Understanding distribution to connected accounts

What it is

Distribution copies something you built in your platform account into a connected account, then decides how that copy follows yours. It works the same way for forms, policies, and automations. Each one has a Connect tab that lists every connected account and how the item reaches it. Bulk connect sets many items for many accounts in one step.

If you remember nothing else: there's one setting per item per connected account. Pick the item, pick the accounts, and choose a distribution mode.

Why it matters

Without distribution, every customer needs its own copy of your standard forms, policies, and automations, built and fixed by hand. A fix made in one account stays broken in the rest. Distribution lets you change something once and decide which customers get the change, and whether they can adjust their copy.

This matters most when:

• You bring many customers onto the same standard setup.

• Some items must stay exactly as you built them, while others are a starting point each customer adjusts.

• You add customers regularly and want each new one to start with your standard set.

How it works

Distribution modes

Each item and connected account pair has a distribution mode:

• Auto Deploy: every new version you publish reaches the account automatically.

• Manual Deploy (forms only): each new version arrives in the account as a draft, and goes live once the account publishes it.

• None: no distribution setting. The account keeps any copy it already has, but doesn't receive your updates.

The default for new accounts

Each item also has a Default distribution mode. It decides what a new connected account gets, whether you create the account in Onboarded or through the API. Anything with a default other than Don't distribute is sent to every new account. Changing the default never changes accounts that are already connected.

One-time actions

Besides setting a mode, you can act on an item and account pair once:

• Deploy now: sends your current published version right away and overwrites any edits the account made. The mode doesn't change.

• Remove distribution: stops sending updates. The account keeps its copy and owns it from then on.

• Recall: withdraws the item. A recalled automation or policy is removed from the account. A recalled form's versions are deprecated and its drafts deleted. Tasks already assigned to candidates keep the version they started on.

What the connected account can change

• Automations and policies on Auto Deploy are locked. The account can't edit, delete, or copy them to the other mode. It can still turn one off with Disable Automation or Disable Policy, and a copy the account turned off stays off when you send a new version.

• Forms aren't locked. The account can publish its own version of a distributed form. When it does, the pair shows Changed by connected account, and Deploy now puts your version back.

• Anything without a mode belongs to the account. A copy sent with Deploy now alone, or kept after Remove distribution, is the account's to edit.

What travels with what

• A policy brings its task actions. It doesn't bring the forms it assigns.

• An automation brings the custom attributes it uses. It doesn't bring forms.

• A form brings its expiration rules, which replace the account's own rules for that form. It doesn't bring custom attributes. Turn on Auto-distribute to connected accounts for any custom attribute a form uses, or the form fails with The account is missing a custom attribute this form uses.

• Automations that belong to a policy or a form travel with that policy or form, so they aren't listed on their own.

Test and live mode

Distribution follows the mode you're in: work in live mode to reach your customers' live accounts, and in test mode to reach their test accounts. One exception: a form version's status is shared between modes, so recalling a form in test mode also deprecates the versions a customer runs in live mode. Onboarded asks you to confirm before it does that.

Tracking what happened

Each pair shows its last result in a Distribution column: Distributed, Recalled, Removed, Changed by connected account, Skipped, or Failed. While an action runs, it shows Distributing, Recalling, or Removing. View activity opens the pair's full history, and a failed result can be retried from there. The Failed Distribution tab on Connected Accounts lists every failure from the last 14 days, across forms, policies, and automations.

If you used Form Distribution or Policy Distribution strategies before, those screens are gone. Each item's Connect tab is now the place to see which accounts receive it and how.

Example

Take the ATS from 📄 Understanding platform accounts, with three customers: Alder Logistics, Bellwether Health, and Copperleaf Foods.

The I-9, W-4, and direct deposit forms default to Auto Deploy, so each customer gets every new version as soon as the ATS publishes it. The onboarding policy that assigns them defaults to Auto Deploy too, which keeps it locked in each customer's account. The handbook acknowledgment is on Manual Deploy: each new version lands as a draft, so each customer can swap in its own handbook before publishing.

The reminder automation is a starting point. The ATS sends it to each customer with Deploy now and no mode, so each customer owns its copy and words the reminder its own way.

When a fourth customer signs, the ATS's integration creates its connected account, and everything with a default other than Don't distribute arrives on its own.

Later, Copperleaf needs the onboarding policy to work differently for them alone. The ATS uses Remove distribution on Copperleaf's pair. Copperleaf keeps the policy, can edit it now, and stops receiving the ATS's updates to it.

Read next

• 📄 How do I distribute a form to connected accounts?

• 📄 How do I distribute a policy to connected accounts?

• 📄 How do I distribute an automation to connected accounts?

• 📄 Understanding platform accounts

• 📄 Understanding connected accounts