| title | Navigate the Standard Workflow Designer |
|---|---|
| description | Learn to open and navigate the designer in the Azure portal so you can create and run Standard workflows in single-tenant Logic Apps. |
| services | logic-apps |
| ms.suite | integration |
| ms.reviewers | estfan, azla |
| ms.topic | how-to |
| ms.date | 11/18/2025 |
| ms.custom | sfi-image-nochange |
[!INCLUDE logic-apps-sku-standard]
This guide summarizes common tasks for using the designer to create, edit, and run Standard workflows in the Azure portal. You can also find highlights and key changes between the classic designer and preview designer.
For example, the preview designer has the following key changes:
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The designer now shows and saves your workflow as a draft version, not the production version.
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The designer toolbar options are now consolidated. The workflow sidebar no longer exists.
Instead, commonly used options now appear at the designer top and bottom. Other options appear in the vertical ellipsis menu (⋮), next to the Publish button.
For more detailed changes, see Differences in the preview designer.
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An Azure account and subscription. Get a free Azure account.
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A Standard logic app resource in single-tenant Azure Logic Apps. This logic app can have either no workflows or existing workflows.
For more information, see Create a Standard logic app workflow with the Azure portal.
To help you quickly learn the preview designer layout, this section summarizes the key differences from classic designer.
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By default, the designer now shows and saves your workflow as a draft version, not the production version.
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Your production workflow stays unchanged until you publish your draft workflow.
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When you run the workflow from the designer, the draft workflow runs, not the production workflow.
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To view the production workflow, in the designer upper-right corner, open the vertical ellipsis menu (⋮), and select Switch to published version.
The production workflow opens in read-only view.
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The preview designer moves many familiar actions to new locations:
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To open different views for your workflow, at the designer top, on the view selector, select Workflow, Code, or Run history.
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To run your draft workflow, use the Run and Run with payload options at the designer bottom.
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In the designer upper-right corner, the new vertical ellipsis menu (⋮) appears next to the new Publish button. This menu contains other actions that appeared on the workflow sidebar and workflow toolbar.
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The workflow assistant is available only in the classic designer.
Follow these steps to open the workflow designer.
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In the Azure portal, open your Standard logic app resource.
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On the logic app sidebar, under Workflows, select Workflows.
From here, you can create a new workflow or open an existing workflow in the designer.
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In the Azure portal, open your Standard logic app resource.
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On the logic app sidebar, under Workflows, select Workflows.
From here, you can create a new workflow or open an existing workflow in the designer.
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To open the preview designer, in the banner, select Enable preview.
:::image type="content" source="media/designer-overview/enable-preview.png" alt-text="A screenshot of the Workflows options in the working pane of the Azure portal with the Enable preview button emphasized. ":::
Follow these steps to create a new workflow in your logic app.
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On the Workflows page toolbar, select + Create.
The Create workflow pane appears and shows the available workflow types.
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For Workflow name, enter a name for your workflow.
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Select from the following workflow types:
Workflow type Description Autonomous agents Stateful workflows that use AI agents to complete tasks. They can start with any trigger, such as an event, schedule, or API call. Conversational agents Stateful workflows that use AI agents to complete tasks through chat interactions. Stateful Workflows that include run history. You can add agents to build intelligent automation integrations. Stateless Workflows that don't include run history. Optimized for speed and ideal for request-response and processing IoT events. -
When you're done, select Create.
The designer opens and shows an empty workflow or a partial workflow, based on your selection. In most cases, the workflow includes a prompt to add a trigger.
Follow these steps to create a new workflow in your logic app.
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On the Workflows page toolbar, select + Create.
The Create workflow pane appears and shows the available workflow types.
:::image type="content" source="media/designer-overview/create-workflow.png" alt-text="Screenshot shows workflow types available in preview experience." lightbox="media/designer-overview/create-workflow.png":::
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For Workflow name, enter a name for your workflow.
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Select from the following workflow types:
Workflow type Description Stateful Workflows that include run history. You can also create autonomous or conversational agent workflows to build intelligent automation integrations. Stateless Workflows that don't include run history. Optimized for speed and ideal for request-response and processing IoT events. Start from template Select a prebuilt workflow template that supports a common automation pattern or scenario. [!IMPORTANT]
To create agent workflows, make sure that you select Stateful.
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When you're done, select Create.
The designer opens and shows an empty workflow or a partial workflow, based on your selection. In most cases, the workflow includes a prompt to add a trigger.
Follow these steps to open an existing workflow in your logic app.
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In the Azure portal, open your Standard logic app resource.
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On the logic app sidebar, under Workflows, select Workflows.
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On the Workflows page, select your workflow.
The designer opens and shows the selected workflow so that you can edit the steps, run the draft workflow, view the workflow run history, view the JSON workflow definition in code view, or other tasks.
The designer provides a visual way to add, edit, and delete steps in your workflow. As the first step, always start by adding a trigger to start your workflow. You can then continue building the workflow by adding one or multiple actions that run after the trigger fires.
To add a trigger or an action to your Standard workflow, see Build a workflow with a trigger or action in Azure Logic Apps. Then, configure your trigger or action as needed.
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Required parameters show a red asterisk (*) next to the parameter name.
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Some triggers and actions might require you to create a connection for a service or product. You might need to sign in to an account, or enter user credentials. For example, to use the Office 365 Outlook connector action for sending an email, you need to authorize your Outlook email account.
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Some trigger or action parameters let you provide expressions or dynamic content, which are outputs from previous steps, rather than hardcoded or static values.
You must manually save your changes. On the designer toolbar, select Save.
No separate Save option exists. As you edit the workflow, your changes are automatically saved as a draft.
If validation errors happen when save operations, the designer shows validation messages.
On the workflow sidebar, under Tools, you can choose from the following views: Workflow, Code, and Run history.
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To build, edit, and run your workflow, select Workflow.
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To edit the workflow definition in JSON, select Code.
[!TIP]
Code view is an easy way to find and copy the workflow definition, rather than use Azure CLI or other methods.
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To view your workflow run history, chronological execution, operation status, inputs, and outputs, select Run history.
At the designer top, you can choose from the following views: Workflow, Code, and Run history.
:::image type="content" source="media/designer-overview/view-selector.png" alt-text="Screenshot shows the preview designer and the view selector at the top." lightbox="media/designer-overview/view-selector.png":::
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To build, edit, and run your workflow, select Workflow.
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To edit the workflow definition in JSON, select Code.
You can switch between designer view and code view anytime. The preview experience automatically saves your workflow.
[!TIP]
Code view is an easy way to find and copy the workflow definition, rather than use Azure CLI or other methods.
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To view your workflow run history, chronological execution, operation status, inputs, and outputs, select Run history.
To run your workflow, on the designer toolbar, select Run or Run with payload.
To run your workflow, at the designer bottom, select Run or Run with payload.
Note
If you run the production workflow in read-only view, the Azure portal returns you to the classic designer.
When you save your workflow, the Azure portal automatically validates and publishes your changes to production.
In the designer upper-right corner, select Publish.
To go back to using the classic designer, in the preview designer upper-right corner, from the vertical ellipsis menu (⋮), select Revert to previous experience.
You can perform other tasks on your workflow. You'll find the options for these tasks in different locations, based on the classic designer or preview designer.
You can find other actions either on the workflow toolbar or workflow sidebar.
The workflow toolbar includes these additional options:
| Options | Description |
|---|---|
| Discard | Discard changes since the last manual save. |
| Parameters | Create workflow parameters across environments. See Create cross-environment parameters for workflow inputs. |
| Connections | View connections in your workflow. |
| Errors | View workflow validation errors. |
| AI > Assistant | Open the workflow assistant. See Get AI-powered help about Standard workflows in Azure Logic Apps. |
| AI > Download workflow summary | Generate a Markdown file that summaries the workflow's purpose and tasks. |
| Info > File a bug | Create a bug in the GitHub issues for Azure Logic Apps. |
The workflow sidebar includes these options under Configuration:
| Options | Description |
|---|---|
| Access keys | View or regenerate workflow access keys. |
| Settings | View workflow state or change the state between Enabled and Disabled. |
| Properties | View workflow health, version, and other information. |
The preview designer moves many other options into the vertical ellipsis menu (⋮), which you can find next to the Publish button in the designer's upper-right corner.
:::image type="content" source="media/designer-overview/ellipsis.png" alt-text="Screenshot shows the preview designer and toolbar with vertical ellipsis menu next to the Publish button." lightbox="media/designer-overview/ellipsis.png":::
The vertical ellipsis menu (:) includes these options:
| Options | Description |
|---|---|
| Discard changes | Discard any changes since the last automatic save. |
| Switch to published version | View the production workflow, which opens in read-only view. |
| Parameters | Create workflow parameters across environments. See Create cross-environment parameters for workflow inputs. |
| Connections | View connections in your workflow. |
| Errors | View workflow validation errors. |
| Disable workflow or Enable workflow | Change the workflow state between enabled and disabled. |
| Info | View workflow health, version, and other information. |
| Settings | View or regenerate workflow access keys. |
| Send feedback | Provide feedback using the Microsoft survey pane. |