Canvas basics

Canvas overview

The canvas is the visual builder where you design workflow templates in Pilla. It only exists on the web app — the mobile app shows the finished workflow runs to your staff, but the canvas itself is web only.

What the canvas is

The canvas is a drag-and-drop screen where every workflow template is designed. You add steps (called elements), wire them together with lines, and group related steps into collapsible containers. When you publish the template, those steps become the workflow runs that your staff complete on their phones.

You never edit the canvas on mobile. Open it on a laptop or desktop browser.

How to open the canvas

  1. Open the Workflow templates view from the sidebar or the dashboard.
  2. To edit an existing template, click any row in the list.
  3. To start a fresh one, click the New template button in the top right of the view.

Either path drops you straight into the canvas.

The trigger node

Every canvas has a trigger node pinned at the top. You can't delete it. It's the entry point for the workflow — every other step you add eventually connects back to it.

Click the trigger node to choose how the workflow fires:

  • Trigger manually — Manual. Staff start it on demand from the mobile app.
  • Run just once — One-time. The workflow fires once at a date and time you pick.
  • Run on a schedule — Recurring. The workflow fires daily, weekly, monthly, and so on.
  • Run from external trigger — External. An outside service (a Pro or Enterprise integration) fires the workflow. Available on Pro and Enterprise plans.

The header bar

A bar across the top of the canvas holds the three fields every template needs:

  • Name (text field, required) -- the workflow name your staff see on mobile
  • Tag (single-select dropdown, required) -- pick an existing tag or type a new tag name and click the Plus icon button to create one
  • Teams (multi-select dropdown, required) -- pick one or more teams. The dropdown has a Select All / Deselect All option at the top

A red border around any field means it's empty and needs filling in before you can publish.

The right-side header buttons

Sitting in the top right of the canvas, you'll see:

  • Save as draft -- saves the current canvas to your draft without publishing it. Staff don't see it on mobile yet
  • Publish -- marks the current draft as live. Disabled while validation fails
  • Close -- closes the canvas and returns you to the Workflow templates view

The canvas does not save on its own. Nothing is kept until you click Save as draft (or Publish), so click it before you walk away. If you click Close with changes you haven't saved, an Unsaved changes popup appears with three buttons: Keep editing (go back to the canvas), Discard & close (leave without saving), and Save & close (save your draft, then leave).

If you're viewing an older published version (see the version dropdown), the Save as draft and Publish buttons are replaced with a Restore this version button instead.

The left toolbar

The left side of the canvas has two stacked icon-only toolbars. Hover any icon for a tooltip.

The top toolbar has:

  • Group -- adds an empty group (a collapsible container) you can drop steps into
  • Inputs -- staff-facing input steps (text, number, photos, files, dates, and so on)
  • Choices -- single-choice and multi-choice steps, plus checklists
  • Media -- video and photo steps that capture media from staff
  • Guidance -- written, photo, and video guidance for staff (no input expected)

The bottom toolbar has:

  • Zoom in / Zoom out -- the plus and minus buttons that move you closer to or further from the canvas
  • Fit to view -- centres and scales the canvas so the whole workflow is visible
  • Undo / Redo -- step backwards and forwards through your recent changes

The mobile preview

A small iPhone frame sits on the right edge of the canvas, halfway down. It updates as you add steps so you can see how the workflow will look on a worker's phone. Click the mini frame to expand it into a full-size, interactive preview.

For more on the preview, see the Mobile preview help page.

Empty canvas first state

When you start a brand-new template, the canvas shows just the trigger node and nothing else. Drag any element from the left toolbar onto the canvas to start building.

Tips

  • Brand-new templates that you haven't saved yet keep a backup in your browser. If you close the canvas without clicking Save as draft or Publish, the next time you open a new canvas you'll see a Resume or Discard banner offering to bring back your unsaved work.
  • Older templates (built before the current canvas) open in read-only mode. Editing is disabled. You can still view them, but to change them you'd have to rebuild them.
  • The Publish button stays disabled while validation fails. The most common reasons are an empty Name, Tag, or Teams field, or a step in the workflow that's not connected to anything else. Look for red borders to spot the problem.
  • The canvas works best on a wide screen. On a small laptop, use the Fit to view button to scale things down.

Mobile preview

The mobile preview is a mini iPhone frame on the canvas that shows you how a workflow will look on your staff's phones. It updates live as you build the template, so you can spot wording or layout problems before publishing.

What it is

The preview is a small iPhone-shaped thumbnail anchored to the right edge of the canvas, halfway down the screen. It mirrors the current state of the workflow you're building. Every time you add or edit a step, the preview redraws itself.

What you see inside the frame is the same view your staff will see in the live mobile app.

How to expand it to full size

  1. Click the mini iPhone frame on the right of the canvas.
  2. The frame animates outwards to fill the screen.
  3. The rest of the canvas dims behind it.

In the expanded view, you can type into text fields, tick checkboxes, pick radio options, and try out the workflow as if you were a member of staff filling it in.

How to close the expanded view

You have two ways out:

  • Click the X button in the top-right corner of the screen
  • Press the Esc key

The frame shrinks back down to its mini size on the canvas.

Filling in mock answers

The expanded preview is fully interactive. Anything you type into an input or tick on a checkbox is a mock answer. Mock answers are kept while you flip between the mini and expanded views, so you can leave the preview open in your head as you tweak the canvas.

Mock answers are not saved anywhere. They're just for your own testing. They don't show up in workflow runs, and they don't follow the template when you publish it. They also reset if you close the canvas and reopen it later.

What the preview does not do

The preview is a visual check, not a full simulation. A few things behave differently:

  • Poppi steps (briefings, decisions, actions) don't actually run in the preview. Those run on the server when the workflow fires for real, not at design time. In the preview, you'll see the step's card but it won't generate text or take action
  • Any step that isn't wired up to the rest of the workflow with a line is skipped. If you've dropped a step onto the canvas but haven't connected it yet, it won't show up in the preview
  • Group containers and the trigger are workflow plumbing rather than staff-facing steps. They don't appear in the preview either — only the things your team would actually see on their phone

Background scroll while expanded

Once the preview is expanded, the page behind it is locked in place. You can't scroll the canvas while the fullscreen view is up. Closing the preview unlocks it again.

Tips

  • Use the preview every few minutes as you build. It's the quickest way to catch confusing wording, missing instructions, or a step that's in the wrong order.
  • If the preview shows fewer steps than you've added, check that every step is connected with a line. Orphan steps (not joined to anything) are hidden from the preview.
  • If a Poppi briefing or action doesn't look like it's doing anything, that's expected. Use the per-step test drawer on the canvas to dry-run Poppi steps with sample data instead.
  • Try the preview both on your laptop and on a real phone after publishing. The preview is accurate, but seeing the workflow on the actual hardware in the field is always a useful final check.

Publishing and versions

Workflow templates have a draft (what you're editing) and one or more published versions (what your staff actually run). This page explains how saving, publishing, and switching between versions work on the canvas.

Save as draft vs Publish

Two buttons sit in the top-right of the canvas. They look similar but do different things:

  • Save as draft -- saves the current canvas to the database as your draft. The template exists, but it's not live yet. Your staff don't see it on their mobile app, and no workflow runs are produced from it
  • Publish -- marks the current draft as live. From this point on, future workflow runs use the new version. The template appears on your staff's mobile app the next time the trigger fires

Use Save as draft when you want to pause and come back later. Use Publish when the workflow is ready for your team to start using.

Saving is explicit — there's no auto-save

The canvas does not save on its own. Your changes are only kept when you click Save as draft (or Publish), so get into the habit of clicking Save as draft before you walk away from the screen. Closing the tab without saving loses your latest changes.

If you click Close while you have changes you haven't saved, an Unsaved changes popup appears with three buttons:

  • Keep editing -- closes the popup and leaves you on the canvas
  • Discard & close -- leaves the canvas without saving your latest changes
  • Save & close -- saves your draft first, then closes the canvas

This popup is your safety net. As long as you pick Save & close (or click Save as draft beforehand), nothing is lost.

Validation and the disabled Publish button

The Publish button is greyed out while validation fails. The most common reasons are:

  • A required field is empty (the template Name, the Tag, the Teams, or a required field inside one of the steps)
  • A step has been dropped onto the canvas but not connected with a line — Pilla can't tell where it fits in the workflow

Steps that have a problem show a red border on the canvas. Fix the red borders and the button becomes active again.

The version dropdown

Once you've published a template at least once, a version dropdown appears in the top-right of the canvas. It shows:

  • Your current draft (if it differs from the active published version)
  • Every published version, newest first, marked with a version number like v1, v2, v3
  • A label on the version that is currently live

Selecting your draft puts you back into edit mode. Selecting any older published version opens it in read-only mode.

Read-only mode for older versions

When you open an older version, the canvas locks it. You can pan, zoom, and look at every step, but you can't change anything. The Save as draft and Publish buttons are replaced with a single Restore this version button.

Clicking Restore this version copies the older version's contents back into your draft. You can then keep tweaking, and publish when you're ready. Restoring doesn't immediately go live — it just gives you the older content as a starting point in your draft.

What happens to runs already in progress

When you publish a new version, in-progress workflow runs are not disturbed:

  • Runs that have already started stay on the version they were created with. Your staff can finish them with no surprises
  • New runs (anything that fires after the publish moment) use the new version

This means you can publish freely without worrying about pulling the rug out from under someone halfway through a checklist.

The unsaved-canvas safety net

Brand-new templates that you've never saved keep an extra backup in your browser. If you close the canvas accidentally, or the browser crashes, the work isn't lost.

The next time you start a new canvas, a banner appears at the top with two buttons:

  • Resume -- brings your unsaved work back into the canvas
  • Discard -- starts with a blank canvas and throws the backup away

The backup is cleared automatically once you've successfully saved the template (with either Save as draft or Publish).

Tips

  • If Publish is greyed out and you can't tell why, scan the canvas for any red-bordered steps. Hover the step to see what's missing.
  • There's no auto-save. Click Save as draft regularly as you build, and always before you close the tab, so you don't lose your latest changes.
  • Older templates that were built before the current canvas system open in read-only mode and can't be edited or republished. You can still see them, but you'd need to rebuild them on the canvas to change them.
  • How many old versions are kept depends on your plan. Enterprise keeps unlimited history; smaller plans keep a fixed number and roll older versions off as new ones are published. The dropdown shows your plan's retention at the bottom.