Preview a draft and understand Test Run
Check a simple saved workflow while keeping simulation, effect-capable testing and deployment distinct.
Preview a draft and understand Test Run
Before you start: Use your own saved inactive workflow containing only a Manual trigger and a literal condition, with no action nodes, caller inputs or external providers. Read both branches before testing.
Preview the saved draft
1. Open the workflow and confirm its title and saved definition. For Number 5 equals Number 5, the expected result is true.
2. Select Preview draft. Read Preview the saved draft? and confirm the saved revision is the one you intend to check.
3. Read the statement that Preview simulates action effects, then select Preview once. Wait for the result.
4. Compare the reported status, revision and output with your definition. A completed comparison returning false can be correct when its two values differ.
5. Dismiss the result with Escape, then open Run History. Find the Preview entry with the matching revision and check its details.
Understand the different Test Run boundary
Test Run draft uses a different confirmation: Test the whole saved draft? It warns that the run may change records and contact providers.
For your action-free comparison, select Test Run draft, read the warning, then select Start run once after checking the exact graph. Then compare the result and find the separate Test Run entry in Run History. Do not repeat a successful test just to produce another entry.
For a workflow with actions, review the real destinations and consequences before using Test Run. An Inactive switch does not make every draft test harmless.
What the result means
Preview establishes a simulated result; it does not prove that a message was delivered. Test Run can have real effects depending on the graph. Neither is the same as releasing, deploying or activating a workflow.
Your result should name the mode and revision you checked. Keep the workflow inactive until you deliberately plan its operating behaviour.
Continue learning
In this series: Design and check workflows — guide 5 of 8.
Turn what you learned into the way the team works.
Mark this lesson complete once the workflow exists in your workspace—not simply when you reach the bottom.