Every Find step — Find an order, a customer, a product, a row, a subscriber, issues — has two ways out, the way an IF has Yes and No:

  • Found carries on with what the step found: the order, the customer, the row.
  • When nothing is found is its own path, so you can build what should happen then — ask the customer, create the record, tell someone.

Build the "not found" path

  1. Add the Find step. On the canvas it shows two paths under it: Found and When nothing is found.
  2. Under Found, select + and add what should happen with what it found — for example Slack · Post a message to tell the warehouse.
  3. Under When nothing is found, select + and add what should happen otherwise — for example Gmail · Send an email to ask the customer for their order number.
  4. Optional: to carry on the same way after either path, add a Merge at the end of both. See Bring paths back together with Merge.
  5. Select Test run. The path the run took shows on the canvas.

What each path carries

  • Found: what the step found — one item each, when it finds several. Steps on this path read it as usual, such as {{ steps.find_the_order.name }}.
  • When nothing is found: one item with found set to false and only what was searched for — the order number, the email address — so the steps on that path can use it, such as {{ steps.find_the_order.orderNumber }}.

Good to know

  • Leave When nothing is found empty and the run simply ends there when nothing is found. It counts as succeeded, and Run detail says Nothing found — the step found nothing and no step followed.
  • Workflows built before carry on exactly as they did: what came after a Find is on its Found path, and when nothing is found it still goes that way, with found set to false — so an IF on found after it keeps working. The moment you add a step on When nothing is found, that Find works the new way.
  • Find one row in a list can still stop the run instead: under If nothing is found, choose Stop the run, and the run fails there, naming the row it looked for. Take the When nothing is found path is the default.
  • A Find marked to be skipped passes what reached it down Found. A Find that fails while set to carry on sends its items down When nothing is found, with the error on them.
  • Removing a Find keeps its Found path in its place; the steps on When nothing is found go with it, and the confirmation says how many.
  • A Find cannot be moved or duplicated, as an IF cannot — it carries two paths. Replace it with another Find where it stands.