Workflow Emails 101

Everything you need to know about the “Send Email” step in Flodesk Workflows

In Flodesk, you can automate your emails beautifully and efficiently by adding them directly into a workflow. Whether you’re welcoming new subscribers, delivering freebies, or running a sales sequence, the Send Email step lets you plug in a polished email exactly when it’s needed. And now, you can also set a cutoff date so time-sensitive emails are never sent after they're relevant.

You can reuse any email from your Emails dashboard.

How:

• In your workflow, click + Add step > Send Email

• Select Duplicate an existing email

• Click Make a copy to clone the email into your workflow

Important notes:

• You’re pulling in a copy, not the original

• Changes made in the workflow email don’t affect the original on your Emails dashboard

• Likewise, edits to the original email won’t update the copy in your workflow

• You can fully edit the workflow version by clicking Edit on the email thumbnail

Best for: Reusing emails you’ve already created elsewhere

You can also build an email directly inside your workflow.

How:

• Click + Add step > Send Email

• Select Create new email

• Design from scratch or choose a template from the gallery

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Good to know:

• This email is autosaved inside the workflow

• It won’t appear in your Emails dashboard

Love the email you just created in a workflow? You can save it as a template for future use.

How:

• Click the heart icon in the top left corner of the email builder

• This adds it to My favorites in the template gallery

You’ll be able to reuse this favorite when:

• Creating a new email in Emails

• Adding a new email step in another workflow

Running a seasonal campaign or a time-limited launch sequence? You can set a cutoff date on any Send Email step so that subscribers who arrive after that date will skip that email and move on to the next step automatically.

This prevents late-joining subscribers from receiving emails that are no longer relevant—like a Black Friday promo arriving in December.

How:

1. Click the Send Email step you'd like to add a cutoff to

2. Toggle on Don’t send email after a date

3. Use the date and time picker to set your cutoff

4. Select the appropriate timezone

5. Wait until your changes autosave

Once set, the Send Email step on the workflow canvas will show a visual indicator so you can see at a glance that a cutoff is configured.

How it works:

• Subscribers who reach the step before the cutoff date will receive the email as  expected 

• Subscribers who reach the step after the cutoff date will skip that email and continue to the next step immediately—no delay, no interruption

Best for: Seasonal promotions, launch sequences, cohort-based workflows, webinar reminders, or any email tied to a specific date or window.

Want to see what your email looks like in a live workflow, but don’t want to unpublish?

1. Go to your Workflows dashboard

2. Hover over the published workflow's card and click the three dots (⋯)

3. Select Preview

4. Hover over the email step and click View email

Your email will open in read-only mode in a new tab, allowing you to review the design and content.

To make edits, you’ll need to pause (unpublish) the workflow.

Can I use the same email in more than one workflow?
Yes. Use the Duplicate an existing email option in each workflow where you want to use it. Each workflow gets its own independent copy, so changes in one won't affect the others.

If I edit the original email on my Emails dashboard, will the workflow version update too?
No. Once you duplicate an email into a workflow, the two are completely separate. Any changes you make to the original won't carry over, and edits inside the workflow won't affect the original either.

Will a new email I create inside a workflow show up on my Emails dashboard?
No. Emails created directly inside a workflow are saved within that workflow only and won't appear in your Emails dashboard.

Can I use a workflow email as a template for future emails?
Yes. While you're inside the email builder, click the heart icon in the top left corner to save it to My favorites. You can then select it as a starting point when creating new emails or adding email steps to other workflows.

Can I edit an email in a live (published) workflow?
You can preview emails in a live workflow without pausing it, but to make edits you'll need to pause (unpublish) the workflow first. Once you've made your changes, make sure to republish it.

What's the difference between previewing and editing a workflow email?
Previewing lets you view the email in read-only mode in a new tab. Nothing can be changed. To edit, you need to unpublish the workflow, make your updates, and then publish it again.

What happens to a subscriber when an email is skipped?
They move on to the next step in the workflow immediately. There's no delay or interruption to their journey.

Can I set a skip date on multiple emails in the same workflow?
Yes. You can configure a cutoff date on as many Send Email steps as you'd like within a single workflow.

Does this work with the "apply date to any year" delay setting?
The skip date option is separate from the delay settings in your workflow. It applies only to the specific Send Email step where you've enabled it.

Can I use the skip date to reroute subscribers into a different workflow?
Not at this time. This feature is designed to skip irrelevant emails and keep subscribers moving forward, without branching or rerouting logic.

Will I know how many subscribers skipped an email?
Reporting specific to skipped emails isn't available yet, but may be added in a future update.