Export / Import workflows in RingCentral Intelligent Workflow Builder
RingCentral Intelligent Workflow Builder™ can easily establish automated workflows for RingCentral’s voice, SMS, video, and team messaging events — and there is no programming required.
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 received voicemail with an SMS message and a Team Messaging note to the recipient and an SMS message to the sender if they had given consent to receive 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 figure 1.
Here we are wanting to export the workflow called “SMSs on New VM”, 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.
Exporting a workflow
Once you are in the workflow editor you can easily start the export process by clicking on the ellipsis right of the “Save” button [1] and then selecting “Export automation” [2] from the list of options.
You are then presented with a form that shows the existing name of the workflow and gives you an opportunity to change its name. As well you have the ability to add parameters to the export that will be required information for anyone that 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, figure 3, is an example of the export form with an altered title [1] and a single parameter added to it [2].
When “Export” is clicked you are presented with a file dialog where you can designate the name and destination of the created JSON file. 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 single required parameter that we also defined. In the dashboard of the Workflow Builder you can access the import menu by activating the popup submenu when you click on the ellipsis to the right of the “New automation” button [1] and selecting [2] “Import automation”; see figure 4.
After a file location dialog where you locate the JSON file to be imported you will be presented with the following screen.
Here we are shown the [1] full file name of the workflow that is being imported, the name of the workflow [2] (we can change the name if we want), and the required parameter [3]. Once you provide the required information, in our case the sending SMS phone number, 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.
The RingCentral Intelligent 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.
You can try out Workflow Builder yourself and play with its many potential scenarios by going here and logging in with your RingCentral account or you can read more about the platform here.
