The Manual trigger — Only when you press Run — has no schedule, address or app to watch. A workflow with it runs only when someone in the workspace starts it. Use it for jobs you run now and then, when someone decides to: a month-end report, a one-off clean-up.

Who can do this

Workspace Admins and Editors set the trigger and run the workflow.

Steps

Set the trigger:

  1. Open the workflow in the designer.
  2. On an empty workflow, select Browse all triggers. On one with a trigger, select the trigger, then Change how it starts.
  3. Under Developer, select Manual.

The card reads Manual · When you press Run. It has no settings.

  1. Add the steps, test with Test run, then Publish.

Run it:

  1. Open the workflow in the designer.
  2. Select ⋯ at the top right, then Run the live version now.
  3. Choose Production or Development, then select Run now. See Run the live version now.

What happens next

  • The run starts straight away and opens on its run page.
  • The trigger brings nothing. Its output is an empty item, so steps start from values they look up themselves — a Get rows, a database query, a list.
  • It counts as a run in the month's allowance.

Good to know

  • The switch does not matter. A Manual workflow runs when someone starts it, switched on or off. Publishing it still switches it on, and it counts towards the plan's limit of workflows switched on while it is on — switch it off if you are near the limit.
  • Test run runs the draft instead, as a test that does not count.

If something goes wrong

What you see Why What to do
Run the live version now is not in the ⋯ menu The workflow has not been published. Publish it first.