Supported data types

The following table describes the data types supported by workflow variables, including the equivalent .NET Framework data type. For more information about workflow variables, see Workflow variables.

Data type .NET Framework data type Description
Single line of text System.String A single line of text, without line breaks.
Multiple lines of text System.String Multiple lines of text, delimited by carriage returns, line feeds, or other characters.
Choice System.String A string, representing the selected items for the variable. The string representation depends on the display format of the Choice workflow variable.
Number System.Double A double-precision floating point number.
Date and Time System.DateTime A date and time value in the local time zone.
Yes/No System.Boolean A Boolean value.
Person or Group System.String A string, representing an array of encoded claims, delimited by semi-colon (;) characters. For more information about claims encoding in SharePoint 2013, see SharePoint 2013: Claims Encoding - Also Valuable for SharePoint 2010 on Microsoft TechNet.
Integer System.Int32

A 32-bit signed integer.

List Item ID Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflows.SPItemKey

A SharePoint item key, representing the identifier for a list item.

A workflow variable using this data type cannot have a default value and is ignored if specified in association data.

Action ID Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflows.SPItemKey

A SharePoint item key, representing the identifier for a workflow action.

A workflow variable using this data type cannot have a default value and is ignored if specified in association data.

Collection System.Collections.ArrayList

A collection of items.

A workflow variable using this data type cannot have a default value and is ignored if specified in association data.