Bubble Docs
  • Introduction
  • New? Start Here
  • What is Bubble?
  • The Glossary
  • User manual
    • Getting started
      • What is Bubble?
      • Building your first app
        • Planning features
        • Database structure
        • Design and UX
        • eCommerce and payments
          • Shopping cart
          • Checkout page
          • One-time payments
          • Subscriptions
          • Marketplace
      • Creating and managing apps
      • The Bubble editor
        • Tabs and sections
          • Design tab
            • The element tree
            • The property editor
          • Workflow tab
          • Data tab
          • Styles tab
          • Plugins tab
          • Settings tab
            • Application settings
              • Custom headers/body
              • Visual settings
              • Social media sharing
              • Translating your app
              • Email settings
              • Collaboration
            • Custom domain and DNS
          • Logs tab
        • Tools
          • Key features
          • The search tool
          • The Issue Checker
          • The element tree
          • The element property editor
          • The debugger
          • Notes
        • Previewing your app
      • Transitioning to Bubble from...
        • JavaScript
        • HTML and CSS
        • SQL
    • Design
      • Elements
        • The element hierarchy
          • The element tree
        • The page
        • Containers
          • Groups
          • Repeating groups
          • Table elements
          • Popups
          • Floating groups
          • Group focus
        • Visual elements
        • Input forms
          • Text and numbers
          • Dates and time
          • File uploads
          • Selection controls
        • Reusable Elements
      • Styling
        • Color variables
        • Font variables
        • Styles
        • Custom Fonts
      • Responsive design
        • Building responsive pages
        • Legacy articles
          • The Basics (Legacy)
          • Building Responsive Pages (Legacy)
          • Migrating Legacy Pages
          • Tips When Designing (Legacy)
      • Templates
      • The Component Library
      • Importing from Figma
    • Data
      • The database
        • Data types and fields
        • Creating, saving and deleting data
        • Finding data
        • Displaying data
        • Protecting data with privacy rules
        • The database editor
        • Export/import data
          • Exporting data
          • Importing data (CSV)
        • Working with location data
        • Using Algolia
        • Database structure by app type
          • Marketplace Apps
          • Directory & Listings Apps
          • Social Network Apps
          • SaaS Apps
          • Project Management Apps
          • CRM Apps
          • Professional Services Apps
          • On-demand Apps
          • Documentation/ CMS Apps
          • Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Apps
          • Portfolio Apps
          • Gallery Apps
          • Online Store / Ecommerce Apps
          • Blog Apps
          • Messaging App
          • Dashboards
          • Building Block Apps
          • Bubble as a backend
      • Files
      • Images
      • Static data
        • App texts (translations)
        • Option sets
      • Temporary data
        • Custom states
        • URL parameters
      • User accounts
        • Authentication plugins
          • Facebook plugin
          • Fitbit plugin
          • Google plugin
          • Instagram plugin
          • LinkedIn plugin
          • Pinterest plugin
          • Slack plugin
          • Wistia plugin
          • YouTube plugin
        • Cookies set by Bubble
      • Time, dates and time zones
    • Logic
      • The frontend and backend
      • Workflows
        • Events
          • Frontend events
            • Recurring workflows
            • Custom events
          • Backend events
            • Database trigger events
        • Actions
        • API Workflows
      • Dynamic expressions
      • Conditions
      • Navigation
        • Single-page applications (SPA)
        • Multi-page applications
        • Page slugs
    • Workload
      • Understanding workload
        • Activity types
        • The workload calculation
        • Client-side and server-side processing
      • Tracking workload
        • Measuring
          • Using App Metrics
        • Monitoring
          • Workload notifications
          • Infinite recursion protection
      • Optimizing workload
        • Optimization framework
        • Optimization checklist
          • Page load
          • Searches
          • Workflows and actions
          • Backend workflows
        • Agency showcases
          • Minimum Studio
          • Neam
          • Support Dept
    • Security
      • Bubble's security features
      • Planning app security
      • Client-side and server-side
      • Bubble account security
      • App security
      • Page security
      • Database security
      • API security
        • API Connector security
        • Data API security
        • Workflow API security
      • Flusk
        • Overview
        • Flusk plan features
        • Getting started with Flusk
        • Flusk security tools
          • The Issues Explorer
          • Issue details
          • Tools and settings
            • Pages rating
            • Database rating
        • Flusk FAQ
      • Cookies
      • Security checklist
    • Publishing your app
      • Web app
      • Native mobile app
        • Global native mobile settings
        • iOS App Store
        • Google Play Store
        • Publishing FAQ
    • AI
      • Generate apps with AI
        • About AI app generation
      • AI page designer
      • Connect to AI agents
    • Maintenance
      • Collaborators
      • Version control
        • Best practices: Version control
        • Transitioning from the legacy version control
        • Terminology: Version control
        • Version Control (legacy)
      • Commenting
      • Database maintenance
        • Copying the database
        • Restoring database backups
        • Bulk operations
          • Bulk operation methods compared
        • Wiping change history
      • Performance
        • Hard limits
        • Capacity Usage (legacy)
        • Notes on queries
      • SEO
        • Introduction to SEO
        • SEO: App
        • SEO: Page
      • Testing and debugging
        • Introduction to testing and debugging
        • The debugger
        • The server logs
        • Supported browsers
      • API workflow scheduler
    • Integrations
      • API
        • Introduction to APIs
          • What is a RESTful API?
        • The Bubble API
          • Bubble API terminology
          • Authentication
            • How to authenticate
            • No authentication
            • As a User
            • As an admin
          • The Data API
            • Data API Privacy Rules
            • Data API endpoints
            • Data API requests
          • The Workflow API
            • Workflow API privacy rules
            • Workflow API endpoints
            • API workflows
              • Creating API workflows
              • Scheduling API workflows
              • Recursive API workflows
              • API Workflow Scheduler
              • Case: Stripe notifications
        • The API Connector
          • Authentication
          • API Connector security
          • API guides
            • OpenAI
              • Authentication
              • Calls
                • ChatGPT
                  • Chat
            • Google Translate
              • How to setup Google API keys
          • Streaming API
        • API security
        • Plugins that connect to APIs
        • API Glossary
      • Plugins
        • What Plugins Can Do
        • Installing and using Plugins
        • Authentication plugins
        • Special Plugins
      • SQL Database Connector
      • Bubble App Connector
      • WorkOS
        • WorkOS SSO
        • WorkOS API
    • Infrastructure
      • Sub-apps
      • Bubble release tiers
      • Hosting and scaling
        • How Bubble hosting works
        • Scaling with Bubble
        • CDN (Cloudflare)
        • Bubble app names
        • Domain and DNS
      • Compliance
        • GDPR
        • SOC 2 Type II
        • HIPAA
        • Other frameworks and standards
    • Bubble for Enterprise
      • Hosting and infrastructure
        • Dedicated instance
          • The Dedicated editor experience
          • Technical specs
          • Main cluster dependencies
          • Customizable options
          • Migration process
            • Pre-migration
            • During migration
            • Post-migration
      • Security and compliance
        • Single sign-on (SSO)
        • GDPR
        • SOC 2 Type II
        • HIPAA
        • Other frameworks
        • Bubble's security features
      • Admin and collaboration
      • Priority support
      • Billing and Payment Guideline for Dedicated Instances
  • Core Reference
    • Using the core reference
    • Bubble's Interface
      • Design tab
      • Design tab (Legacy)
      • Workflow tab
      • Data tab
      • Styles tab
      • Styles tab (Legacy)
      • Plugins tab
      • Settings tab
      • Logs tab
      • Template tab
      • Toolbar
      • Top and context menu options
      • Deployment and version control
        • Deployment & Version Control Dropdown (legacy)
      • Notes
    • Elements
      • General properties
      • General properties (Legacy)
      • Styling properties
      • Styling Properties (Legacy)
      • Responsive Properties
      • Responsive Properties (Legacy)
      • Conditional formatting
      • States
      • Page Element
        • Page Element (Legacy)
      • Visual Elements
      • Containers
      • Container Layout Types
      • Containers (Legacy)
      • Input Forms
      • Reusable Elements
      • Element Templates (legacy)
    • Workflows
    • Events
      • General events
      • Element events
      • Custom events
      • Recurring event
      • Database trigger event
    • Actions
      • Account
      • Navigation
      • Data (things)
      • Email
      • Element
      • Custom
    • Data
      • Data Sources
      • Operators and comparisons
      • Search
      • Privacy
    • Styles
    • API
      • The Bubble API
        • The Data API
          • Authentication
          • Data API endpoints
          • Data API requests
        • The Workflow API
      • The API Connector
        • Authentication
        • Adding calls
    • Bubble-made Plugins
      • AddtoAny Share Buttons
      • Airtable
      • API Connector
      • Blockspring
      • Box
      • Braintree
      • Bubble App Connector
      • Chart.js
      • Circle Music Player
      • Draggable Elements
      • Dropzone
      • Facebook
      • Fitbit
      • Full Calendar
      • Google
      • Google Analytics
      • Google Optimize
      • Google Places
      • Ionic Elements
      • iTunes
      • Slidebar Menu
      • LinkedIn
      • Localize Translation
      • Mixpanel
      • Mouse & Keyboard Interactions
      • Multiselect Dropdown
      • Progress Bar
      • Rich Text Editor
      • Rich Text Editor (Legacy)
      • Screenshotlayer
      • SelectPDF
      • Slack
      • Segment
      • Slick Slideshow
      • SQL Database Connector
      • Star Rating
      • Stripe
      • Tinder-like Element
      • Twitter
      • YouTube
      • Zapier
    • Application Settings
      • App plan
      • General
      • Domain / email
      • Languages
      • SEO / metatags
      • API
      • Collaboration
      • Sub-apps
      • Versions
  • Account & Marketplace
    • Account and billing
      • Pricing and plans
        • Plans and billing
        • Billing cycle
        • FAQ: Pricing and Workload
      • Account Management
      • Building Apps for Others
      • Selling on the Marketplace
      • Plans & Billing (legacy)
    • Official Bubble Certification
      • Hiring certified developers
    • Building Plugins
      • The Plugin Editor
      • General Settings
      • Updating to Plugin API v4
      • Adding API Connections
      • Building Elements
      • Building Actions
      • Loading Data
      • Publishing and versioning
      • Github Integration
    • Building Templates
    • Application and data ownership
    • Marketplace policies
    • Bug reports
  • Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
  • Beta features
    • About the Beta features section
    • Native mobile apps 🔒
      • Introduction
        • What is a native mobile app?
        • Native mobile vs. web development
        • Differences in native and web elements
        • Native mobile app terminology
      • Building
        • Views and navigation
        • Native mobile actions
        • Components and gestures
        • Device resources
          • Location services
          • Camera/photo library
      • Previewing
      • Publishing
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On this page
  • How to read the user manual
  • Manual sections
  • Getting started
  • Design
  • Data
  • Logic
  • Maintenance
  • Integrations
  • Infrastructure
  • Bubble for Enterprise
  • Additional resources and getting help

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  1. User manual

Getting started

How to use the Bubble Manual efficiently

Last updated 1 year ago

Was this helpful?

The Bubble user manual is our long-form collection of articles that teaches you Bubble from start to finish. We've designed the manual so that you can read it from A-Z or pick the categories and specific articles that you need.

Instead of delving into each individual setting and property, we explore broader topics such as design, data and logic, and we even touch on subjects not directly tied to Bubble, aiming to foster an overall understanding of web applications at large.

If you are looking for more concise, technical documentation for each of Bubble's features, you may be interested in checking out the section of the docs. In we also such as videos, user community and interactive tutorials.

How to read the user manual

The user manual is designed like a guidebook, allowing you to either read it from beginning to end or select specific sections based on what you want to learn more about. If you have just getting started with Bubble, we recommend you check out each section and get to know the how the manual is structured.

This way, if you don't want to read every section in full now, you can return to any subject for a thorough overview when you need it.

Manual sections

Getting started

This section focuses on the basics of Bubble and is meant for users who are new to the platform. Here we'll explore the basic stuff such as creating an app, navigating the editor and changing the general application settings.

If you have played around with Bubble for a little while and know about the basic stuff already, you can use the navigation menu on the left to find the categories that interest you the most.

Design

Bubble is a visual tools that lets you design your app by dragging and dropping elements such as text, buttons, links, tables and even maps on a page. This section covers how you design your app and helpful tools such as , and the .

Data

Data forms the foundation of any application. Indeed, creating an app that doesn't handle data in some way is unusual. Be it data produced by your users, added by you, or imported from external applications or services, the capability to collect, secure, and present information essentially drives the existence of most apps.

Logic

The Logic section covers how to make Bubble do stuff: by combining workflows and expressions, you can set Bubble up to perform tasks for your users ranging from very simple to highly complex.

Maintenance

Every app requires some testing and maintenance, and Bubble has many different tools for staying on top of it, as well as advanced collaboration features for teams.

Integrations

Among Bubble's most powerful features is its set of tools to connect your app to other apps and systems.

Infrastructure

Bubble for Enterprise

Additional resources and getting help

We have a lot of different resources available to help you on your learning journey – everything from video lessons, live coaches and bootcamps. We list the different resources in the introductory article below:

This section takes a look at the theory and methods around planning your first app. We take a look at how you can break your app idea into features and versions, how you can plan out your database structure and finally how you make it ready for users with a user interface.

If you've never built an app before, we recommend starting here.

Your Bubble account can hold as many applications as you want, and this section explores how you can organize your apps.

Bubble contains all the tools you need to create awesome web applications, all wrapped into one editor. Learn how to navigate it in this article.

Your Bubble app will automatically be assigned a unique URL when it is created, such as https://my-bubble-application.bubbleapps.io.

As you get close to launch, you may want to move it to your own domain, such as https://www.my-bubble-application.com.

This article explores how to connect your app to a custom domain and set up the correct settings.

Each Bubble app comes with a set of general settings. This article goes through each different category of settings.

Elements are the things that you place on a page to display data and let your users interact with your app. Whether you want to create an elaborate presentation page with images and animations or a simple signup form, it's all done by combining different elements in a way that your users find useful and visually pleasing.

Bubble offers a lot of different elements serving different purposes and this article series covers them all.

Each element that you add to your page has a default styling applied to it. In short, styling refers to what your elements look like, and this is done by changing styling settings such as:

  • Background color, gradient or image

  • Border

  • Shadow

  • Font

  • Transitions

Bubble also features ways to save styling settings to help you maintain and update how your app looks efficiently.

Responsive design is a method that gives your users a great experience no matter what kind of device they are using to access your app. Bubble features a responsive engine that lets you control every aspect of your app's responsiveness in the same visual editor that you use to build your pages. It uses a grid-based layout to change the appearance of the page depending on the screen size and orientation of the device.

The component library is a collection of pre-built User Interface (UI) components that can be dragged and dropped onto your page to help you build beautiful interfaces faster. These UI components are fully responsive and are made up of containers, visual elements, and form inputs that can be individually customized once added to your page. Each component is a fully independent unit, but can be connected to each other or other parts of your app by adding workflows and data.

Many users have a background from Figma. Bubble has a tool for importing your Figma design into Bubble, maintaining style attrbiutes such as colors, fonts, shadows, etc. This article covers how the import process works.

The database manages all the dynamic data that both you and your users have added. You can create, modify, view, and delete data as needed and run bulk operations to make major updates.

Data in the database is stored securely on Bubble's servers.

Bubble offers integrated tools within the editor and your app for handling file and image uploads and storage.

Static data in Bubble is defined as data that requires your app to be re-deployed to update and cannot be changed by your application's users (unlike dynamic and temporary data).

This is useful for saving data that you need to re-use in your app, but that doesn't change very often, such as strings of text and options in a list.

Sometimes you'll need to store some information temporarily in your application. They can be considered variables and are not in any permanent storage like the database, but live for as long as they are needed.

This is useful for holding some information while the user is still one the same page and for navigation.

Bubble has a built-in feature to handle user accounts. In other words, your users can create and log in to their account purely with built-in tools that are secure, efficient and easy to set up.

To understand Bubble, is useful to understand the difference between things happening on the page, and things happening on Bubble's server. This article takes a theoretical look at how the two are different – and how they work together constantly to make your app work.

Workflows in Bubble are sequences of actions that automate your app's operations. They trigger in response to events such as a button click or page load, allowing you to create dynamic and interactive applications. In short, they are what makes your app do something.

Dynamic expressions are like "live" formulas that update in real-time based on user input, database updates and other changes in your app. They can fetch data, change and combine texts, calculate numbers and dates and a lot of other things.

Conditions in Bubble are the rules you set to make your application react to different scenarios. They define the "if this, then that" logic in your app, controlling how elements behave, look or function based on different variables, like user inputs or data changes.

Navigation in Bubble is the way you manage the flow between different pages or parts of your app. It involves creating links, setting up redirects, or loading different groups or popups on a single page.

One of Bubble's big strengths is the ability to add up to 40 collaborators to your projects. Collaborators are registered Bubble users that you can give access to the editor in a specific app so that you can work on it together.

Bubble's version control system lets you divide the development of your project into independent parts, so that you and other editors with access to the project can iterate on one part of the app without impacting other parts. This helps you simultaneously progress multiple streams of work and stay on top of the changes made as each goes from development to testing to deployment.

Every part of Bubble has a built-in commenting system that lets you add notes to it. For example, you can use commenting to describe what a particular workflow, element or data type is for. This helps you remember important details in your app, and makes it simpler to collaborate with other developers.

Bubble offers multiple tools for maintaining a healthy, secure and performant database. This article series takes a look at how you copy database versions, maintain backups and run bulk operations.

As your app scales, it's important to stick to some best practices to make sure it keeps performing well. This article series explores useful tips, as well as looking at some of the technical soft and hard limits in Bubble's different features.

SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) is the art of setting up a web page in a way that makes search engines give it a high ranking in its search results. In this section, we'll explore whether this is important for your app, and different ways to prepare your app for the search engine algorithms.

Every app needs to be tested and sometimes debugged both before it's published, whenever you add new features and to find the root cause of any issues that come up in the meantime. Bubble gives you tools to preview, test and debug your app isolated from the live version.

API Workflows are scheduled in a log where they can later be cancelled before they run if needed. Bubble's API Workflow Scheduler lets you show all the scheduled workflows and pause or cancel them.

By using what's called an API connection, your application can fetch data and execute commands in external software systems and vice versa.

Bubble's plugin store contains thousands of plugins that extend the platforms core feature set. This can add new elements to your page, connect to external services, do complex calculations and a lot more.

Sometimes you'll need to connect to an external database to make the most of your Bubble app. The SQL Database Connector Plugin is a handy tool that allows you to connect to databases like:

  • Postgres

  • MySQL

  • Microsoft SQL

By running SQL queries from within Bubble, you can access information or trigger actions.

Bubble can connect to most other apps by using the and/or the . Sometimes you may want to connect to another Bubble application, and we have made that option simple to set up using the plugin Bubble App Connector plugin.

Many apps will be handling sensitive information on behalf of its users. Our article series on Security shows you how you keep data safe, set up secure connections with external systems and avoid both malicious attacks and accidental data leaks.

The sub-app feature sets up a relationship between a “main app” and one or more “sub applications” and makes it easier to push any changes from the main app to its sub apps, while all main and sub apps have their own database. This is especially useful for certain ideas that involve setting up different (sub/)domains for different clients, which is common in SaaS applications.

The Bubble engine is evolving all the time - on a typical workday, we'll have multiple code rollouts representing any combination of bug fixes, infrastructure improvements, new features, and more. In this article, we'll look at the different options available for applying these updates.

Bubble is not only a no-code platform, but a complete hosting solution that automatically scales as needed. In this article series we'll cover what exactly is included and how the system is designed to scale seamlessly.

When you're developing on Bubble, it's essential to get familiar with different compliance frameworks. They're not just a checklist; they're about building trust, ensuring your users' privacy, and meeting all the necessary legal requirements.

In this article series, you'll learn about some of the top compliance frameworks and how they fit into your app's development on Bubble.

Bubble's Enterprise plan is specifically designed to meet the demands and compliance requirements of large organizations. Beyond the standard features, Enterprise plan clients benefit from enhanced capabilities like centralized management for both users and apps, a dedicated support team, and the flexibility to choose their hosting location. Furthermore, our commitment to stringent security measures — from security compliance to advanced protection — means that business operations remain robust and protected. Plus, with flexible payment options like invoicing or , Bubble aligns with the financial workflows of large-scale organizations.

Dive in to understand how our enterprise solutions can enable your organization's digital transformation.

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You can also set up independent iterations of your app (called branches) that allow your collaborators to concentrate on specific features and changes, maintaining their work separate from other ongoing projects. See below.

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Building your first app
Building your first app
Creating and managing apps
Creating and managing apps
Navigating the Bubble editor
Navigating the Bubble editor
Custom domain and DNS
Custom domain and DNS
Application settings
Application settings
Elements
Elements
Styling
Styling
Responsive design
Responsive design
The component library
The component library
Importing from Figma
Importing from Figma
The database
The database
Files
Files
Static data
Static data
Temporary data
Temporary data
User accounts
User accounts
The frontend and the backend
The frontend and the backend
Workflows
Workflows
Dynamic expressions
Dynamic expressions
Conditions
Conditions
Navigation
Navigation
Collaborators
Collaborators
Version control
Version control
Commenting
Commenting
Database maintenance
Database maintenance
Performance
Performance
SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Testing and Debugging
Testing and debugging
API workflow Scheduler
API workflow scheduler
API
API
Plugins
Plugins
SQL database connector
SQL database connector
Bubble app connector
Bubble app connector
Security
Security
Sub-apps
Sub-apps
Bubble Release Tiers
Bubble release tiers
Hosting and scaling
Hosting and scaling
Compliance
Compliance
Bubble for Enterprise
Bubble for Enterprise
Version control
core reference
New? Start here section
Additional learning resources and getting help
list other resources
Bubble lets you set up flexible, responsive design and save them in styles that can be applied every in seconds.
Bubble's database editor lets you create, assign fields to and connect data types with no database experience.
Bubble's workflow editor lets you drag and drop actions that happen whenever an event takes place, such as a button click.