Create and manage Automated Workflow templates

Last update: February 7, 2025

CREATED FOR:

  • Admin

As an Adobe Workfront administrator, if your organization’s content review process is often repeated or content is often reviewed by the same people, you can create Automated Workflow templates that contain those reviewers with proof roles and notification settings that you specify. An Automated Workflow template can be simple with just one or two reviewers or complex with many stages and dependencies.

Automated Workflow templates make it easy to create a proof with an Automated Workflow. When a user creates a proof, they simply choose the template they need.

You can easily change any Automated Workflow template, adding or removing reviewers and stages, at any time. And proof creators who use the template can add or remove reviewers for the proof.

Consider the following when you use an Automated Workflow template:

  1. An Automated Workflow template’s settings determine what you can do with the Automated Workflow for a proof. For example, if the Add a stage button disabled in the template, it is not visible as you work with the Automated Workflow settings for the proof.
  2. When a person is added to a stage in an Automated Workflow template, but also already present as a reviewer on the proof, applying the template removes the reviewer from the stage. If you don’t add another reviewer to the stage, a message will prompt you to add one.
  3. Your ability to modify an Automated Workflow template depends on the template settings configured by the Workfront administrator, as described in . If the ability to modify the template is disabled, only the owner of the template can modify it.

For information about Automated Workflows, see Automated Workflow overview.

Access requirements

Expand to view access requirements for the functionality in this article.

You must have the following access to perform the steps in this article:

Adobe Workfront plan

New: Any

Current: Pro or Higher

Legacy: Premium or Select

For more information about proofing access with the different plans, see Access to proofing functionality in Workfront.

Adobe Workfront license

New: Standard

Current: Work or Plan

Legacy: Any (You must have proofing enabled for the user)

Access level configurationsYou must have Administrator selected in your Proof Permission Profile.

For more detail about the information in this table, see Access requirements in Workfront documentation.

Create an Automated Workflow template

  1. From Workfront, click the Main Menu icon Main Menu , or (if available), click the Main Menu icon in the upper-left corner Main Menu , then click Proofing to access Workfront Proof.

  2. Click Workflows in the left panel.

  3. On the Workflow tab, click New > New template.

  4. In the Details section, specify the following information:

    Template name(Required) Type a name for your template.
    Template ownerYou can select the Workfront administrator or Workfront Proof administrator who will manage the template.
    Template groupIf your organization's Automated Workflows are organized into groups, you can select the name of the group. See Create Automated Workflow template groups later in this article for more information.
    Template timezoneThe default timezone for the template is the one you are working in. If the timezone of the proof creators and reviewers who will be using the template is different, you can change it here to ensure that stage deadlines are set at the right times for those users.
    Allow

    You can select the stage activities you want available to the person creates proofs using the template.

    WARNING: If you don't select the options Add a stage and Add people to stages, neither the template owner nor the owner of any proof using this template will be able to add a stage or share the proof.

  5. In the Stages section, configure each stage of the Automated Workflow template.

    You can add multiple stages and create between them.

    NameThe stage name displays on the Automated Workflow diagram at the top of the Workflow section, on the Proof Details page, and in the email notifications sent to reviewers.
    Activate stage

    Specify whether the stage is activated automatically or manually. For the first stage, you can select On proof creation, On a specific date & time, or Manually.

    The other options become available when you add a second stage because they require you to select a parent stage.

    Deadline calculated from

    Specify how you want the deadline to be calculated:

    • Proof creation: In the drop-down list under Deadline (+ business days), select the number of business days you want to add to the proof creation date to automatically set a deadline on the proof.

    • When stage starts: In the drop-down list under Deadline (+ business days), select the number of business days you want to add to the stage activation date to automatically set a deadline on the proof.

    Lock stageSpecify whether you want to allow the stage to be locked for comments. The options are to lock a stage manually or automatically, either when the next stage starts or when all decisions are made on the parent stage.
    Primary decision makerThe available decision makers display in the list only after you have added the reviewers to the stage.
    Only one decision requiredThe review process for the stage will be completed as soon as one of the decision makers submits their decision. For more information, see Configure Proof Settings in Workfront Proof.
    Private stageHides comments and decisions from to people who are not added to the stage or who are not Workfront administrators. For more information, see Automated Workflow overview.
    Do not allow this stage to be deletedMakes the stage mandatory.

  6. If the proofs that will use this template are always sent to the same people in the stage, add them here so that users don’t have to add them every time they create a proof.

    Choose each person’s Role on the proofs that will use this template and the Email alerts you want the user to receive when working on proofs that use this template.

    For information about roles on a proof, see Configure default proofing roles. For information about proof email alerts, see the section Configure proof defaults for a user in the article Configure email notification settings in Workfront Proof.

    Each user can be added to only one stage. You can add as many users as you want to a stage.

    TIP
    You can drag and drop reviewers names between stages on the stages diagram. Available stages are highlighted in blue.

  7. Repeat the two previous steps for any other stages you want to add to the template.

    At the top of the Workflow section, you can see a diagram of the Automated Workflow you are setting up. As you continue to add stages, they appear on the diagram with lines showing the dependencies between them. You can click on a stage in the diagram to view the settings for that stage.

    If you don’t need to see the diagram, you can click Hide Diagram.

  8. In the Share template with section, click an option (if the template is not already shared with the whole organization) to specify who will be able to use it.

    By default, new Automated Workflow templates are shared with everyone in your organization.

  9. Click Create.

Modify an Automated Workflow template

As a Workfront Proof administrator, you can modify an Automated Workflow template. Your changes are saved automatically as you make them.

  1. From Workfront, click the Main Menu icon Main Menu , or (if available), click the Main Menu icon in the upper-left corner Main Menu , then click Proofing to access Workfront Proof.

  2. Click Workflows in the left panel.

  3. In the Workflow templates list that appears, click the template you want to modify.

  4. In the Details section, specify the following information:

    Template name(Required) Type a name for your template.
    Template ownerYou can select the Workfront administrator or Workfront Proof administrator who will manage the template.
    Template groupIf your organization's Automated Workflows are organized into groups, you can select the name of the group. See Create Automated Workflow template groups later in this article for more information.
    Template timezoneThe default timezone for the template is the one you are working in. If the timezone of the proof creators and reviewers who will be using the template is different, you can change it here to ensure that stage deadlines are set at the right times for those users.
    Allow

    Select the stage activities you want available to those who create proofs using the template.

    WARNING: If you don't select the options Add a stage and Add people to stages, neither the template owner nor the owner of any proof using this template will be able to add a stage or share the proof.

  5. In the Workflow section, change the name of any stage and expand it’s settings Expand button to make any needed changes:

    Deadline calculated from

    Specify how you want the deadline to be calculated:

    • Deadline calculated from proof creation: In the Set the stage deadline drop-down list, select the number of business days you want to add to the proof creation date to automatically set a deadline on the proof.

    • Deadline calculated from stage activation: In the Set the stage deadline drop-down list, select the number of business days you want to add to the stage activation date to automatically set a deadline on the proof.

    Activate stage

    Specify whether the stage is activated automatically or manually. For the first stage, you can select On proof creation, On a specific date & time, or Manually.

    The other options become available when you add a second stage because they require you to select a parent stage.

    Lock stageSpecify whether you want to allow the stage to be locked for comments. The options are to lock a stage manually or automatically, either when the next stage starts or when all decisions are made on the parent stage.
    DecisionEnds the stage the first time one of the decision makers submits their decision. For more information, see Configure Proof Settings in Workfront Proof.
    PrivacyHides comments and decisions from to people who are not added to the stage or who are not Supervisors and above in the account. For more information, see Automated Workflow overview.
    Stage deletionMakes the stage mandatory.
    More

    Add reviewers to the stage or delete the stage.

    If each of your proofs is sent to the same people in a particular stage, you can specify their names here name so that you don't have to add them every time you create a proof. Type and select the name of a user you want to add to the stage, then add their Role on the proof and Email alerts settings you want for the user. For information about proofing roles, see Configure default proofing roles. For information about proof email alerts, see the section Configure proof defaults for a user in the article Configure email notification settings in Workfront Proof.

    You can add as many users as you want to a stage

    Tip: You can drag and drop reviewers names between stages on the stages diagram. Available stages are highlighted in blue.

  6. Repeat the step for any other stages you want to add to the template.

    At the top of the Workflow section, you can see a diagram of the Automated Workflow you are setting up. As you continue to add stages, they appear on the diagram with lines showing the dependencies between them. You can click on a stage in the diagram to view the settings for that stage.

    If you don’t need to see the diagram, you can click Hide Diagram.

  7. In the Shared with section, if you want to delete a user, click the More More icon button to the right, then click Remove.

Create Automated Workflow template groups

As a Workfront administrator, you can view and manage all of the Automated Workflow templates in your organization’s account. It can be helpful to organize templates into groups.

To create an Automated Workflow template group:

  1. From Workfront, click the Main Menu icon Main Menu , or (if available), click the Main Menu icon in the upper-left corner Main Menu , then click Proofing to access Workfront Proof.

  2. Click Workflows in the left panel.

  3. On the Workflow tab, click New > New template group.

  4. Type a descriptive name for the new template group, then press Enter.

You can move the templates between groups by dragging and dropping.

Manage Automated Workflow templates

  1. From Workfront, click the Main Menu icon Main Menu , or (if available), click the Main Menu icon in the upper-left corner Main Menu , then click Proofing to access Workfront Proof.

  2. In the left panel in Workfront Proof, click Workflows.

  3. On the Workflows page that appears, do any of the following:

    • Add a new template
    • Add a new template group
    • Delete one or more template groups
    • Access a template’s details
    • Drag a template to a different template group
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