Understand the types of steps

Flowcharts are a legacy flow type. If you do not have existing checkflows, we recommend you disregard this document and look into new flows instead.

The nodes in a flowchart are called steps. There are a few different types with different properties.

Start step

Every flowchart has exactly one start step which is created automatically and cannot be edited or deleted. Users don't interact directly with it, it just indicates where the flow begins.

Choice step

Choice steps are for presenting information to the user and requesting a response. The user chooses a response from those available and proceeds to the next step in the flow based on that choice.

There are a few types of choice step for different purposes, referred to as "intents" in the assistant builder. They behave similarly, but using the most appropriate one for your goal will help keep your flow readable.

Question intent

Choice steps with the question intent are for asking the user a question with multiple possible answers. These steps are created with two default responses, "Yes" and "No", but any number of responses can be configured with any desired text.

Question steps are useful for giving the user multiple alternatives and are the primary way a flowchart steers the user toward the information they need. For example, your flow might start with a question step asking what the user needs, with one of the responses being "I have a technical question". That response could then lead to another question step asking what the user's question is about, with your FAQ's categories as responses. Each of those responses could lead to another question step with that FAQ category's questions as its responses.

Message intent

Choice steps with the message intent are for conveying information to the user and requesting acknowledgment. These steps are created with one default response, "Ok", but any number of responses can be configured with any desired text.

Message steps are useful for providing information to the user, such as in answer to a user's question. For example, if your flow includes a FAQ, the answers can be presented as message steps.

Action intent

Choice steps with the action intent are for suggesting the user perform an action and confirm when complete. These steps are created with one default response, "Done", but any number of responses can be configured with any desired text.

Action steps are useful for stepping the user through a defined process. For example, you could instruct the user how to perform a factory reset on their device by using a series of action steps.

Solution step

Solution steps are for presenting a possible solution to a user's problem and requesting confirmation that it worked. Because the responses for these steps are intended to reflect whether the solution worked, they cannot be edited. The response options the user will see in the assistant are "Problem solved" and "Problem is still there".

By connecting the negative response to another solution, you can present the user with a series of solutions to try in order.

Live support step

Live support steps allow users to connect with your support agents. Entering a live support step causes the user's conversation to show up in the agent dashboard where it can be picked up by an agent who can then assist the user via live chat. For more information on the agent dashboard's capabilities, see Intro to the agent dashboard.

When the support agent ends the live chat, they are prompted to indicate whether the issue has been resolved. The user is then taken to the part of the flow corresponding to the support agent's response.

Restart step

Restart steps send users back to the start step, just like starting a brand new conversation. Users don't directly interact with the step, they simply return to the flow's beginning.

Restart steps can be useful to allow users to restart if they have more than one question or problem.

Note that if you instead want the user to return to a specific earlier part of the flow, such as when they have received an answer in the FAQ and indicate they have another question, you can connect directly to that previous part of the flow instead of using a restart step.

Escalation start step

Escalation start steps indicate the beginning of a section of the flow that is specifically for escalating the user's case to an external support system. The escalation start step does not itself do anything and the user does not interact with it; it simply indicates that the following steps are part of the escalation flow.

See Understand escalation for more information on what happens when a conversation is escalated.

Note step

Note steps have no effect on flow behavior and are simply for adding text-based notes to the canvas to help keep the flow readable. For more information, see Understand canvas notes.