Workflow settings

  An administrator role is required. For information, see User roles.

Use the Workflow settings page to manage settings for your workflows. You can manage the versioning scheme for your workflows and select who can publish workflows in the tenant.

Jump to:

Access the Workflow settings page

  1. On the top navigation, click Settings.

  2. On the left navigation, click Workflow settings.

Configure workflow regional settings

Configure the default timezone and locale format for the tenant. These regional settings will determine how Date and time variables are printed by workflows. This setting is a default setting and is applied to any workflow that is configured to use the tenant’s default settings. Regional settings for individual workflows can be configured within Change regional settings on the workflow designer toolbar.

By default, the timezone is set to Coordinated Universal Time and locale format is set to None.

Important: 

  • Regional settings will impact workflow execution only. When DateTime variables are referenced in a text field of any non-connector action, the values are first converted to the selected timezone and/or locale before it is printed.

  • Values are automatically adjusted for the region's daylight saving time.

Change the regional settings for all workflows in the tenant

  1. On the top navigation, click Settings.

  2. On the left navigation, click Workflow settings.

  3. In the Workflow regional settings section, click Edit.

  4. Select the timezone you want from the Tenant default timezone drop-down list.

  5. Select the locale format you want from the Tenant default locale format list.

    Note: The Date and time column illustrates what the resulting format will be for the selected locale based on the current date and time.

  6. Click Save.

    The change is applied to all workflows in the tenant. You can change the setting for individual workflows within Change regional settings on the workflow designer toolbar.

Manage instance data

You can select an option that allows workflow designers and developers to delete and configure workflows to automatically delete instance data. By default, this option is off. Deleting instance data from workflows also deletes all of the start data, tasks, and files associated with the workflows.

Note: Administrators can delete instance data even if this option is toggled off.

If you have strict data security guidelines and policies, this feature allows you to remove data that is captured and stored throughout any workflow process. Instances that were terminated or failed will not be automatically deleted so that you can review and fix workflow issues first before manually deleting the instances. If a workflow is configured to automatically delete instance data, or if instance data is manually deleted, the form files will also be deleted regardless of the File upload storage configuration. Once instance data is deleted, it cannot be restored.

For more information, see Delete instances.

Change the instance data retention setting for all workflows in the tenant

  1. On the top navigation, click Settings.

  2. On the left navigation, click Workflow settings.

  3. In the Instance data section, select the check box and click Save.

Manage workflow versions

You can manage the versioning scheme for workflows using the options in the Workflow versioning section. You can select one or both of the options to require users to provide comments before publishing or saving a workflow.

Change the workflow versioning settings for all workflows in the tenant

  1. On the top navigation, click Settings.

  2. On the left navigation, click Workflow settings.

  3. In the Workflow versioning section, select the check box you want:

    • Require version comments when publishing a workflow: Select this check box if you want users to provide details about the specific version they want to publish.

    • Require version comments when saving a workflow: Select this check box if you want users to provide a comment about the specific version they want to save.

      Note: This option is available only when you enable Require version comments when publishing a workflow.

  4. Click Save.

For more information about the Workflow versioning options, see Workflow versioning fields.

Workflow publishing

The Workflow publishing settings control who can publish production workflows within the tenant. Additionally, you can specify which groups can review and approve publish requests from users without publishing permission, ensuring production workflows are reviewed before being published.

With the default setting, users with a Designer or Developer role, and Administrators can publish production workflows. You can modify this setting to allow only specific groups to publish production workflows, requiring other users to submit publish requests. Users not in the selected roles or groups can submit publish requests but cannot publish directly. For more information about publishing workflows, see Publish a workflow.

Note: 

  • Global administrators and Automation administrators can always publish production workflows.

  • This only applies to production workflows. Development workflows can be published by all designers and developers.

To limit publishing to a specific set of users, create a group with the required users and select it from the Groups list.

When a user without publishing permission wants to publish a workflow and selects Production as the Assigned use, they must send a request to publish the workflow.

Important: When a new group is added, its members can only approve requests submitted after the group’s inclusion. They cannot approve requests made before the group was added.

Change the workflow publishing settings

  1. On the top navigation, click Settings.

  2. On the left navigation, click Workflow settings.

  3. In the Workflow publishing section, select one of the following to specify which roles or groups can publish production workflows:

    • Designer and Developer: When selected, users with a Designer or Developer role can publish production workflows in the tenant. Global administrators and Automation administrators can always publish production workflows.

    • Groups: When selected, only the members of the selected group or groups can publish production workflows in the tenant.

      Important:  The other fields in the workflow publishing settings, as detailed below, are only enabled when Groups is selected.

  4. If you select Groups, select the groups you want in the Select which groups can publish workflows drop-down list. The maximum number of groups you can select is 5.

    The drop-down shows all the existing groups created in the tenant. If you want to use a new group, you must create the group first. For information about creating groups, see Create, edit, and manage user groups.

  5. In the Select which groups will review and approve workflow publish requests field, select the group or groups that can review and approve publish requests.

  6. (Optional) If you want to send an email to the users in the selected groups when a request to publish is sent, select the Send an email to everyone in these groups when a request to publish is submitted check box. For information about how these users can publish production workflows, see Publish a workflow with a Publish requested status.

  7. Click Save to save the settings or Cancel to reset to the last saved setting.

For more information about the settings, see Workflow publishing fields.

Setting Description
Designer and Developer When selected, all users with a Designer or Developer role are able publish workflows in the tenant. This is the default setting selected for the tenant.
Groups

When selected, only the members of the selected group or groups have permission to publish workflows in the tenant. If you want to limit publishing permission to selected users, add the users you want to a group and select the group from the drop-down. The maximum number of groups you can select is 5.

Important: 

  • When a new group is added to the list, the members of the new group can only publish workflows for requests sent after the group is added to the Groups list. They won’t have the ability to publish workflows for any requests that were submitted prior to the group being added.

  • We recommend adding all users you want to give publishing permission to into one group. This way you can add any new users to the same group to ensure that the new users can publish workflows with previous publish requests.
Select which groups can publish workflows

The groups that can publish production workflows. All members of the selected groups will have permission to publish production workflows. The drop-down shows all the existing groups created in the tenant. If you want to use a new group, you must create the group first. For information about creating groups, see Create, edit, and manage user groups.

Note: This option is enabled only if the Groups setting is selected.

Select which groups will review and approve workflow publish requests The groups that can review and approve publish requests. All members of these groups will have workflow approver permissions and can review and approve production workflows before they're published.

The drop-down shows all the existing groups created in the tenant. If you want to use a new group, you must create the group first. For information about creating groups, see Create, edit, and manage user groups.

When a publish request is submitted for a workflow, the groups with publishing permission are automatically added as owners of the workflow.

Note: This option is enabled only if the Groups setting is selected.

Send an email to everyone in these groups when a request to publish is submitted.

This enables email notifications to be sent to the users with publishing permission. An email with details of the request is sent to the members of the selected groups when this check box is selected.

Note: This option is enabled only if the Groups setting is selected.

For information about how these users can publish production workflows, see Publish a workflow with a Publish requested status.
Cancel Resets to the last saved settings.
Save Saves the changes you make.
Option Description
Require version comments when publishing a workflow When you publish a workflow, a dialog appears asking for details about the workflow, such as name and description. If you want to require users to provide details about the specific version they want to publish, select the Require version comments when publishing a workflow box.
Require version comments when saving a workflow

If selected, users are required to provide a comment about the specific version they want to save.

Note: This option is available only when you enable Require version comments when publishing a workflow.
Save Saves your selections.
Cancel Discards any changes to the selection.