Archive: Nintex for Office 365 Knowledge Articles

TOPICWith the introduction of Responsive forms to Nintex Forms for O365 the Rules functionality was also updated.Responsive forms does not allow custom javascript or CSS.  Our customers were using Javascript predominantly to auto-populate controls on a form.With the Rules update there is now a Set Value option as well as the usual Disable,Hide,Validate options.   This option can be used to auto-populate a Single Lines of Text control ONLY.INSTRUCTIONSExample1. Create a list in O3652. Open the Nintex Forms Designer3. Add a choice control onto the canvas. And configure it with the Options Boy,Girl and name it Gender4. Select the default "Title" Single Lines Of Text control and click Add Rule from the ribbon.5. In the Rules paneRule Name = Boy When = equals(Gender,"Boy") Then = Set Value Value = "Shorts"Add another rule and configure it as below.Rule Name = Girl When = equals(Gender,"Girl") Then = Set Value Value = "Dress"6. Publish the form. When you select a choice either Boy or Girl th

QUESTIONHow can you determine where all of the published Nintex workflows are within an Office 365 SharePoint Online tenant?ANSWERUse Nintex Analytics to see the Dashboard for Nintex platform capabilities and navigate to deep-dive workflow data. With Nintex Analytics you can have reports for below:Workflow billing Instance usage Platform split Workflow countADDITIONAL INFORMATIONRELATED LINKS https://help.nintex.com/en-US/analytics/Analytics/Analytics.htm https://help.nintex.com/en-US/analytics/Analytics/Workflows.htm#Workflows https://community.nintex.com/t5/Best-Practices/Nintex-Analytics-FAQ/ta-p/118524   

TopicHow to reduce the width of two SharePoint date columns in Nintex Forms for Office 365 when one date control title is longer than fourteen characters. InstructionsCreate SharePoint list and two date controls. Create Nintex Forms for this list. On the designer, delete the two date controls. From the forms control panel, drag and drop two new date controls into the form. For each date control set the 'Connected to' to the relevant SharePoint column. Reduce both controls to the lowest width possible. 

TopicHow to setup Nintex Workflow error alerts on SharePoint Online. InstructionsThis is a  workaround that can assist you in setting up workflow error notifications on Nintex Workflow for Office 365 whenever a workflow gets Suspended.Full steps and video in the following Nintex Community link:https://community.nintex.com/docs/DOC-6580-parsing-nintex-forms-repeating-section-solution-o365  Related Linkshttps://community.nintex.com/docs/DOC-6580-parsing-nintex-forms-repeating-section-solution-o365  

TopicConfiguring a control on a Nintex Responsive form as Appearance > Visible > "No" puts a "Hidden" message across the control in the Nintex Forms designer and causes the control to not populate it's default value or calculated data. InstructionsThe correct way to achieve the functionality of hiding a control that dynamically populates is to either use a hide rule on the control. Additional InformationThis functionality secures the metadata in the control from being changed in any way.Due to this functionality if you try to hide a control that populates dynamically like a Calculated value control or a single line of text control with a reference the data will not calculate.  

TopicWhen making a change to the permissions of an item, and attempting to set the custom configured level created in SharePoint Online. Admin is unable to locate the new group under the permission drop down or in the advanced lookup feature under the "custom permissions" field.  InstructionsAfter you have created your custom permission set and name it, you have to manually type the name of the custom permission into the corresponding field in the action.  Having this field populated will override the selected permission set for this item. Additional Information  Related Linkshttps://community.nintex.com/t5/Blog/Introducing-quot-custom-permissions-quot-within-Office-365/ba-p/105677?lightbox-message-images-105677=5540iF97E14A4B5A301A8  

TopicHow to best avoid throttle events due to looping within Nintex Workflow for Office 365. InstructionsBest practices to avoid throttlingReduce the number of operations per request:  When multiple workflows are running at the same time, if workflows are waiting for a wake-up event, make sure that this event will only affect the workflow running on the current item. Example: When using the Wait for Event in List Item action; if any item on the list is interacted with, workflows waiting on this action will wake up, resulting in a high number of calls being made to the SharePoint environment. The preferred alternative would be using an action like Wait for Field Change in Current Item. This action will only wake up the workflow instance if the item it is running on is interacted with instead of any item on the list. Breaking workflow definition into smaller parts, and calling these child workflows through the Start Workflow action. This will help reduce the number of requests per

TopicUsing Nintex Forms for Office 365 the attachment field can be made compulsory. InstructionsOpen the Nintex Form in the Nintex Form designer.Click on the attachments control, then click on control settings to open the settings page.Using the "minimum attachments" section : set the value to larger than zero. that will force the user to add attachment(s). Related Linkshttps://community.nintex.com/thread/14851-make-attachments-required-on-conditioni 

TopicHow to change the tooltip on a task 'Outcome' column that reads "This site column is for use by Nintex Workflow for Office 365 and it should not be altered."Instructions Navigate to the relevant Task List Edit the List Settings Select the relevant Nintex Task content type.Example: Nintex Task Outcomes fa87af6f-25ed-416b-977d-c780c68147e9Select the Nintex Task Outcomes [GUID] column Select 'Edit Column' Modify the 'Description' to your preferenceNote: Do not modify any other setting on this page as it may cause functional issues with your workflow tasksClick 'Ok'Additional InformationIf Content Types are not presented in the List Settings, navigate to Advanced Settings and set 'Allow management of content types?' to 'Yes'. The Nintex Task Outcomes [GUID] content types each relate to one task action in a workflow (i.e. Assign a Task). The content type that is related to your workflow action can be identified by: Start your workflow and allow it to create a new task Open the newly cr

TopicI have a repeating section control on my form to collect multiples of similar information but how do I use the output of this control? InstructionsTo use the output of the Repeating Section control it must be connected to a Multi Lines of text column in SharePoint and the column must be configured as Plain Text.The output will be in XML format.The Query XML workflow action can then be used to extract the required nodes from the XML. Additional InformationControls within the repeating section cannot be connected to their own SharePoint column.  This is expected behavior.If a Repeating Section control is unbound (not connected to a SharePoint column) it will be stored in the hidden NFFormData column (O365) or the hidden Form Data column (on-premise).  This hidden column is also in XML format.This means that when you store a Repeating Section Control which is XML into the hidden Form Data column which is also XML the Repeating Section output will be encoded so as to not make the XML

TopicHow do I configure my environment to display Nintex Task forms in desktop mode when using a web browser on a mobile device? InstructionsOption 1 After clicking the Task link from an email client on the mobile device to open task form, change the browser settings to PC view mode by enabling Desktop site.Option 2 Deactivate the "Mobile Browser View" feature in the Site Settings will force the desktop form to be displayed. 

TopicHow to set a workflow variable as a hyperlink in the label of Nintex Task Form for Office 365? InstructionsCreate a workflow variable with the data type Text. Drag and drop an action "Set Workflow Variable" and configure the workflow variable with the HTML script value. Here is the sample on how to configure of the value, the sample is a link to the Nintex website : <a href="https://www.nintex.com/" target="_blank">The text for the label</a> . It has to be full URL including https:// or http://. Drag and drop a Task action. Open the Nintex Task Form designer.  Drag and drop a Label control and open the Label control setting.  Insert the workflow variable into Label control. 

Topic Defining allowed file types in the Attachment or File Upload control in Nintex Forms for Office 365. Instructions Classic and Responsive Forms:1. Open the configuration for the Attachment control.2. Under 'Validation', locate the 'Allowed file formats'.3. Add the desired file types in the (place each on a separate line).Example:xlsmpdfdocx4. Save the configuration. New Responsive Forms:1. Open the configuration for the File Upload control.2. Under 'Accepted file types', check the box for 'Custom'.3. Add the desired file types in the 'Define custom file types' field.Example:xlsm, pdf, docx4. Configuration automatically saves. Related Links https://help.nintex.com/en-US/office365/Forms/ResponsiveClassicForms/FormControls/ListAttachmentControl.htm https://help.nintex.com/en-US/office365/Designer/FormControls/FileUpload.htm

TopicHow to set a Task Reminder, in Nintex Workflow for Office 365? InstructionsOpen the Task action configuration (Assign Task or Start Task Process). Navigate to the 'Reminder email options' section. Tick the check-box 'Send reminder email'. Configure the rest of the fields under 'Reminder email options' as required. Related LinksHelp file Assign TaskHelp file Start a task process 

Topic How to manage the Workflow History in Nintex for SharePoint Online, similar to SharePoint for On-Prem environments? InstructionsFor O365 this is a setting that cannot be adjusted. For SharePoint (2010, 2013 and 2016) It is a farm setting in the timer services and it isn't accessible in SharePoint Online.As a best practice, it is optimal to use Lists to store important workflow history for long term auditing and not rely on the workflow history lists for many reasons.Available Options: SharePoint Auditing: SharePoint has a builtin auditing capability. The good news is, the data collected survives migrations, upgrades and is permanent. On the other hand, the reports are not very end user friendly and turning on auditing in SharePoint (on-prem) can decrease performance by up to 15%. So be careful when going for this option. more information on SharePoint auditing can be found here. List Data: You can leverage additional fields in SharePoint lists to store audit information as part o

TopicThe Nintex Forms lookup function is generally used in its standard form with 4 parameters but the runtime function can take up to 6 parameters.  See the link below for the help files for this runtime function.lookup("list title", "column to filter on", "value to filter on", "output column")The 5th parameter is a simple true/false boolean to allow multiple items to be returned or not.By default the 5th parameter is false so the parameter is not required when only one result is required.When the 5th parameter is set to true multiple results are returned in an Array but what can be done with this Array? InstructionsUsing the lookup() runtime function on a form with the 5th parameter set to true will return multiple results. lookup("list title", "column to filter on", "value to filter on", "output column", true)These multiple results can be filtered during the lookup by embedding the lookup into other runtime functions.Examples:To find the lowest number returned in an array. min(looku

TopicDue to there being no versioning for Nintex Workflows for O365 as there is with Nintex for SharePoint on-premise Workflows can not be restored to a previous version.Versioning is available for Nintex Forms for O365. InstructionsWhen you want to save a version of a Workflow either save or publish the workflow.From the Workflow designer export the workflow and save it to a location and name the file appropriatelyWhen you need to revert to the older version of the Workflow open the Nintex Workflow designer and import the Workflow.Versioning for Nintex forms for O365 is automatically switched on.To restore a Form navigate to https://<TenantName>/Site/NintexFormsFind the form that needs to be restored to a previous version and right click on it or click on the ellipse.  Navigate to Version History.  A dialog will appear with the previous versions.  Select the appropriate version and this will now be the published form. 

QUESTIONIs it possible to revert to a previous design version of a Nintex workflow or form on the Office 365 platform?ANSWERThis is not a feature of Nintex Workflow or Nintex Forms for Office 365, due to the architecture of SharePoint Online. Currently, the only way to revert to a previous version of either a workflow or form design, is to import a locally archived version of the workflow/form. Join the conversation on Version Control in the Nintex Product Feedback Site.ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONRELATED LINKS

TopicThe parameter Scope = 'RecursiveAll' cannot be used in a CAML query to seach through all folders when using the O365 Query List action. InstructionsTick the include subfolders check box in the action configuration to achieve this functionality. 

TopicHow to elevate the permissions for the workflow initiator who does not have sufficient permissions to write to the log history in the list?  InstructionsUse an "Action Set" action to elevate the permissions. Additional InformationHelp File Action Set 

TOPICHow to use utilize Nintex Forms for Office 365 and Nintex Mobile to add signatures to a form.INSTRUCTIONSFor using the Nintex Mobile App for capturing a signature, see Sign Your Name Across My Heart For extending the ability to sign forms from Nintex Mobile to the Nintex Forms for Office 365 App, See Extending Nintex Mobile Signature control to desktop/browserADDITIONAL INFORMATIONRELATED LINKS

TOPICHow to schedule a Site Workflow within Nintex for Office 365.INSTRUCTIONSFrom Site Contents, access the Nintex Workflow for Office 365 app. Click on the ellipses (...) next to the desired workflow, and then click on Schedule. Click on Add Schedule and select the desired workflow run time. Configure when the workflow schedule should run, which time zone the scheduled workflow should be started in, how often it should reoccur. Optionally, add up to 4 more (for a total of 5) schedules to the workflow by clicking on Add schedule, which will add another schedule box. When finished configuring schedules, click Save.ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONNote: The Nintex Workflow app will need to be granted elevated (app permissions) privileges in the desired site you would like to use this functionality on. Refer to the following instructions for enabling app permissions:Go to Site Settings. In the Site Actions section, select Manage site features. Locate the feature called Workflows can use app permiss

TopicCreating custom content types to be used in Nintex Workflow for Office 365 task actions.Answer1. Navigate to Site Settings.2. Create new site content type.3. Configure the content type as follows: Select parent content type from: List Content TypesParent Content Type: Workflow Task (SharePoint 2013)Put this site content type into: Existing Group > Custom Content Types 4. The new content type will now appear as a option from the task action configuration. Additional InformationNote: The new content type will not appear if:1. The content type is added under the 'Nintex Workflow for Office 365' group.2. The new content type does not have a 'Task Outcome' column.

TOPICHow to design a workflow that has a functionality to update the workflow initiator item permission when the workflow initiator does not have Full control to the List. INSTRUCTIONSCreate the following two workflows:Workflow 1Drag and drop "Office 365 update item permissions" action.  Configured the actions as per required by following the instruction from the help file of Office 365 update item permissions. Save and Publish the workflow.Workflow 2Drag and drop "Start Workflow" action.  Configure the Start Workflow  as below: Workflow name is WORKFLOW 1. Username and Password are using an account that has an Administrator (Full Control) permission.  Other fields can be configured by following the instruction from the help file of Start Workflow  Save and Publish the workflow. Run the WORKFLOW 2 using a workflow initiator that has a Limited access to the List.  ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONA user account is required to have a "Full Control" permission to the List to run the "Office 365 U

TopicHow to do Task Delegation in the Nintex Workflow for Office 365? InstructionsUse the Task Escalation as the way to configure Task Delegation in the Nintex Workflow for Office 365.  The functionality is available in the Assign a Task action and the Start a Task Process action, under section "Escalate or auto-complete" Related LinksHow to configure Escalate and auto-complete options on Office 365Task Escalation comes to Office 365Task Delegation Workaround in Nintex Workflow for Office 365 VideoTask Delegation Workaround in Nintex Workflow for Office 365 Archived blog.