OOB Approval workflows are missing on SharePoint online site
Published Jul 01 2020 09:22 AM 3,953 Views
Microsoft

SharePoint OOB Approval workflows are missing on SharePoint online site even after activating\reactivating the "Workflows" site collection feature.

 

Missing workflow templates: 

Publishing Approval

Approval - SharePoint 2010 

Collect feedback - SharePoint 2010

Collect Signatures - SharePoint 2010

 

Issue:

SharePoint OOB Approval workflows are missing on SharePoint online site even after activating\reactivating the "Workflows" site collection feature.

 

We just see below templates,

image.png

And in SharePoint designer, Wfpub contents are shown as folder and NOT as a library.

image.png

 

Background:

  • Workflows feature depends on OffWfCommon (c9c9515d-e4e2-4001-9050-74f980f93160). 
  • OffWfCommon generates wfpub library when activated.
  • Workflows features will deploy globally reusable workflows in wfpub when activated.
Initially activating Workflows means activating OffWfCommon and Workflows at the same time.
So, OffWfCommon will generate wfpub library and Workflows will deploy those workflows.
 
But unfortunately from the 2nd time, activation of Workflows feature only means the Workflows feature itself. This is because OffWfCommon remains activated. So it works like this.
  • Workflows features will deploy globally reusable workflows in wfpub when activated...
    But wfpub is not there. So empty folders are generated to cover up.

Expected:

 image.png

Actual:
image.png

 

Resolution:

-Deactivate the "Workflows" site collection feature.

-Remove Wfpub folder from "_catalogs" - SharePoint designer

-Toggle the OffWfCommon feature

  • Connect to PNP site collection and run below cmd,

      Disable-PnPFeature -Identity c9c9515d-e4e2-4001-9050-74f980f93160 -Scope Site

      Enable-PnPFeature -Identity c9c9515d-e4e2-4001-9050-74f980f93160 -Scope Site
-Now activate the "workflows" feature from UI should bring back the missing OOB workflows.
1 Comment
Iron Contributor

SharePoint 2010 workflows are about to be discontinued in a couple of months. We are scrambling to replace ours with something comparable via Power Automate, but I'm finding it very frustrating as there are no good alternatives in the Power Automate templates to replace something like how a multi-person approval process works on a document library. I wish Microsoft would have given us replacements we could easily build in Power Automate for all their standard workflows in 2010... :(

Version history
Last update:
‎Aug 27 2020 03:48 PM
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