Changing the steps of one collection

Each collection has its own copy of its steps and questions. You can change them directly in the collection, or replace them by applying a workflow. Applying a workflow to a collection that already has ideas sends every idea back to the Inbox and deletes all step answers, so read this page first.

Who can do this: Collection managers and Admins. A Manager can do this only for collections they manage.

Workflow changes do not reach existing collections

When a collection is set up from a workflow, Hives copies the workflow into the collection. After that:

Editing the workflow does not change the collection.
Editing the collection does not change the workflow.
There is no button to update a collection with the latest version of its workflow.

Learn more in What is a workflow?

Edit the collection’s own steps

This is the safe way to change one collection. Nothing is lost unless you delete something.

Open the collection and choose Manage.
In the left sidebar, click Inbox or a step.
Open the Form & step settings tab (Inbox) or the Step tab (a step).
Make your changes and click Save in the Unsaved changes bar.

You can:

add steps with Add step, and drag steps to reorder them;
rename a step or change its description, colour, panel, reminders and settings;
add, edit, reorder and delete questions.

Renaming steps, questions or options keeps every answer. For details, see Adding and setting up steps and Question types and settings.

What deleting a step removes

When you delete a step from a collection:

Every idea in that step goes back to the Inbox. Nobody is notified.
The step’s questions and every answer to them are permanently deleted.
The record of when ideas entered the step, the reviews given at the step and the step’s automatic comments are deleted.

Ideas themselves, their form answers, comments and likes or votes are kept.

What deleting a question removes

Deleting a question permanently deletes every answer given to it, on every idea in the collection. Removing an option or a rating parameter deletes the answers that used it. The confirmation does not warn you about this.

Apply a different workflow

Applying a workflow replaces the collection’s steps with a copy of the workflow’s steps. Use it to set up a new collection quickly. Think twice before using it on a collection that already has ideas.

Open the collection and choose Manage.
In the left sidebar, click Select a workflow. (A collection with no steps shows it under “No steps yet”.)
Start typing in the Workflow field and pick a workflow.
If the collection already has steps or ideas, a warning appears. Type change in the Confirm change field.
Click Select.

You cannot pick the workflow the collection already uses. So you cannot re-apply the same workflow to pick up its latest changes.

What is lost when you apply a workflow

If the collection already has steps or ideas, applying a workflow does all of this, and it cannot be undone:

Every idea goes back to the Inbox, whichever step it was in. Nobody is notified.
All current steps are deleted, with their questions, panels and settings.
Every answer to those step questions is deleted, including all ratings and comments on ratings.
Step history and reviews are deleted: the dates ideas entered each step, and the reviews given at those steps.

What is replaced

These collection settings are overwritten with the workflow’s:

what the collection is collecting (ideas, feedback, posts and so on);
reactions on or off, and Like or Vote;
whether hidden contributions are allowed;
the Inbox settings: panel, reminder days, hide ideas, allow reactions and enable reviewer.

What is kept

The ideas themselves, with their comments, likes or votes, assignees and contributors.
If the collection has at least one idea, the submission form and the Inbox questions stay as they are, with all their answers. The workflow’s form and Inbox questions are not used.
If the collection has no ideas yet, the form and Inbox questions are replaced with the workflow’s.

Good to know: If you only want to add a step or change a few questions, edit the collection’s steps directly instead. Applying a workflow is the only way to change what a collection is collecting, so plan that before people start submitting.

Common questions

Can I undo applying a workflow? No. Deleted steps and answers cannot be restored.

Will submitters be told their idea moved back to the Inbox? No. Nobody is notified when a workflow change or a step deletion sends ideas back to the Inbox. You may want to tell people yourself.

Can I save a collection’s steps as a new workflow? No. Only Admins create workflows, in Menu > Admin > Workflows. See How to create a workflow.