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

Open the Workflow templates view from the sidebar or the dashboard.
To edit an existing template, click any row in the list.
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

There's no Discard button. With auto-save running in the background, every change is already saved into your draft as you go, so closing simply leaves the draft as it stands. You can come back to it any time.

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 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:

Plus / Minus -- zoom in and out
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. Auto-save and editing are 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.

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