topic Re: Add to List has no options in Workato Academy Discussion

Add to List has no options

collin_baker_4 — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 19:30:05 GMT

currently i am trying to set up a system that will automatically email our employees there wrike tasks at the beginning of every monday. my knowledge on the builder and formulas is limited, so i have been having people help me and also getting help from Gemini to help. my issue is that in step 5 of my recipe, i was told to "Create a Variable -> Label: Tasks Due this Week -> Data Type: List".
From there I updated the schema to this

After doing that, my table looked like this.

However, after this I made a repeat loop

But after the that, It ask me to add the list "Tasks Due This Week", and no matter how I changed the schema or messed with other parts, I could not get it to appear in "List Name"

If anyone has any guidance, it would be greatly appreciated!

Re: Add to List has no options

Bhagya_pola — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 19:55:38 GMT

Hi @collin_baker_4
To loop you need a list, instead of creating variables go with list.
In variable by workato choose action as Create List (Batch)
then create some dummy field in it and then edit schema of it completely with below one and name the list
then you should be seeing the list to map in loop

[ { "control_type": "text", "label": "Title", "name": "Title", "type": "string", "hint": "Defaults to nil if not supplied.", "optional": true, "sticky": true }, { "control_type": "date", "label": "Due date", "render_input": "date_conversion", "parse_output": "date_conversion", "name": "Due_date", "type": "date", "hint": "Defaults to nil if not supplied.", "optional": true, "sticky": true }, { "control_type": "text", "label": "Status", "name": "Status", "type": "string", "hint": "Defaults to nil if not supplied.", "optional": true, "sticky": true }, { "control_type": "text", "label": "Permalink", "name": "Permalink", "type": "string", "hint": "Defaults to nil if not supplied.", "optional": true, "sticky": true }, { "properties": [ { "control_type": "text", "label": "Title", "name": "Title", "type": "string", "hint": "Defaults to nil if not supplied.", "optional": true, "sticky": true } ], "label": "Project", "name": "Project", "type": "object", "hint": "Defaults to nil if not supplied.", "optional": true, "sticky": true } ]

Please refer the below images

Re: Add to List has no options

Pavithra_C — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 14:21:22 GMT

Hi there! @collin_baker_4 👋

This is a common point of confusion when working with lists in Workato.

Instead of creating a list using the “Create Variable” step, you actually need to use the “Create List” action from the Variables by Workato. This is an important distinction because:

The "Create Variable" step does not support iteration in a repeat loop. (For this iteration process we need to parse the Variable output).
Only a list created using "Create List" can be added to using "Add item to list" and we can iterate overusing a "Repeat Action".

Here's what you should do instead:

Use the "Create list" action --> Need to create a "TasksDueThisWeek" list with the payload structure mentioned by you.
Then, use the "Repeat action" and select your newly created list (TasksDueThisWeek).
Use the "Add item to list" action inside a loop or conditional logic to populate it with your tasks data.

Let me know if it works to you — happy to help further! 😊