What an Action is

Most content blocks tell a visitor something. A Heading names a section, an Image shows a photo, an Accordion holds your house rules. An Action is the other kind: the visitor taps once and something finishes. Their phone dials you. Apple Maps opens with your address already in it. The Wi-Fi password is on their clipboard. A donation clears.

One tap, one outcome

That phrase is the whole test. If a block needs the visitor to read a paragraph, then decide, then tap something else, it is not an Action. Seventeen of NearField's fifty content blocks pass the test, and the block library marks each of them with a lightning bolt.

Filter the library below to Action to see all seventeen with their real names and plans. It reads from the same list the Add Block picker reads, so it cannot fall behind the product.

There is no Actions tab

This is the thing worth getting straight before you go looking. Actions are not a section of your account and not a separate builder. They live inside the block picker, interleaved with everything else, grouped by the job they do rather than by what they cost. Guest Wi-Fi sits under Visit info & one-tap help next to Hours and Map. Waiver sits under Questions & answers next to Rating.

When a Button is enough

A Button opens a URL. That is genuinely all most links need, and reaching for an Action when a Button would do just adds fields to fill in. Reach for an Action when the outcome depends on the visitor's phone, or when you want the result counted.

Adding one to an Experience

1. 1

   Open the Experience you want it in

   From your dashboard, tap the Experience. The builder opens with your blocks down the left.

2. 2

   Press Add Block

   The picker opens grouped by job. Actions carry a lightning bolt on the tile.

3. 3

   Pick the Action

   On a free account every Action up to Growth reads Included while you build. On a paid plan, a chip such as Growth plan means it is above your current plan, and tapping it opens your upgrade options rather than adding the block.

4. 4

   Fill in the required fields

   Most Actions need one or two. Call needs a phone number. Directions needs an address. Waiver needs the agreement text.

5. 5

   Preview on a phone, then publish

   The preview renders the real block, so what you see is what a visitor gets.

The other way: a standalone Action

Sometimes one outcome is the whole point and a page around it is noise. A Marker on a hotel nightstand that does nothing but hand over the Wi-Fi password does not need a heading, a photo and a footer. For that, you can make an Action that stands on its own.

In the iOS app, press + in the header and choose An Action. On a blank Marker, scanning it offers the same seventeen Actions. Either way you pick an outcome, fill in two fields, and it goes live.

• A standalone Action is still an Experience underneath. It gets a hash and a public link, and it connects to Markers the same way.
• It counts against your plan's Experience limit.
• It publishes immediately. There is no draft state for a standalone Action, so on a free account, creating one that needs Starter or Growth starts your 14-day trial. The picker says so first.
• Tapping its row in your dashboard reopens the same small wizard, not the full block builder.

Outgrowing an Action

A standalone Action converts into a full Experience in one tap, from the launch screen you see after publishing or from the wizard afterwards. The link keeps working, every connected Marker keeps working, and your Action becomes the first block of the page. Converting the other way is not supported: a full Experience cannot be collapsed back into a standalone Action.