Using "Is Empty" and "Is Not Empty" in Workflow Conditions
Last updated: August 27, 2026
Using "Is Empty" and "Is Not Empty" in Workflow Conditions
Category: Workflows & Automation
Most workflow conditions compare a field to a specific value — "Amount is greater than 50,000," for example. Sometimes what you actually need to know is simpler: does this field have anything in it at all? You can now branch a workflow's owner and playbook conditions on Is Empty and Is Not Empty, so a missing value can route to a different outcome than a populated one.
How It Works
Wherever you already build a condition on a CRM field — for example, in a conditional owner or playbook rule — the operator list now includes:
Is empty — matches when the field has no value on the triggering record.
Is not empty — matches when the field has any value at all, regardless of what that value is.
Neither operator needs a comparison value — once you choose one, the value input disappears, since there's nothing to compare against.
How to Use It
Open the condition builder on a workflow's owner or playbook card.
Pick the field you want to check — for example, a Close Date or a custom CRM field.
Choose Is empty or Is not empty from the operator list.
Save and publish. The condition summary will read something like Close Date is not empty.
If you configure one of these operators on an older-style trigger condition and publishing is blocked with an error, it's because that specific trigger configuration can't express "empty" checks yet — reach out to support and we'll help you adjust it.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
This changes real behavior for existing conditions. If you had already configured an "is empty" or "is not empty" condition before this update, it was silently being ignored rather than evaluated. Now it evaluates for real — so double-check any existing conditions using these operators to confirm the behavior matches what you originally intended.
These work across every field type that supports conditions in OnRamp, including text, number, date, and picklist fields.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as "empty"?
The field has no value at all on the CRM record — not zero, not a blank string typed into a text field, but genuinely unset.
Had I been able to select these operators before, even if they didn't work?
In some places, yes — the option existed on-screen but the condition was silently dropped rather than evaluated. It now evaluates correctly, so it's worth reviewing any conditions you'd already set up this way.
Can I combine "is empty" with other conditions in the same rule?
Yes — it works alongside any other condition type in the same condition block.