Workflows & automation
Templates vs workflows
Templates hold the words, workflows decide when they go — which page to open for which change, and why switching a template off still stops it.
- 2 min read
- Checked against MoveBoard
- For owners & admins, sales
On this page
Two pages, two jobs:
| You want to change… | Open |
|---|---|
| What a message says — subject, words, pictures, buttons, variables | Settings › Communication › Templates |
| When it goes, who gets it, which orders, what else happens with it | Settings › Communication › Workflows |
Templates hold the words
A template is an email or a text: its subject, its words and its design. Changing a template never changes which orders it goes to. Each template card shows who uses it — Sent by "…", Used by a workflow · off, or Not used by any workflow — and Use in a workflow → takes you to Workflows. See Build your email and text templates.
Workflows decide when
A workflow names the template it sends in its Do step. One template can be used by several workflows — a "Thank you" email after a local move and after a long-distance delivery, each on its own timing.
Switching a template off still stops it
A template has its own on/off (Template on / off on its Details tab, or Template on on the Automation timeline). A template that's off is never sent automatically — not by a built-in, not by a workflow you made. (Someone can still pick it by hand in an order's message box if Offer it in the order's message box is on in its Details tab.) A workflow step that reaches a switched-off template is skipped, and its log says the template is switched off.
So if a message has to stop right now, switching its template off is the fastest way.
Before and after workflows are turned on
- Workflows off (the default): a template set to go on a moment, or used on the Automation timeline, is sent by MoveBoard's automatic messages. Workflows shows those as built-ins.
- Workflows on: templates only hold the words. A template you newly put on a moment does nothing until a workflow sends it. See Turning workflows on.
Variables work the same everywhere
Variables in a template (the customer's name, the move date, their portal link) are filled in for the order when it's sent — whether a workflow sends it or someone sends it from the order. See Variables in templates.
Related guides
- Workflows & automationBuild your email and text templatesEvery email and text your company sends, as cards — see each one exactly as your customer gets it, build an email in the designer (from a ready-made one or blank), send yourself a test.
- Workflows & automationWorkflows: when every message goes outHow MoveBoard decides when each email, text, document and task goes out — one plain sentence per workflow, When · Wait · Only if · Do — and where to find them.
- Workflows & automationBuilt-in workflowsThe messages MoveBoard already sends for your company, shown as workflows — what they are, how to change or switch one off, and how Reset puts it back.
- Workflows & automationTurning workflows onThe company switch that hands every automatic message to Workflows — who can flip it, what happens the moment it goes on, and how to turn it back off.
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Open a ticket from Support inside MoveBoard, or email us — we usually reply within one business day.