Formatting

Clean, format, and standardize text, dates, numbers, and currencies in your workflow without formulas or code.

1. The "Data Swiss Army Knife" (Overview)

No Excel formulas, no code. Instantly clean, format, and standardize your data with a simple dropdown menu.

The Formatting node is the Swiss Army Knife for workflow data. It gives you 22+ ready-to-use actions for text cleanup, number formatting, date conversion, data cleanup, and content preparation between steps.

2. How to Add the Node

Click on your canvas, search for Formatting, and click to add it to your workflow.

3. What can you automate? (The "Wow" Use Cases)

1. The Currency Cleaner:

Turn raw CRM values like invoice totals, quotes, or order amounts into polished currency output that is ready for customer emails, invoices, or reports.

2. The Date Standardizer:

Convert mixed date formats from forms, spreadsheets, or different countries into one clean standard for dashboards, payroll, or reporting.

3. The Text Beautifier:

Fix messy names, extra spaces, and inconsistent capitalization from Typeform, Google Forms, or copied text before sending the data to your CRM or spreadsheet.

4. Step-by-Step: Configuration & Smart Data Injection

Choose your Action:

Open the action dropdown and select what you want the node to do. You can clean text, format currencies, convert dates, extract values, or reshape data in just a few clicks.

Inject Data:

The easiest way to map data is to type @ in the input box. Diaflow opens a visual dropdown so you can select the raw value from a previous step.

Typing {{ also works perfectly if you prefer the classic bracket syntax.

5. The Output: Seeing Your Results

The node returns a clean, formatted value that is ready for the next step in your workflow. You can pass it into tools like Google Sheets, email steps, documents, or any node that needs standardized data.

🛑 [PLACEHOLDER: SCREENSHOT - Before/After Execution Result showing raw input vs formatted output]

6. Golden Rules & Guardrails (CRITICAL PRO-TIPS)

Billing Note:

This node consumes 2 Credits per successful run.

That cost is fixed per action. If you are processing large volumes of records, combine steps efficiently when possible to avoid unnecessary credit usage.

If you need many formatting steps on the same record, review the full workflow cost first. Several back-to-back formatting actions can add up quickly at scale.

Empty Data Trap:

If the input field is empty, or if the mapped value from a previous step does not exist, the action may return an empty result or fail depending on the action you selected.

To avoid this:

• confirm the mapped variable exists before you run the workflow

• use Set Default Value when blank input is possible

• check the next step so it can handle empty results safely

More pro-tips

• Most extraction actions return only the first match, not every match in the text.

• Date values can be interpreted differently if the input format is unclear. Set the expected date format when accuracy matters.

• Invalid data can stop the workflow. Test critical formatting steps before publishing.

• The Formatting node is an action node only. It cannot start a workflow by itself.

Need help?

• Learn the basics in How a node works

• Build the full flow in Create a workflow

• Browse related nodes in Component List