Workflow template editor — advanced features

The workflow template editor provides additional tools beyond basic template setup: you can combine tasks from multiple source templates, push changes to all clients using a template at once, set custom start dates by recurrence period, and clone templates for faster setup.

Quick answer

Open the template in Settings & Apps > Tasks > Templates. Use the sidebar to select tasks from company templates or copy from existing client workflows. Use the Bulk Update panel to push changes to all clients using the template. Set the Repeat tasks from dates by frequency when applying to a specific client.

Who can do this

• Company Owners and Company Admins can create, edit, clone, and delete workflow templates by default.
• Company Members can create and edit workflow templates when the Users can manage workflow templates setting is enabled in Settings & Apps.
• Applying a template to a client requires access to that client (Company Admin/Owner, or a Company Member with Client Admin permission on the client).

The workflow editor layout

The workflow editor has two main areas:

• Template sidebar (left) — browse and select templates or copy tasks from existing client workflows
• Task table (right) — all tasks in the current workflow, grouped by recurrence period (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly)

Combine tasks from multiple templates

The sidebar has two tabs:

• Templates tab — lists Company templates and built-in example templates (country-specific job templates for accounting, payroll, and tax workflows)
• Clients tab — lets you copy task structures from existing client workflows

Both tabs have a search field. Tick the checkbox next to a template name to add its tasks to the task table. Tick multiple templates to combine their tasks. Untick to remove tasks from the table. Clicking a template name (without ticking) highlights only that template’s rows in the task table.

When you select a template, all its tasks are cloned into the table including their recurrence rules, checklists, descriptions, topics, estimations, and dependency relationships. Task dependencies are remapped automatically — if Task B depends on Task A in the template, that relationship carries over.

Bulk update clients using a template

When editing a workflow template (not a client instance), the Bulk Update panel appears below the task table. Use this to push template changes to all clients who already use the workflow.

1. Toggle the switch to enable the Bulk Update panel.
2. Select clients — all clients using this workflow are selected by default. Click Edit to narrow to specific clients.
3. Select tasks — choose which tasks to update. Click Edit to pick individual tasks.
4. Select fields — choose which task properties to overwrite:

• Title, recurrence date, topic, Client Portal visibility
• Description, Important flag, Extra flag, estimation
• Checklist, custom fields, email automations, files, comments

1. Set a date — choose the Repeat tasks from date to control when updated recurring tasks begin their new schedule.
2. Click Update workflow. A confirmation dialog shows exactly how many clients, tasks, and fields will be affected. Review and confirm.

Caution

Bulk update overwrites the selected fields on all selected client tasks. Custom changes made directly to client tasks will be overwritten.

Set start dates by recurrence period

When applying a workflow to a specific client (rather than editing a template), the Repeat tasks from panel appears below the task table. Set custom start dates for each recurrence frequency:

• Weekly — when weekly tasks should begin repeating
• Monthly — when monthly tasks should begin repeating
• Quarterly — when quarterly tasks should begin repeating
• Yearly — when yearly tasks should begin repeating

Only frequencies that exist in the selected tasks are shown. If you leave a date blank, tasks keep their existing start dates from the template. Setting a date recalculates the first occurrence for all tasks of that frequency.

Clone a template

To create a new template based on an existing one:

1. Open the template you want to copy.
2. Use the Clone action from the template menu.
3. Uku creates a new template pre-filled with all tasks, recurrence rules, checklists, and dependencies from the original.
4. Rename the clone, adjust tasks as needed, and save.

You can also clone tasks from one client’s workflow into another by switching to the Clients tab in the sidebar and selecting the source client.

Import workflows from Excel

For large-scale setup, import workflows from an Excel file:

1. Navigate to the workflow import page in Settings & Apps > Tasks > Templates.
2. Drag and drop your Excel file onto the upload area, or click to browse.
3. Uku parses the file and creates a workflow with the tasks defined in your spreadsheet.

The Excel importer supports task titles, recurrence rules, topics, and other standard task properties.

Troubleshooting

Bulk Update panel is not visible

The Bulk Update panel only appears when editing a workflow template, not when viewing a client’s workflow. Open the template from Settings & Apps > Tasks > Templates.

Task dependencies are not carrying over from the template

Dependencies are remapped automatically when selecting a template. If a dependency is missing, check that both tasks (the prerequisite and the dependent task) were included from the same template source.

Changes are not applying to a specific client after bulk update

Verify the client was not excluded from the update. In the Bulk Update panel, click Edit under client selection to confirm the client is included.

Cannot edit a template — no edit permissions

By default, only Company Owners and Company Admins can edit templates. Ask a Company Admin to enable “Users can manage workflow templates” in Settings & Apps if you need Member-level access.