Workflow field updates re-entering the save order
Key Takeaway
A workflow field update makes Salesforce save the record again. System validations run again and before update and after update triggers fire one more time, but custom validation rules and flows don't run again.
Workflow rules run after Salesforce has already saved the record once in the same transaction. When a workflow field update changes that record, Salesforce saves it again. Only part of the save order runs on that second pass. If you know which steps repeat, which are skipped, and when other workflow rules re-fire, you can predict what a workflow field update will do.
Where workflow rules run in the save order
Workflow rules run in the middle of the save order. Salesforce runs these steps before workflow rules:
- Before-save record-triggered flows
- Before triggers
- Custom validation rules
- Duplicate rules
- The initial save
- After triggers
- Assignment rules
- Auto-response rules
Salesforce runs these steps after workflow rules:
- Escalation rules
- Processes built with Process Builder
- After-save record-triggered flows
- Entitlement rules
- Roll-up summary calculations
Because the initial save comes before workflow rules, a workflow field update changes a record that Salesforce has already saved once in the same transaction.