If you're still running automations in Process Builder, you're on borrowed time. Salesforce officially retired Process Builder and Workflow Rules in recent releases, and while your existing ones may still run, they won't receive updates, bug fixes, or support for new objects and features.
The migration to Flow isn't optional. It's just a matter of when — and doing it on your schedule is significantly better than being forced into it during an incident.
Here's the practical guide to getting it done.
Why Flow Won (And Why It's Actually Better)
Process Builder was a solid product for its era. It made automation accessible to admins who weren't developers. But it had real limitations: you couldn't loop over records, couldn't easily handle bulk operations, and complex logic required stacking multiple processes that were hard to debug.
Flow fixes all of that. With Record-Triggered Flows, Screen Flows, Schedule-Triggered Flows, and Auto-Launched Flows, you have one tool that covers every automation use case — and it's significantly more powerful.
The learning curve is real. Flow has more concepts to understand than Process Builder. But once you're across it, you won't want to go back.
Step 1: Audit What You Have
Before migrating anything, get a complete picture of your existing automations. Go to Setup > Process Automation > Process Builder and document:
- Process name
- Object it triggers on
- Trigger type (created, edited, or both)
- What it does (field update, email alert, create record, etc.)
- Whether it's Active or Inactive
Also pull your Workflow Rules from Setup > Process Automation > Workflow Rules. You'll likely find inactive rules you can simply retire rather than migrate.
The goal of this audit is to find: duplicates you can consolidate, inactive automations you can delete, and dependency chains (Process A triggers Process B triggers Process C — those need careful handling).
Step 2: Prioritise What to Migrate First
Don't try to migrate everything at once. Prioritise by:
- High-risk active processes — anything that touches financial data, SLAs, or customer-facing records
- Processes that frequently error — these are already fragile; migration is an opportunity to fix them
- Simple processes — quick wins that build your team's Flow confidence before tackling complexity
Processes you should tackle last: anything with complex branching logic, cross-object dependencies, or integrations with external systems.
Step 3: Build the Flow Equivalent in Sandbox
For each Process Builder process you migrate, build the Record-Triggered Flow equivalent in your sandbox before deactivating anything in production.
The key differences to understand:
- Trigger timing: Flow gives you Before Save and After Save options. Before Save is faster and doesn't count toward governor limits for most operations — use it for field updates where possible.
- Bulkification: Flow handles bulk operations natively. Your logic still needs to be bulk-safe (avoid SOQL queries inside loops), but Flow manages this better than Process Builder did.
- Error handling: Add fault paths to your Flows. Process Builder's error handling was weak; this is your chance to do it properly.
Step 4: Test Thoroughly Before Promoting
Use your sandbox data to test every trigger scenario:
- Record created
- Record edited (specific fields that trigger the process)
- Bulk operations (import 200 records — does everything still work?)
Check your debug logs and the Flow Error Emails that arrive when something fails. Fix everything before promoting to production.
Step 5: Deactivate, Don't Delete (Yet)
When you promote your new Flow to production and confirm it's working, deactivate the old Process Builder process — don't delete it yet. Give it 2–4 weeks of monitoring before you clean up.
This gives you a fast rollback option if something surfaces that your testing missed.
MeetTheMind Insight 💡
Migration projects have a way of revealing things about your org you didn't know were there. I've done Process Builder migrations where we discovered automations nobody in the business even knew existed — processes a developer built five years ago that were quietly updating records in the background.
Treat the audit phase seriously. The migration itself is straightforward once you know what you're working with. The surprises come from what you didn't know to look for.
Key Takeaways
- Process Builder is end-of-life — plan your migration now, on your schedule
- Start with a full audit; you'll find processes to retire, not just migrate
- Use Before Save triggers for field updates — faster and more efficient
- Test bulk scenarios, not just single-record tests
- Deactivate the old process before deleting — keep your rollback option open for a month