A workflow is the sequence of steps a file moves through on its way to delivery — Translation, Review, DTP, or any custom step your account defines. This article is the how-to for the admin screens that build that sequence: creating and ordering account-wide workflow steps, setting up file-extension recommendation rules so the right steps get pre-selected on upload, and layering Organizational Unit-level overrides on top. For what a workflow step actually is and why the catalog is fully customizable per account, see Understanding Steps in wxrks Workflows first if you're new to the concept — this article assumes you already know what a step is and focuses on configuring one.
💡 Who is this for? This guide is for Account Admins who need to configure account-wide workflow steps, file-extension recommendation rules, and Organizational Unit-level workflow overrides within the wxrks platform.
Open workflow settings
Account-wide workflow configuration lives in one place:
Go to Settings in the left sidebar.
Open Translation Settings.
Select Workflows.
The page has two tabs: Workflows, where you create, edit, reorder, and archive the account's workflow steps, and Recommendations, where you set up the rules that suggest a workflow for an uploaded file based on its extension.
Manage account-wide workflow steps
The Workflows tab shows every step in your account's catalog on the left, and a Step details panel on the right for whichever step is selected.
Use the All, Active, and Archived filter buttons above the list to switch what you're viewing. Select any row to load that step into the Step details panel on the right.
Add a workflow step
Click Add Workflow, fill in the new step's details, and click Save step (or Discard to back out without saving).
Field and switch behavior:
Field / switch | What it does |
Display name | The name users see everywhere in the UI. Up to 50 characters, editable at any time. |
Code | The step's API-facing identifier, shown in upper case with underscores (for example |
UUID | The step's internal unique identifier. Click the UUID button on a step's row to copy it — useful for support requests and integrations. |
Sequence placement | Where the step sits in the account's global order. Set it by dragging the step in the list, or by typing an exact position (or using the − / + steppers) directly in this field — useful for placing a step precisely in a long sequence without dragging. |
Active | Makes this workflow available for use. |
Editor Enabled | Enables support for this workflow in the Editor — turn it on for any step where a linguist or reviewer works directly on segments (as opposed to an outside-the-Editor step like DTP). |
Zen Mode | Makes this workflow eligible for the Editor's focused editor mode. An Organizational Unit can override this per step — see below. |
Quote Automation | Automatically calculates costs and creates tasks for this workflow after file ingestion, when Quote Automation is enabled for the project. |
Reorder, archive, and restore a step
Drag a step by the handle on the left of its row to reorder it, or set an exact Sequence placement number as described above — either way, click Save order to confirm, or Reset order to discard an unsaved drag. Reordering only works in the Active filter; switch to Archived or All and the list is shown for reference only.
wxrks never deletes a workflow step outright. Select a step and click Remove step (or use its row's action menu) to archive it — it disappears from active selectors and recommendations, but historical projects that already reference it keep working. To bring it back, switch to Archived or All, select the step, and click Restore step.
Configure account-level workflow recommendations
A recommendation rule set maps file extensions to workflows, so wxrks can pre-select the right steps the moment a file is uploaded, without changing the account's workflow sequence itself. Open the Recommendations tab from the same Settings > Translation Settings > Workflows screen.
The Rule Sets list on the left shows every rule set you've created and whether it's Active or Inactive. Only one rule set can be active at a time — turning on Active rule set for one automatically deactivates whichever was active before. Selecting a rule set opens its editor: give it a Name, then for each workflow row, use the Extensions dropdown to choose which uploaded file extensions should recommend that workflow. The Count column shows how many extensions are currently mapped to each workflow. Click New rule set to start another one, Save to keep your changes, Delete to remove a rule set, or Refresh if another admin may have changed the rule sets while you were on the page.
A file can match more than one workflow's extensions — for example, mapping both Translation and DTP to PPTX means a PPTX upload gets both recommended.
How recommendation priority works
When wxrks recommends workflows for an uploaded file, it checks in this order:
An active recommendation rule set on the Organizational Unit the project is being created under.
The active account-level rule set, if the Organizational Unit has none active.
wxrks' own default inference from the file type, if neither level has an active rule set.
Either way, a recommendation only pre-selects a starting point — a Project Manager can still adjust the workflows for any file during project creation.
Configure Organizational Unit-level workflow behavior
An Organizational Unit can layer its own workflow behavior on top of the account-wide catalog, without changing that catalog for every other Unit. Open the Unit from Organizations > Organizational Units, then its Workflows tab.
The Workflows Settings panel is where a per-step override for this Unit — such as turning Zen Mode off for one workflow while it stays on for the rest of the account — would appear, using the same switch shown in Step details above. It shows Workflows not found until at least one override is configured for this Unit; most Units never need one.
The Recommendations panel manages this Unit's own rule sets, using the exact same editor as the account-level Recommendations tab above (Name, Active rule set toggle, Workflow-to-Extensions table). Click New rule set, name it, and build its extension mappings the same way. A rule set is created independently for the Unit — it doesn't start as a copy of the account's rule set. When this Unit has an active rule set, it takes priority over the account's rule set for every project created under it, per the priority order above.
Where these choices show up
Workflow steps and recommendations are configured here, then consumed in two places:
During project creation
After files are uploaded, the project wizard's Workflows step pre-selects a workflow for each file using the priority order above, and the Project Manager can adjust it by hand before creating the project. See How to create a translation project in wxrks for that full walkthrough — this article only covers where the recommendation itself comes from.
On an existing draft project
Workflows can still be added to a project after it's created, as long as it's still in Draft. Open the project and go to its Files tab.
The left rail lists every workflow already in use on this project; selecting one shows its assigned files on the right. From here:
Click + Add step to bring another workflow from the account's catalog into this project.
Assign files moves files already in the project into the selected workflow.
Upload Files adds new files directly into the selected workflow.
Clicking + Add step opens an Add new workflows dialog — pick one or more steps from the dropdown and click Add.
Related articles
Understanding Steps in wxrks Workflows — what a workflow step is, editor-enabled vs. non-editor steps, and why every account's catalog can look different.
How to create a translation project in wxrks — the full project-creation walkthrough, including the Workflows step.
All about Organizational Units — every other tab on an Organizational Unit's settings page.
Project Overview — how a project's workflow steps and progress are shown once it's underway.
How to use wxrks Quote Automation — the full behavior behind the Quote Automation switch.







