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Setting fallback values

Configure default values for workflow variables when data is missing

Jake Rosenthal avatar
Written by Jake Rosenthal
Updated over 2 weeks ago

How to set up and use setting fallback values

Setting fallback values helps ensure your Workflows continue running even when individual actions encounter errors or fail to retrieve data. This is particularly useful for certain actions such as Scrape Webpage, Scrape LinkedIn Profile, and other data retrieval actions where you can set a default value that the output defaults to if the action fails. This way you can at least continue the rest of your Workflow and plan for these edge cases, errors, or missing information.

For example, if you are researching a company to generate a report about them and you're using a Scrape Webpage action to review their site to then plug into a future action, you can set it to "No website found" if either the scrape fails (due to improper data, other errors, etc.) or there's a data entry issue like a typo in the URL.

Follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the action: While editing a Workflow, click on the action that you want to set a fallback value for. This will open the action's configuration sidebar.

  2. Access Advanced Settings: In the action's configuration sidebar, scroll down to find the "Advanced Settings" section.

  3. Toggle on "Continue workflow if this action fails?": Under the Advanced Settings section, toggle on the "Continue workflow if this action fails?" option. This allows the Workflow to continue running even if this specific action encounters an error.

  4. Specify a Fallback Value: Once you've enabled the continue option, you'll see a "Fallback Value" field. Enter the value that should be returned if the action fails. This could be a simple text string like "No data found", "Website unavailable", or any other appropriate default value for your use case.

  5. Plan for fallback scenarios: Consider how the rest of your Workflow will handle the fallback value. You can use conditional logic or other actions to check if the output matches your fallback value and take appropriate action based on whether the original action succeeded or failed.

Here's a sample of the type of output you can expect:

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