---
schema_version: "1"
id: 4cf0837df3bbac2eee4c8a88be0de39bd75ef1fbe7f5bf5851b4b23733674dc1
title: Before-Save Record-Triggered Flows
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/flow_concepts_trigger_record.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.flow_concepts_trigger_record.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: b8f1a9ef9df63cce81c7a81b0d35f47bcf97dd565f7d3a042133a42269f8ac8d
description: Creating or updating a record can trigger a record-triggered flow to make additional updates to that record before it's saved to the database. A record-triggered flow can update a Salesforce record 10 times faster than a record-change process. Configure the record trigger in the Start element of your record-triggered flow.
products:
  - Flow Builder
  - Salesforce Platform
release: "264"
---
# Before-Save Record-Triggered Flows

Creating or updating a record can trigger a record-triggered flow to make additional updates to that record before it's saved to the database. A record-triggered flow can update a Salesforce record 10 times faster than a record-change process. Configure the record trigger in the Start element of your record-triggered flow.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.flow_ref_supported_editions.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Learn about the editions and user interfaces that support Flow Builder. Some Flow Builder features integrate with other Salesforce products that require additional licenses.">View supported editions.</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Perhaps you’re familiar with Process Builder and using a record-change process to make additional updates to each record that triggers the process. Before-save updates in flows accomplish that same goal, but much more quickly because each record doesn’t get saved to the database again. Avoiding that extra save procedure means skipping another round of assignment rules, auto-response rules, workflow rules, and other customizations that take time to run.

Perhaps you’re familiar with Apex triggers. A flow that makes before-save updates is similar to a `before` trigger. The previously described record-change process is similar to an `after` trigger. In a save procedure, before-save updates in flows are run immediately before Apex `before` triggers.

Because of their speed, we recommend that you use before-save updates in flows to update fields on new or changed records. However, sometimes you need to use a record-change process or an Apex `after` trigger to:

- Access field values that are set only after the record is saved, such as the Last Modified Date field or the ID of the new record.
- Create or update related records.
- Perform actions other than updating the record that launches the flow.

Flows that make before-save updates are typically simpler to build than other types of flows.

- The `$Record` global variable contains the values from the record that triggers the flow to run. As a result, there’s no need to add a Get Records element to obtain the record data nor create flow variables to store the record data.
- When the flow changes the values in the `$Record` global variable, Salesforce automatically applies those new values to the record. So there’s no need to add an Update Records element to save the new values to the database.
- Only these elements are supported: Assignment, Decision, Get Records, and Loop. These elements let you obtain data from other Salesforce records, and use them to decide whether to update the triggering record’s fields and to what values.

#### See Also

- [Record-Triggered Flow Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.flow_considerations_trigger_record.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "A record-triggered autolaunched flow makes additional updates to the triggering record before or after it’s saved to the database. Understand the considerations and special behaviors of flows that make before- and after-save updates.")
- [_Apex Developer Guide_ : Triggers and Order of Execution](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_triggers_order_of_execution.htm)