Comments on: Use SharePoint Designer to Email Daily Task Reminders

By: Debra Talley

Debra Talley — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:42:13 +0000

Paul, I'm a newby and I'm attempting to create an auto-increment workflow to a custom list that contains unique log numbers. I found a site from some time ago that maps out the steps but I know I'm missing something. When I test the workflow, the list says that there is an error in the workflow. Can you give me more information. Here is the url to the item I am attempting to use. http://splittingshares.wordpress.com/2008/04/11...

By: JohnXO

JohnXO — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:40:27 +0000

I would like to make a slight correction.
On the workflow step “Send Initial Email”, you stated that you 1) send the reminder email, then 2) set FirstEmailReminderSent to Yes. Next, 3) you pause for one day, and then prepare to loop by 4) “poking” the task by changing any field.
Well I think you already made your “poking” in step 2 by setting FirstEmailReminderSent to Yes. I'm not sure what the impact on the workflow logic is, but I thought I'd let you know for accuracy.

JohnXO

By: Bhadram

Bhadram — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:03:25 +0000

Hey there's a problem at stet 3. Its should be If FirstEmailReminderSent equals Yes (and) Status not equals Completed should be used as condition. If this is not used even though the task has been completed we get email after that. So i think u should update that.For rest its the best i have seen ever.

Thanks.

By: rbarath23

rbarath23 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:55:08 +0000

And also i had the same problem that my work flow works for only 2 mails and then when i change the status to completed my workflow didnt respond to the changes.

The changes work only when the pausing completes and it doesnt respond whatsoever for any change in any field unless i manually terminate the workflow.

This method worked fine before December and its not working with anybody after that..

Just let me know if am right or wrong.

By: rbarath23

rbarath23 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:37:45 +0000

I just found a way to get around this.

The problem occurs to all who has made DECEMBER CUM UPDATES and then SP2 etc..
The easiest way to get around this is create an event receiver for the list which cancels Workflow associations everytime the item is changed. And then create the workflow with changed and new item creation.

Have it in 2 steps. But the problem is History Cannot be logged but who cares because my Users have no persmission to see all those.

Hope this technique helps

By: he_pennypacker

he_pennypacker — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:03:00 +0000

I was tearing my hair out wondering why my workflow only ran through once, until I found this page;

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archiv...

Apparently, these instructions won't work post-SP2. Hope this helps someone else as it was driving me crazy.

Of course, the SP2 “fix” is not documented anywhere on the official list of SP2 changes.

By: Rodrigo

Rodrigo — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:10:13 +0000

Hi Pagalvin

Very useful your post…I was just looking for the way to do that.
Regarding hide fields used as counters and flags, it is a very good link of a tool that you just have to run in your server:

http://spstipsutilitypack.codeplex.com/Release/...

By: dfwilcox

dfwilcox — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:35:39 +0000

What a well-though-out article, Paul! Thank you for taking the time to post your excellent instructions and helpful screen shots!

By: Wim

Wim — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:43:52 +0000

having the exact same problem. I have updates WSS to sp1, and the .net to the latest service pack as well, and nothing seems to solve it. It appears that after a reboot of the actual server, things seem to work for a little longer, but then – after a random number of iterations – the flowchart gets marked completed. There has to be a reason for this. Can anybody help?

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:00:53 +0000

For the e-mail to field I put in “Task: Assigned To” and it works just fine. This is very helpful if you are making your own ticketing/tracking system which I'm currently working on for the company I'm with.

By: Rohit

Rohit — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:56:15 +0000

Does anyone know if there is a way of scheduling tasks in a Sharepoint list automatically?

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:00:07 +0000

Sorry Gly, but there's a difference between recursion and intentional repetition. There are conditions specified for each iteration of the loop in Paul's solution, therefore the behavior described is not recursive.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:32:37 +0000

Dan;

The problem with your method (and the reason that Paul's requires a "poke" column) is the Pause until strReminderDate or Due Date action. This pauses the workflow and causes it to stop "listening" to list updates so that if the due date is changed the workflow will not detect the change and update.

If you're going to use an SPD workflow for this application then you need to use a method like Paul's to loop the workflow with a frequency (daily, weekly, whatever) that is acceptable to your end user.

By: crazy man

crazy man — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:21:11 +0000

Good article,great thought. No matter how many limitations is has, I wold say it solved put Sharepoint Reminder in new high.
Right new I am using Sharepoint Alert Reminder Boost (http://www.sharepointboost.com/alertreminderboo...) which serves me well. I think the difference between your solution and the third party tools is that for some tech savvy your solution is great, brings some sort of accomplishment while third party tool is more reliable and easy to use.

Nevertheless, your blog gives me fresh knowledge. Thanks!

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:01:27 +0000

Is there a way to trigger a workflow based on a field(date)?
List has two columns: Due Date (manually entered by user) and "One week Reminder" (calculated date based on "Due Date")

i.e User create the doc Today(2-6-2009) and enter "Bill Due Date"=3-8-2009 so "One Week Reminder" will be 3-1-2009

How can workflow send out email on 3-1-2009?

Once the user gets the email, he/she will update the "Bill Due Date" to some future date and again one week before that date, workflow should sent out remonder.

Thanks

By: Netta

Netta — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:58:07 +0000

having the same problem. it doenst metter if it's 24 hours or one. it works once/twice then i get “completed” and it doenst work anymore….

By: Netta

Netta — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:36:13 +0000

i just can't get it to work.
everything works fine. the “poked” filed updates itself but the update doesnt trigger the workflow to start again.
I set it to everytime an item changes, menual change triggers it but not the “scripted one” from the workflow.
I'm clueless….

By: Dan S

Dan S — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:09:13 +0000

Actually, I accomplished this slightly differently and without looping or creating placeholder columns. I used your article as a good conceptual guide. Hope this helps.. It is working well for me. My actual workflow is more detailed and tailored to my environment, but here is the gist..

All done in Sharepoint Designer. You should consider adding Log messages to the instructions below. By the way, when testing, dont set the counter to 5 minutes.. it wont always work. Plan the testing over a few days.. make it realistic and be patient! I read there are some bugs when setting the time triggers too low..

Create some Workflow steps. Each step is separated with commented ### marks:

Make certain the workflow starts when a new item is created or modified.

### Check if task is set to Completed when created/updated ####

If Status equals Completed
Stop Workflow

### Create a "date" variable named strReminderDate for a 2 day warning that task will be due ####

If Status does not equal completed
Add -2 days to Due Date and output to strReminderDate
Then pause until strReminderDate

Else If Status equals Completed
Stop Workflow

### Email 2 Day Warning to Assignee unless uncompleted task was created within 2 days of Today and Pause until Due Date ###

If Status does not equal Completed and Due Date is greater than Today
Email Assigned To:
Pause until Due Date

Else If Status equals Completed
Stop Workflow

### Email Assignee and pause for 3 days to be escalated if task not complete ###

If Status does not equal Complete
Email Assigned To:
Pause for 3 days

Else If Status equals Completed
Stop Workflow

### Escalate uncompleted task to Manager ###

If Status does not equal Completed
Email Manager
Stop Workflow

Else If Status equals Completed
Stop Workflow

##############

By: howeg73

howeg73 — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:13:34 +0000

Has anyone found a solution to the variability in the iteration? I am also finding that my workflow is actually updating a value in the Current Item, but it never restarts. As a result, I may get 1 iteration in my test or 10. There doesn't seem to be any consistency.

By: Bernardo

Bernardo — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:13:27 +0000

Sorry by my poor english

Great article, we have a problem with alerts and this article is a solution, and have a question.
One question : is posible to use a group of sharepoint or shareponit's group for to be a destinatary of mail?

One question : it is possible that I can use your articles translated into Spanish in a site sharepoint?

Thanks Pagalvin for your article