Question - should your task know exactly how many files ahould be uploaded, or should it just check to see if SOMETHING is in the corresponding folder?

Hi Rhia,

This is exactly what makes it complicated I believe:

Lets say I have an Flexi Task to "Collect relevant documents from other systems" two possibilities to answer, and thus complete, the task. 1) Documents are collected or 2) Documents not available.

In case the person has the documents, and selects 1) and has the documents on hand at his desktop. I would like to force him to upload them in a form of a task. I have been thinking of two ways of achieving this, but have not been able to concretise them yet. a) When choosing option 1) having an "attachment-box" requiring a file to be uploaded (somehow to the specific folder). or b) having an additional task when choosing 1) which forces you to upload the file(s).

The easiest of course would be, when the users manually place their files to the folder, but in the organisation this leaves too much room for error.

I hope this makes sense?

Thanks 

It does make sense, yes.

I suppose what I was thinking was along the lines of..

• Flexi-task runs
• User "completes" task
• "Completed" path runs, and, has 2 paths:
• 1) docs required
• 2) docs not required
• if path 2, do nothing
• if path 1, trigger a check of the folder (ie get collection of IDs in folder, count), then, if no files - a notification (x docs need to be uploaded) and a "wait until" (until there are 2 files, for example OR until a certain date.)

This leaves a lot of room for customization and flexibility .. and no second task, just an annoying notification that keeps pestering them to go upload their file(s) until they've actually done it.

Just thinking out loud about how I'd start approaching it if I were in your shoes... at the very least we can figure out what WON'T work, first  

That being said, if you go with "b) having an additional task when choosing 1) which forces you to upload the file(s)." and figure out how to do it, I will 100% pester you for a blog post on that

This might be a bit over my head. I will keep searching :-)

I can do a mock-up after work if you're interested

I'm actually curious how I'd query the inside of a folder ... not done that before...

what about following approach:

- let/force users to attach all the documents to the task form. this gives you possibility to enforce it when needed. it as well keep you from assigning another task to the user just to add documents.

- copy attached documents to respective folder within workflow. that way you have full control over where they are stored, so avoid user mistakes.

This would definitely be a solution!

Would this require Nintex Forms? (They are unfortunately not approved by the IT). 

If no, how would you achieve this?

flexi task with standard SP form unfortunately do not allow attachments.

you would need then to switch request data action.

or to make users to add attachments to the item workflow is running on first and just then confirm task. so that means he/she would need to go to two froms/screens.

I have explored this a bit, and am again struggling... How would one configure the "Request Data" Action to work like this? Would I need another workflow to transfer the documents from the workflow to the folders? 

I could also use InfoPath for the forms. If InfoPath would be a better solution, I could experiment with it a bit. (So far no experience using it).

The second option would not really bother me, but it might cause some aggressions at the end-user level. As they are already hammered with multiple notifications from the system . I would say it is worth a try, if it works well.

I would highly appreciate a bit more concrete instructions! 

Thank you!

Sorry for the late answer! I think querying the folder could be a good workaround! If you find a way to do it, I am definitely interested

request data action (just like any other action) doesn't care about copying task attachment. I recopmmended it just because it's only action that accepts attachemnts with OOTB SP task form.

to copy attachment from task item or list item you need to implement certain logic, see eg. collect task attachments in list item and show all attachments in next task 

I do not have experience with info path either, but it might be an option as well. you should be able to use it with flexi task as well.

reg. uploading attachments to the list item, it wouldn't (necessarily) mean any notification to users.  it would just mean you would have to teach them first to upload attachment to the list item  and just then to confirm task.