Export / Import workflows in RingCentral Intelligent Workflow Builder
Updated: June 27, 2025
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RingCentral’s Workflow Builder is nearing GA (General Availability). This is exciting news as it will imbue RingCentral voice, SMS, video, and team messaging with automated processes that you can create without any programming knowledge.
To get started, after you log into the RingCentral desktop application or its equivalent website interface, you should see “Workflows” on the left panel. If it is not there, look under “More” also on the left panel. You can drag and drop the icon to the main left panel if you would rather not have to access it under the “More” option.
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how you can export your existing workflows so that others can use them or modify them for their own purposes. We will be using a workflow that has already been created to respond to a missed call with an SMS message. After we export it in JSON format, we will import it under a different name to show that we can import the workflows and use them as separate entities.
To get started, after you log into Workflow Builder, you will be taken to the dashboard area that lists all your existing workflows, if you have any. This may look similar to the following figure.
Here we are wanting to export the workflow called “SMS reply to missed calls”, so we have to first open the workflow for editing in order to export it. Click the pencil icon [1] on the workflow to edit it. It appears when you hover over that particular workflow.
Exporting a workflow
Once you are in the workflow editor, you can easily start the export process by clicking on the ellipsis to the right of the “Get Help” menu item [1] and then selecting “Export as JSON file” [2] from the list of options. See the following image.
The export process is broken down into 3 steps. In the first step, you are presented with a form that shows the existing name of the workflow and gives you an opportunity to change its name. There is also an area where you can describe the workflow’s features in a description box. This would be most helpful if you had a complex workflow with a lot of steps and conditions, and someone else might be using it. The following image shows step 1.
The second step gives you the ability to add and describe the parameters that are in the workflow to the export, which will be required information for anyone who would import the workflow at a later date. Parameters like the sending SMS phone number, SMS text message bodies, and so on. These parameters are usually unique to each workflow, depending on what the workflow is designed to do, and may or may not be mandatory in order for the workflow to function properly. Here, in the following figure, is an example of the second step of the export form with defined parameters.
The last, third step is a confirmation screen that displays the name of the workflow, its description, if provided, and the parameters in a summary review format. I would look like this.
When “Export” is clicked, you are presented with a file management control at the bottom of the screen. It should look like what is shown below. You can “open” the file or display it in the folder where it was downloaded and saved on your local machine.
Once saved, you can share and distribute the workflow to anyone who may be interested in using it for themselves.
Importing Workflows
The complementary process to exporting a workflow is the act of importing one. Here we will simply import the workflow that we just exported, showing the required parameters that we also defined. In the dashboard of the Workflow Builder, you can access the import process by selecting “Create workflow” and choosing “Import a workflow” [1] — see the following figure.
A file import selection dialogue will appear [2], and you can navigate to the location of the JSON file that holds the defined workflow that is to be imported.
Here we are shown the [1] full name of the workflow that is being imported, with the description that we gave it during the export process. The opportunity to change the name of the workflow [2], and the required parameter [3]. With the descriptive labels that we also provided during export. For the SMS message body, I simply copied the text from the original workflow and pasted it in here, but you can make changes to the message body here as well if you so desire. Once you provide the required information, you can press “Import” to add the workflow to your own Workflow builder environment. You will be taken to the design area with the new workflow imported and ready for any additions or edits that you want to implement.
Workflow Builder is a great tool for defining repeatable tasks. Even more benefits can be gained when workflows are exported and shared. So I encourage you to export and share any workflows that you create, especially if you think that they could be useful for others.
To learn more about RingCentral Workflow Builder and see samples of other workflows you can build, visit our Workflow Builder page