Our team is trying to learn the “vocabulary” of GumLoop (what to call each part of the platform) so we can more easily collaborate/train each other.
One thing I’m/we’re confused by is whether to refer to the tabs at the bottom of a Workbook as a “Flow” or a “Subflow”.
This confusion is illustrated by the difference in the wording used for the button in the UI (bottom left of a Workbook) say “+ New Subflow” but then keyboard shortcut saying “New Flow”.
I tried chatting w/ Gummie and eventually got this:
You’ve identified a confusing inconsistency in the Gumloop interface. The same feature is labeled in two different ways:
The button says “+ New Subflow”
The keyboard shortcut says “New Flow”
Both terms refer to the same thing - a new tab in your workbook. This appears to be an interface inconsistency in the labeling.
My current understanding is that a blank canvas is perhaps best referred to as a “Flow” (even though the button says “+New Subflow”. When you add a new tab in a workbook, we’re creating a new Flow with a blank canvas to build on. The term “Subflow” is more specifically used when a Flow is being used as a component within another Flow.
Maybe tweaking the button in bottom left corner to say “+ New Flow” instead of “+ New Subflow” might help clarify?
This is not a huge deal – my team just asked for me to explain the difference to them…and I couldn’t. Some clarification on how we should use those terms would be helpful.
My current understanding is that a blank canvas is perhaps best referred to as a “Flow” (even though the button says “+New Subflow”. When you add a new tab in a workbook, we’re creating a new Flow with a blank canvas to build on. The term “Subflow” is more specifically used when a Flow is being used as a component within another Flow.
Let me help clarify the terminology and relationships between Workbooks, Flows, and Subflows:
Workbook: Think of this as the container document, similar to how a Google Sheet document can contain multiple sheets. A Workbook is where you organize related automation flows together.
Flow: This is a complete automation sequence built on the canvas. Every tab in a Workbook represents a Flow. When you click “+ New” to add a tab, you’re creating a new Flow.
Subflow: This is when you use one Flow as a component within another Flow. It’s not technically different from a Flow - it’s just a Flow being used inside another Flow. Think of it like a function being called within another function in programming.
Here’s a practical example:
You create a Workbook called “Email Processing”
Inside it, you create several Flows (tabs):
“Process Single Email”
“Extract Attachments”
“Main Email Handler”
When you use “Process Single Email” Flow within your “Main Email Handler” Flow, it’s functioning as a Subflow
The recommended terminology would be:
Call them “Flows” when referring to individual tabs/canvases
Use “Subflow” when specifically talking about a Flow being used within another Flow
Use “Workbook” when referring to the entire document containing multiple Flows
Thanks for such a quick and helpful response! That all makes a ton of sense, and the Google Sheet analogy was very helpful. Always appreciate how helpful you are.
With those terms clarified, my confusion is now just about the wording on that “+ New Subflow” button.
I get why when we select nodes within an existing Flow, that button says “Create Subflow!”, but when no nodes are selected and the button creates a blank canvas, it would seem that the most coherent button text would be “+ New Flow”…just a minor tweak to pass along to your team, if possible.
Thanks again, and I’ll share these definitions with my team next week!
Some clarification on how we should use those terms would be helpful.