Salesforce’s Summer ’25 release has arrived with a redesigned Flow Builder experience that changes how teams build automation workflows. The updates focus on speed, clarity, and user experience. For businesses working with Salesforce CRM consultants like Sailwayz, understanding these new builder patterns can help teams create faster, more intuitive workflows.
This guide breaks down the Summer ’25 Flow builder UX improvements and explains which patterns you should adopt in your own automation projects.
The Flow Builder interface received one of its biggest overhauls in years. A single click now opens an element’s configuration panel, speeding up the most common builder task: editing your logic, replacing the old double-click requirement that slowed down workflow creation.
Here is why these changes matter: the new design aligns with modern software interfaces, making Flow Builder feel less like a legacy tool and more like contemporary design software.
Canvas element icons have been updated to modern canvas cards, adding more functionality to the canvas. The cards provide larger selection areas, one-click configuration access, and clearer visual organisation.
The card design includes a new three-dot menu on each element where you can cut, copy, delete, or assign fault paths without navigating away from the canvas. Element descriptions now appear on hover, reducing screen clutter whilst keeping information accessible when needed.
Why copy this pattern: Card-based interfaces provide better visual hierarchy and make actions more discoverable. When designing any workflow tool or automation interface, switching from small icons to substantial cards improves usability across all skill levels.
The new “sticky zoom” feature preserves your zoom level when selecting or editing an element, so you’re not constantly reorienting yourself. The zoom behaviour now matches what users expect from modern design tools, with trackpad pinch gestures and mouse wheel support.
This seemingly small change eliminates a major friction point. Users no longer lose their place on large canvases when editing individual elements.
Pattern to copy: In any visual builder or canvas-based interface, preserving the user’s zoom level and viewport position between interactions reduces cognitive load. Users should never have to re-find their place after performing a standard action.
The new “Create New Flow” modal helps users identify the right flow type with smarter filtering, search capabilities, and different categories. The interface displays frequently used flow types and templates at the top, perfect for teams that repeatedly build similar automation patterns.
This modal is accessible from both Setup and the Automation App, providing consistent entry points regardless of where users start their work.
The modal reduces decision paralysis by organising options into clear categories. New users see curated suggestions based on common use cases, whilst experienced builders can quickly access their most-used templates.
Pattern to apply: When users need to create new items from multiple templates or types, use an intelligent modal that:
Displays recently used options first
Provides category-based filtering
Includes a search function for direct access
Shows contextual descriptions for each option
For Salesforce implementations managed by teams like Sailwayz, this modal reduces onboarding time for new automation builders and speeds up development for experienced users.
One of the most practical Summer ’25 Flow improvements addresses a long-standing pain point: finding nested fields in complex data structures.
The Resource Picker can now search up to 10 levels deep using the new Expand Search mode (currently in beta). This proves especially useful when working with Data Graphs, nested collections, or MuleSoft-connected data.
Before this update, finding a specific field like “Close Date” on a related Opportunity record meant clicking through multiple dropdowns or writing field paths on paper. The expanded search locates fields in seconds.
Copy this pattern by:
Enabling deep search in hierarchical data structures
Showing the full path to nested items in search results
Making search available at every selection point, not just top-level menus
Providing keyboard shortcuts to activate search quickly
Deep search capabilities should be standard in any interface where users select from nested or hierarchical data.
In Summer ’25, picklist values use the user-facing label, not the backend API name. This change improves visual clarity and reduces cognitive load, especially when working with external systems where labels and values differ significantly.
Previously, the Resource Picker displayed API names like “Customer_Status_Active” instead of the human-readable “Active Customer” label. The new approach shows what users recognise.
When to use this pattern: Any time your interface displays database values, dropdown options, or system-generated names, default to showing human-readable labels. Store technical names internally but display friendly text to users. Provide a way to view technical names when needed (such as on hover or in an advanced mode), but never force users to decipher code in standard workflows.
Summer ’25 introduced Reactive Screen Actions for Screen Flows, allowing logic to trigger as users interact with forms without clicking “Next” or “Submit” buttons.
A user starts typing into a search box, and a Data Table immediately updates with relevant records. Or, they make a selection in one picklist, and another one updates based on that choice, no “Next” button required.
The new Visual Picker component lets designers present choices as clickable cards with icons rather than traditional dropdown menus. Teams can add Salesforce Design System icons to choice resources, creating more intuitive selection experiences.
Copy these patterns in your interfaces:
Replace dropdown menus with visual card selectors when you have fewer than 10 options
Add icons to choices to improve recognition and reduce reading time
Implement reactive updates that respond to user input without explicit submission
Show live previews of selections before users commit
Flow introduces a new option inside the Get Records element that allows you to retrieve related records. You can now get Account records along with their related Contacts and Opportunities in a single Get Records element, eliminating nested loops and multiple retrieval steps.
This reduces the number of elements on your canvas whilst improving performance. Instead of five separate Get Records elements chained together, you configure relationships once and retrieve everything simultaneously.
How Sailwayz clients benefit: Salesforce CRM implementations often require retrieving related records across multiple objects. The new Get Related Records feature speeds up automation development and makes flows easier to maintain. When consultants build custom solutions, fewer elements mean clearer logic and faster troubleshooting.
When building data retrieval interfaces:
Allow users to specify related data in a single query operation
Provide a visual tree or checklist showing available relationships
Let users apply filters to both primary and related records
Store all retrieved data in a structured format that’s easy to reference later
Reducing the number of steps to accomplish tasks directly improves both development speed and runtime performance.
The debugging experience received substantial updates that make troubleshooting faster and less frustrating.
The debug panel now displays record collections data in a JSON format with colours, making it easier to digest. You can copy the entire debug log with just one click. The panel is now resizable and includes a search function to locate specific values quickly.
The Has Error operator for Flow Tests allows teams to intentionally test failure scenarios, ensuring flows handle errors appropriately rather than just testing success paths.
Debugging patterns to implement:
Make debug panels expandable and collapsible
Add colour coding to different data types
Enable one-click copying of entire logs
Provide search functionality within debug output
Structure debug data in standard formats (like JSON) rather than plain text
Allow testing of both success and failure scenarios
Summer ’25 brings support for the new Time data type to Flow, useful for scenarios like communication timing (when to send an email) or checking that actions occurred during business hours.
Before this update, handling time values required complex workarounds with text strings or DateTime fields. The new Time data type works natively in formulas, expressions, and all standard Flow elements.
When to add time handling to your tools: If your system deals with schedules, appointments, business hours, or time-specific triggers, implementing a dedicated time data type separate from date-time values simplifies logic and reduces errors.
The Send Email action received a complete redesign with inputs grouped under clear sections like Recipient Details, Sender Details, and Email Content.
Threading tokens are now hidden by default and only appear once you specify a Related Record ID, ensuring proper email conversation organisation without cluttering the interface for simple email tasks.
UI organisation pattern: When forms have many optional fields, group inputs into logical sections and show advanced options only when they become relevant based on previous selections. This keeps interfaces clean whilst maintaining full functionality for power users.
Summer ’25 brings the ability to preview your screens in either small, medium, or large sizes to preview the different methods that users will experience your Flow.
Builders can see exactly how their Screen Flows appear on mobile phones, tablets, and desktop computers without deploying to test environments.
Pattern application: When building user-facing interfaces, provide real-time previews showing how designs render across different screen sizes. This reduces iteration cycles and helps teams catch layout problems before deployment.
Summer ’25 tightens security around Flow execution. Users will only be able to run flows if they’ve been explicitly granted permission through the right profile or permission set. The old organisation-wide permission that gave everyone flow access is being phased out.
Security pattern: Move from broad, organisation-wide permissions to explicit, role-based access control. This “secure by default” approach prevents accidental access whilst giving administrators granular control over who can execute automations.
The new File Upload component for Screen Flows includes a parameter to make file uploads required before users can proceed.
This new component includes an additional parameter that allows you to make file upload required, and it works across Lightning Experience and LWR sites.
Pattern: When building forms that require document uploads, provide clear visual indicators of required vs optional files, prevent form submission until required files are attached, and support file uploads consistently across all interface types (web, mobile, embedded).
For organisations working with Salesforce CRM consultants, these Summer ’25 Flow improvements reduce development time and make automations easier to maintain. Sailwayz helps clients implement these modern patterns in their custom Salesforce solutions, ensuring teams benefit from the latest UX improvements.
The focus on visual clarity, reduced clicks, and intelligent defaults makes Flow Builder accessible to business users while maintaining the power that developers need for complex automations.
Teams should:
Enable beta features in sandbox environments first
Rebuild frequently used flow templates with new patterns
Train team members on one-click editing and deep search
Use the Visual Picker for any user-facing selection screens
Implement Get Related Records to simplify existing flows
Review security settings to ensure proper permission-based access
The Summer ’25 Flow updates demonstrate several universal design principles that apply to any builder tool or workflow interface:
Reduce clicks: Every interaction that can be streamlined should be streamlined. Moving from double-click to single-click editing removes friction without removing functionality.
Preserve context: When users zoom, pan, or navigate, maintain their position and settings. Forcing users to reorient themselves wastes time and breaks concentration.
Show relevant information: Display what users need when they need it. Hide advanced options until they become relevant based on user actions.
Make search powerful: In complex systems, search becomes the primary navigation tool. Deep search that finds nested items is more useful than a shallow search that only matches top-level entries.
Use modern conventions: Interfaces should behave like the contemporary tools users already know. Zoom behaviour, card-based layouts, and reactive updates match user expectations from other modern software.
Organise by intent: Group options and settings by what users want to accomplish, not by technical implementation details. Business logic should be organised around user goals.
These principles apply whether you’re building CRM workflows, design tools, content management systems, or any interface where users create, configure, or manipulate complex structures.
What is the Summer ’25 Flow builder UX update?
The Summer ’25 Flow update redesigns Salesforce Flow Builder with modern interface patterns, including card-based elements, one-click editing, deep resource search, and improved debugging tools. The update makes building automations faster and more intuitive whilst adding new capabilities like the Time data type and Visual Picker component for Screen Flows.
How does the new Flow creation modal improve workflow?
The Create New Flow modal provides intelligent filtering, search capabilities, and categorised flow types with frequently used options displayed prominently. This reduces decision time and helps users quickly access relevant templates, speeding up the initial stages of automation development for both new and experienced builders.
What are Reactive Screen Actions in Salesforce Flow?
Reactive Screen Actions trigger logic or data retrieval as users interact with Screen Flow forms in real-time without clicking Next or Submit buttons. For example, typing in a search box can immediately update a data table, or selecting from one dropdown can populate another, creating more responsive and intuitive user experiences.
Why does showing labels instead of API names matter?
Displaying user-facing labels rather than technical API names reduces cognitive load and improves visual clarity, especially when working with external systems where internal codes differ from friendly names. This makes interfaces more accessible to non-technical users and reduces configuration errors caused by misinterpreting technical field names.
How can Salesforce consultants like Sailwayz help implement Summer ’25 Flow patterns?
Salesforce CRM consultants like Sailwayz help organisations adopt Summer ’25 Flow improvements by rebuilding existing automations with modern patterns, training teams on new features, configuring beta functionality in appropriate environments, and ensuring custom implementations follow best practices for visual clarity, security, and user experience throughout their Salesforce CRM systems.
Joshua Eze is the Founder & Salesforce Architect at Sailwayz, a certified Salesforce Consulting Partner based in the UK. With over 6 years of experience leading CRM transformations, he is a certified Application & System Architect passionate about using technology to simplify business processes. Joshua helps companies unlock the full potential of Salesforce with strategic, scalable, and secure solutions.
