Overview
An action button is a button you define and place where your team already works: in a view’s header, or on a page’s row in the sidebar. Clicking it does exactly one thing, which you choose from six action types. They exist to put a routine step one click away instead of three menus deep. A support view gets a Log a ticket button; an ops dashboard gets Run nightly sync; a pipeline board gets Show my deals only.Where they appear
Both placements run the same action, so a button behaves identically wherever you put it. Only the chrome differs: a header button shows its label, a sidebar button shows it as a tooltip.
Action types
Apply filter is view-only. Filters belong to a block, and a page can host
several views, so a page-scoped filter action has no unambiguous target. The
type is hidden in the editor when you are configuring a sidebar page row,
rather than offered as a button that would quietly do nothing.
Create record
The button opens the create form so the record can be reviewed before it is saved. Nothing is written until you submit. Pick a template to prefill the form. The action’s own template overrides the object’s default for this button only, so one view can carry a New enterprise deal button and a New SMB deal button over the same object. On a view header, a create-record button also gets a dropdown listing the object’s templates, and starring one there saves it back onto the action as that button’s default.Run workflow
Fires the workflow immediately and reports back with a toast: the button’s own label on success, or the workflow’s error message on failure. The button shows a spinner while the run is in flight. This is the manual counterpart to a workflow trigger. The workflow itself is unchanged; the button is just another way to start it.Apply filter
Applies a saved set of conditions to a block on the view you are looking at, the same conditions you would build by hand in the filter bar. The view has to be open, because the button is filtering what is on screen rather than saving anything. Clicking one from a sidebar row while the view is closed reports that it could not apply. On a dashboard with more than one block, pick which block the conditions target. Changing the block clears the conditions, because filters are built against that block’s property schema and would not survive the move.Open link
Opens the URL in a new tab, withnoopener and noreferrer set. Useful for the one external tool a team keeps alongside a view.
Buttons on a record
Each object can carry its own buttons in the header of every one of its records. A contact gets New deal, a deal gets Create quote while it’s in Proposal and View contract once it’s signed. Open Settings → Objects, pick the object, open the Buttons tab and choose Edit buttons. For the objects you bill and quote from, the same editor is also on the Buttons on records tab of Settings → Quotes and invoicing. Changing them takes edit access on the object, the same as adding a property. A record button can use most of the types above (not Apply filter or Start conversation), plus three that act on the record itself:
Create linked record links the new record through a relation field on the other object that points back at this one. If there isn’t one, the editor says so and the new record isn’t linked. Copy from this record offers the fields both objects share by key and type, such as Owner.
Run workflow on a record starts the run from that record, with its id in the trigger data.
Show when
Each record button can have Show when conditions, built with the same pills as the filter bar. The button appears on records that match every condition, and is left out entirely on the rest. With no conditions it shows on every record. Some buttons hide themselves too: Open related only shows when the record has a contract or quote to open, and Create quote hides while the record has a draft or sent quote.In the header
Two record buttons sit in the header and the rest go under ⋯. Turn on Highlight this button to draw one as the header’s main button; it always comes first, and only one can be highlighted per object.Building one
1
Open the editor
On a view: open the page, click the gear icon (Edit views) in the header, then Add action or Actions.On a sidebar page: hover the page in the sidebar, open its
... menu, and choose Actions. The count beside it tells you how many the page already has.2
Pick the action type
Each type carries a one-line description of what the button will do, so you can pick by outcome rather than by name.
3
Configure the target
Choose the object, page, workflow, URL, or conditions the action needs. Until you do, the card reads as unfinished (“Pick an object”, “Add at least one condition”) rather than looking configured.
4
Label and style it
Give it a label and an icon. Custral suggests icons from the label as you type. Optionally pick a colour.
5
Save
Click Save actions. Nothing is written until you do, so closing the editor discards the changes.
Appearance
Colour is a soft tint drawn from the workspace palette, not a raw hex, so buttons stay in step with the rest of the header and with dark mode.
Troubleshooting
See also
- Filters: the conditions an apply-filter action saves.
- Saved views: capture a whole view rather than one filter.
- Workflows: what a run-workflow button triggers.
- Pages: the sidebar rows that can carry actions.
- Quick Actions: the fixed Note / Email / Call bar on a record, which is not configurable.