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Modify a workflow association

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Applies To: Office SharePoint Server 2007

This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

After you associate (add) a workflow with a list, library, or content type, you can modify its configuration settings at any time. Configuration settings include the name of the workflow association, the start options, the participants, the task notification messages, the choice of lists to use for tracking workflow history and tasks (default or new), and completion options.

Before you perform these procedures, confirm that you have read the following topics:

Important

You must be a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group to perform these procedures.

In this topic:

  • Modify a workflow associated with a list or library

  • Modify a workflow associated with a list or library content type

  • Modify a workflow associated with a site content type

Modify a workflow associated with a list or library

Use this procedure to modify the configuration settings for a workflow associated with a list or document library. Changes to configuration settings are only applied to workflow instances that start after the workflow association is modified.

  1. Navigate to the list or document library where the workflow is located.

  2. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.

  3. On the Customize page, in the Permissions and Management column, click Workflow Settings.

  4. On the Change Workflow Settings page, in the Workflows section, select the name of the workflow that you want to change.

  5. In the Name section, you can optionally type a new name for the workflow. This name will be used to identify the workflow to site users.

  6. In the Task List section, specify a task list to use with this workflow.

    Note

    You can use the default task list, select another existing task list, or create a new one. If you use the default task list, workflow participants can find and view their workflow tasks easily by using the My Tasks view of the Tasks list. If the tasks for this workflow will reveal sensitive or confidential data that you want to keep separate from the default tasks list, you should create a new task list.

  7. In the History List section, select a history list to use with this workflow. The history list displays all of the events that occur during each instance of the workflow.

    Note

    You can use the default history list, select another existing task list, or create a new one. When SharePoint lists exceed 2000 items, site performance may be impacted. If your organization will have numerous workflows, consider creating a separate history list for each workflow association to avoid potential performance problems.

  8. In the Start Options section, specify how (automatically or manually), when (item update, creation, or both), or by whom a workflow can be started. Note that the available start options are determined by the workflow template and will differ from one workflow to another.

    Note

    By default, users with Edit Item permissions can start a workflow. If you specify that Require Manage List permissions are needed to start the workflow, only list administrators (that is, anyone with Manage List or Web Designer permissions) can start an instance of the workflow. Most workflows do not require this restriction. However, you can use this setting for workflows with tasks that only certain people should be able to perform, such as deleting documents.

  9. Click Next to configure workflow-specific settings, as necessary.

  10. After you have configured workflow-specific settings, click OK to apply your changes to the workflow association.

Modify a workflow associated with a list or library content type

Use this procedure to modify a workflow association with a list or library content type. When you modify a workflow associated with a content type, you can choose whether to apply changes to existing workflow instances. If you apply the changes to existing workflow instances, you may want to restart the workflow instances to avoid losing workflow history and task data.

  1. Navigate to the document library or list where the workflow is located.

  2. On the Settings menu, click List Settings or Document Library Settings.

  3. On the Customize page in the Permissions and Management column, click Workflow Settings.

  4. On the Change Workflow Settings page, in the Name section, you can optionally type a new name for the workflow. This name will be used to identify the workflow to site users.

  5. In the Task List section, specify a task list to use with this workflow.

    Note

    You can use the default task list, choose another existing task list, or create a new one. If you use the default task list, workflow participants can find and view their workflow tasks easily by using the My Tasks view of the Tasks list. If the tasks for this workflow will reveal sensitive or confidential data that you want to keep separate from the default tasks list, you should select a new task list.

  6. In the History List section, select a history list to use with this workflow. The history list displays all of the events that occur during each instance of the workflow.

    Note

    You can use the default history list or you can create a new one. When SharePoint lists exceed 2000 items, site performance may be impacted. If your organization will have numerous workflows, consider creating a separate history list for each workflow to avoid potential performance problems.

  7. In the Start Options section, specify how (automatically or manually), when (item update, creation, or both), or by whom a workflow can be started. Note that the available start options are determined by the workflow template and will differ from one workflow to another.

    Note

    By default, users with Edit Item permissions can start a workflow. If you select Require Manage List permissions to start the workflow, only list administrators (that is, anyone with Manage List or Web Designer permissions) can start an instance of the workflow. Most workflows do not require this restriction. However, you can use this setting for workflows with tasks that only certain people should be able to perform, such as deleting documents.

  8. In the Update List and Site Content Types section, specify whether you want to add this workflow to all content types that inherit from this content type.

  9. Click Next to configure workflow-specific settings, as necessary.

  10. After you have configured workflow-specific settings, click OK to apply your changes to the workflow association.

Modify a workflow associated with a site content type

Use this procedure to modify a workflow association with a site content type. When you modify a workflow associated with a content type, you can choose whether to apply changes to existing workflow instances. If you apply the changes to existing workflow instances, you may want to restart the workflow instances to avoid losing workflow history and task data.

  1. Browse to the site where you want to modify a workflow associated with a content type.

  2. On the home page for the site collection, on the Site Actions menu, click Site Settings.

  3. On the Site Settings page under Galleries, click Site content types.

  4. On the Site Content Type Gallery page, in the Site Content Type column, click the content type for which you want to modify a workflow association.

  5. On the Site Content Type page, in the Settings section, click Workflow settings.

  6. On the Change Workflow Settings page, click the name of the workflow that you want to change.

  7. Follow the instructions to modify the workflow as noted in the previous procedure, starting with step 4.

See Also

Concepts

Add a workflow to a content type
Add a workflow to a list or document library