Feedback
It is getting more common for new users asking for help in the forum to ask for "UI only" help or examples. But sharing screenshots back and forth is slow, unwieldy, and error prone. It would be helpful if there were a section in the Automation Editor docs that we could point them towards that covered how to copy/paste YAML directly into the GUI as well as using the "Edit in YAML" option.
Currently the only mention* of the copy/paste functionality I can find is a single paragraph with a short video in the 2025.5 Release Notes which only shows copying full automations. It does not show the partial copies or the replace and append options.
Similarly, the "Edit in YAML" option is mentioned in the header of Automations - YAML but the actual article is focused on configuration files and presents examples that would not work if pasted directly into the field of "Edit in YAML" in the Automation editor.
* EDIT 2026-6-28:
I have found one further example randomly in Triggers - Manual event received - More Examples
URL
https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/automation/editor/
Version
2026.6.4
Additional information
No response
Feedback
It is getting more common for new users asking for help in the forum to ask for "UI only" help or examples. But sharing screenshots back and forth is slow, unwieldy, and error prone. It would be helpful if there were a section in the Automation Editor docs that we could point them towards that covered how to copy/paste YAML directly into the GUI as well as using the "Edit in YAML" option.
Currently the only mention* of the copy/paste functionality I can find is a single paragraph with a short video in the 2025.5 Release Notes which only shows copying full automations. It does not show the partial copies or the replace and append options.
Similarly, the "Edit in YAML" option is mentioned in the header of Automations - YAML but the actual article is focused on configuration files and presents examples that would not work if pasted directly into the field of "Edit in YAML" in the Automation editor.
* EDIT 2026-6-28:
I have found one further example randomly in Triggers - Manual event received - More Examples
URL
https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/automation/editor/
Version
2026.6.4
Additional information
No response