triggers is a free tool. The free plan runs any 3 of Toolbench's 12 free tools at a time, with no time limit and no credit card. Premium is $9.99 a month for all 16 tools at once and starts with a 14-day free trial.
Questions
Can I run a Shopify Flow workflow manually?
Yes, for workflows that start with certain event triggers, from More actions > Run Flow automation. Those workflows also run automatically when their event happens. Manual triggers from an app such as Toolbench only run when staff choose.
Can I run a Flow workflow on many orders at once?
Flow's own Run Flow automation runs on up to 50 selected records. Toolbench's list action runs a manual trigger on up to 250 selected orders, customers or products.
Can the workflow tell who ran it?
Yes. Each run passes the staff member's name and where it was run from, the record's page or the list, into the workflow as the Run by and Run from fields.
Does Toolbench change my orders when it runs a trigger?
No. Toolbench only starts the workflow. Any change comes from the actions you added in Flow.
What permissions does Manual Flow Triggers need?
Only the ones it uses: read orders, customers and products. It doesn't ask for inventory, discounts, checkout settings or write access to anything. Toolbench asks for no permissions at install, and each of its other tools asks for its own access separately, only if you turn that tool on.