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Flows & Tasks

Understand how flows move through their lifecycle and how tasks drive the work forward.

Flow lifecycle

Every flow moves through a set of statuses. The happy path is linear; pausing and cancelling are side-exits.

DRAFT  →  ACTIVE  →  COMPLETED
               ↓
            PAUSED  →  ACTIVE (resume)
               ↓
           CANCELLED

DRAFT

The flow has been created but not started. Tasks can be edited and participants added freely. No notifications are sent.

ACTIVE

The flow is running. Tasks become READY as their dependencies complete. Participants are notified of their assignments.

PAUSED

The flow is temporarily halted. No new tasks become READY and no reminder emails are sent, but existing data is preserved.

COMPLETED

All required tasks are COMPLETED or SKIPPED. The flow is archived and read-only.

CANCELLED

The flow was abandoned. All pending tasks are discarded. This action is irreversible.

Creating a flow

There are two ways to create a flow:

From a template (recommended)

Go to Templates in the sidebar, pick a template, click Use Template, and name the flow. All tasks, types, and dependencies are created for you instantly. You then customize assignees, due dates, and descriptions before starting.

From scratch

Click New Flow in the sidebar. Give the flow a name and description. Then add tasks one by one, setting the type, assignee, and any dependencies manually. Good for one-off processes you don't need to repeat.

Task types

The task type determines what happens when a task is opened or completed. Some types trigger integrations automatically.

MANUAL

A human marks the task complete after doing the work. The simplest task type.

FILE_UPLOAD

Requires the assignee to upload one or more files before the task can be completed.

APPROVAL

An approver reviews the work and chooses to approve or reject. Rejection blocks the task.

SIGNATURE

Sends a document via DocuSign. The task auto-completes once all signers have signed.

MEETING

Generates a Google Meet or Zoom link automatically and adds it to the task.

CALENDAR_EVENT

Creates a calendar event with all task participants as attendees.

WEBHOOK

Fires an HTTP POST to a configured URL when the task becomes READY or is completed.

Task statuses

PENDING

Waiting on one or more dependency tasks to complete before this task can start.

READY

All dependencies are met. The assignee can begin work on this task.

IN_PROGRESS

The assignee has opened or started the task but has not yet completed it.

IN_REVIEW

Work is submitted and awaiting approval from a reviewer.

COMPLETED

The task is done. Any downstream tasks that depend on it may now become READY.

SKIPPED

The task was intentionally bypassed. Treated as COMPLETED for dependency resolution.

BLOCKED

An upstream rejection or unresolvable condition is preventing this task from proceeding.

Task dependencies

When you create a flow from a template, tasks are linked sequentially by default — Task B depends on Task A, Task C depends on Task B, and so on. A task will not become READY until all of its dependency tasks are COMPLETED or SKIPPED.

When building a flow from scratch you can create custom dependency graphs — for example, Tasks A and B can both be prerequisites for Task C, so C only unlocks when both A and B are done.

Task A (READY)  →  completes  →  Task B becomes READY
Task B (READY)  →  completes  →  Task C becomes READY

# Parallel example
Task A ──┐
          ├─→  Task C (PENDING until both A and B complete)
Task B ──┘

Checklist items

Tasks can contain structured checklist items that the assignee must fill out before they can mark the task complete. This is especially powerful for external users, who see a clean form in their portal instead of a free-form comment box. Available checklist item types:

Text input

Short or long-form text answer from the assignee.

Yes / No

A simple boolean confirmation (e.g. "I have read and agree to the terms.").

File upload

The assignee must attach a file (PDF, image, spreadsheet, etc.).

Date / Time

The assignee picks a date, a time, or a date-and-time value.

Completing a flow

You don't need to manually close a flow. When all required tasks reach COMPLETED or SKIPPED status, Booflow automatically transitions the flow to COMPLETED. All participants receive a completion notification, and the flow becomes read-only.

Tasks marked as optional do not block flow completion — the flow will complete even if optional tasks remain open.

Tracking progress

At the top of every flow page, a progress bar shows the percentage of required tasks completed. Below it, the Activity Feed is a real-time log of every event in the flow's history:

[Flow started]           — 2026-05-19 09:00
[Task completed]         — "NDA Signed" by Alice Chen
[File uploaded]          — "contract_v2.pdf" by Bob Kumar
[Comment added]          — "Ready for review" by Alice Chen
[Task approved]          — "Contract Review" approved by Carol Lee
[External user joined]   — vendor@acme.com opened their portal
[Flow completed]         — all required tasks done

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