Flows - basic usage instructions

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Here’s an introduction on how to use Knack flows (aka automations/integrations).

As of November 2024, flows is available in preview / beta to a limited number of users. This means that we expect that there’ll be bugs to iron out and improvements to make.

For those lucky enough to have early access, I hope this video helps you get started. Remember to report any bugs or feedback to Knack support :slight_smile:

The video demonstrates how to create 2 basic flows:

  1. Create a record every 5 minutes
  2. Delete unneeded records daily

It also demonstrates some current bugs you might get stuck on (although we’ll expect to see these get fixed over the coming months)

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Your YouTube is a gold mine. Subscribed!

Thanks!

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Hi Callum

Thank you for the enlightening video.

Would I be correct in believing we could use Knack Flows to routinely archive records, like we have just manually done using your Log video as a starting point, and then delete those records that have been archived and marked as archived?

Dean

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Hi Dean,

My pleasure. I’m glad it was helpful.

Yes that would likely be possible. It would take a bit of working out but sounds reasonably straightforward

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Thanks Cary! I’m glad you found my channel helpful. Let me know if you have suggestions for any further videos you’d like to see

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Hi !
Thanks for your video (and your channel !)

I am currently playing with Flows.
My first need would be to export some specific tables for backup purpose, every 24h. There is the possibility to use google sheets app, but a more basic way would be ok : for example the csv export like the one provided in the live app would be sufficient.

Do you have any advice on how to do that, and is there is an app that could do the job ?

Thnaks
Francois

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Hi Francois,
I’m glad you found the video & channel helpful.
How to tackle backups depends a lot of how many tables you’re backing up and how much data you have (how many records).
Backups of a small app could be run through flows (I could aim to make a video soon) or via Make, although you’ll need to be careful not to chew through too many operations (for example saving individual rows to Google sheets could use heaps of operations vs saving to CSV would use way less operations).
For larger apps with hundreds of thousands of records, it’s probably best run through an external service (eg a backup script that I have, and I know a few other experts have solutions too)

What sort of size is your app? How many tables & records do you want to backup?

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Hi Callum
Thanks for your response.
I had a closer look at flows, and run some tests. It indeed costs a lot of operations.
I will try to optimise this and test it, but I keep in mind you have a solution for this, I will contact you if needed.
Have a nice day

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