> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveku.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Add and Connect Workflow Steps Yourself

> Add a step to a workflow from the step list, connect it to the steps before it, fill in its settings, and save

The workflow assistant can build a workflow for you, but you can also add and wire up steps yourself on the canvas. Each step does one thing, and the lines between steps set the order they run in.

This guide adds a step to Northwind's "Thank new wholesale leads" workflow: after the thank-you email goes out, log it on the lead's CRM record. The workflow stays switched off the whole time.

## Add a step

**1. Open the workflow**

Click **Workflows** in the left rail, then the workflow's name.

**2. Open the step list**

Click the gear at the top right, then **Browse All Nodes**.

![The gear at the top right, outlined, and its menu open with Browse All Nodes, outlined, above Use a Template, Export Workflow and Import Workflow](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y/images/how-tos/workflows/wfh-01-browse-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y\&q=85\&s=b123af81d838026402ee390004d1d24b)

**3. Find the step and click it**

Type what the step should do in the search box, such as "log activity", and click the step. It's added to the canvas, and its settings open on the right.

![Add Node with log activity typed in the search box, outlined, 1 result, and Log Activity under CRM, outlined](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y/images/how-tos/workflows/wfh-02-add-node-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y\&q=85\&s=1399c0ce3fcfe3fe62b900c85e0d2d42)

## Connect it

A new step isn't connected to anything, so it would never run. Drag from the small dot on the right edge of the step that should come first to the dot on the left edge of the new step. A line joins them.

![The workflow: Wholesale Form Submitted, Prepare Thank-You and Follow-Up, then Send Wholesale Thank-You and Create Wholesale Follow-Up Task, with a new line from Send Wholesale Thank-You to Log Activity, outlined](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y/images/how-tos/workflows/wfh-03-connected-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y\&q=85\&s=e943aa0a00fbe27b32ddb06681c51b8d)

One step can lead to more than one, as Prepare Thank-You and Follow-Up does here: both steps after it run.

## Fill in its settings

Click a step to open its settings. Here the new step logs an **Email** with a **Subject** and **Notes**, and its **Contact ID** comes from an earlier step: `{{prepare-follow-up.contactId}}`, the same contact the follow-up task uses.

![Log Activity settings: Activity type Email, outlined; Subject Sent the wholesale thank-you email, outlined; Notes; and Contact ID with the variable prepare-follow-up.contactId, outlined, marked Unresolved](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y/images/how-tos/workflows/wfh-04-settings-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y\&q=85\&s=14250924cd5a18b63cc46b9ae0a84257)

Text in double curly braces is a variable: a value from an earlier step, filled in each time the workflow runs. The **{ }** button next to a field lists the ones you can use. A variable reads **Unresolved** until a test run has data for it.

## Save

**Unsaved Changes** shows until you click **Save Workflow**. Saving doesn't switch the workflow on: Northwind's still reads **Disabled**.

![The Disabled switch, off, outlined, and the Save Workflow button, outlined, beside Test Run](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y/images/how-tos/workflows/wfh-05-save-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=c0kY-EQX3Kclnp-Y\&q=85\&s=fbc008a7a52931fc480721f5d0ee5e24)

## Good to know

* **Try it before you switch it on.** **Test Run** tries the workflow with a sample you give it. Sending and saving steps are only simulated, so nobody is emailed and nothing is saved: see [Start a Workflow from a Template](/how-tos/workflows/start-from-a-template) and [See What a Workflow Did](/how-tos/workflows/see-what-a-workflow-did).
* **Remove a step.** In its settings, click the three dots, then **Delete**.
* **Undo.** The arrows at the top undo and redo your last changes before you save.
* **More:** [Workflow nodes](/integrations/workflow-nodes) lists every kind of step.


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