When exporting a flow, Switch stores a maximum amount of information in the exported flow file:
The list of flow elements and connections as they are shown in the canvas, including the geometry.
The values of all properties, including references to backing folders and configuration files
A copy of any referenced configuration files.
Sometimes a property value refers by name to configuration data stored internally by a third-party application. In those cases it is not possible to include the configuration data itself (the reference by name is still included).
When importing a flow, Switch ensures that all encountered flow elements and properties are supported by this version of Switch. If not, any issues are reported to the user and the unsupported items are omitted from the imported flow. Switch also copies configuration files from the flow file being imported into a special location under its application data root, and changes the corresponding references to point to these new copies.
Further validation of property values is performed when the flow is activated (for example, ensuring that all backing folders have a valid path).
Auto-managed backing folders are automatically created where necessary. For user-managed backing folders the original paths are preserved without change. In most cases this means that you must create and assign new backing folders (i.e. unless the backing folders already exist because you are importing a flow that was previously created on your own system).