Is the WF on a list item or on a Site?

If it's a a list Item something has to kick it off? like if you change field .

Hi,

The WF it's on a list item, currently is set to start when a new element is added to the list... Any ideas about the issue?

In the Workflow Setting you have it to Start on "Create" ? is this a email enabled list?

Yes, it is enable to start on create, and is not an email enable list...Any clue??

some thing needs to change on the list so that the WF can start. So for if lets you have  a condition action that says if Status equals complete then send an email. Only then when Status is change to complete will it start.  Make Sense?

Hi Anderson Sarria,

Workflows do not start automatically if the item has been created by "System Account" (programmatically or via email). Can you please check if that is the case for your workflows that won't start?

Hi Christian Heindel​,

The workflow is started by an user in a SharePoint list, using a form designed in Nintex Forms. Currently we haven't found solution to this issue, I'm going to test the solution of Melissa Castillo​ using an conditional to start the workflow when the item is created.

Thanks

Anderson Sarria​

Hope it helps!

I haven't used it on Nintex Forms.  My company doesn't have that product

Since SharePoint controls the automatic starting of workflows, when you encounter this, I'd recommend you check your SP logs for "Workflow Infrastructure" messages.  Usually, SP will log the reason it didn't start the workflow.

Unless, it's configured to start on a condition and that condition is not met.

Vadim

Are they really not starting or are they in a queue? They system could be running slow sometimes possibly??? I know there are days here where customers call me telling me that the workflow isn't running. I tell them to wait and a few hours later or shorter, it is moving.

Yea, I'm having the same issue here as well. A workflow that has been initiating once an item has been created works fine for several days then all of the sudden it doesnt start and I have to run it manually. Any reason why this happens and how to over come it?

Hi Shaikha,

Does the list have "incoming email" turned on? If so this might be the problem.

Hi Shaika,

The main reason I have seen a workflow not start automatically, is if the initiating account is a System Account.

Other than that, SharePoint will log the reason why it didn't start the workflow in the SharePoint logs.

Please check there to see if you can find the cause.

Without that, we'd be guessing as to why this is happening.

cheers,

Vadim

Hi, We have detected that if the element has been created with attachments and these has a special characters (%&."! ñ) in their name, this cause that the workflow doesn't start automatically. Test adding some of these files with another without these characters, then check the created element, these attachments with the special caracter has been deleted. Well, this is in my case, I hope this can help.

I also had the issue with the "System Account" name. We have a list that has an incoming email turned on.  My Workflow is set to start WF when a new email is received. Our WF were not being kicked off and the reason was this.

We had a similar issue.  Workflows were not automatically started on a list where the workflow was set to start on item create.  The list was not email enabled and we were using a forms-based authentication (FBA) user to submit the Nintex form (not System Account). 

It turns out this was a case where the user went to the http site and not our https site.  The workflow infrastructure could not resolve the http site:

Cannot find site lookup info for request Uri http://extranet.site.com/

I directed the user to the https site where they edited the form and the workflow executed right away.

Hopefully this can help someone else.

did you resolve this in the end?

I'm having the same issue on a SharePoint 2010. The workflow isn't started by a system account or pro grammatically. It is setup to start upon creation by a regular user. The items sits for days unnoticed, and the workflow never starts on its own. I've even setup a secondary workflow to start after 5 minutes just in case the first one didn't start. If SharePoint has decided that it doesn't want to start a workflow on an item, it just doesn't start any of the workflows on that item.. 

I've also changed the workflow timer to be 1 min instead of 5 minutes, but that doesn't help as I understand that this will only assist to make the workflows with State machines run faster..

any idea? 

Hi Christine,

check your SP logs for "Workflow Infrastructure" errors around the time you created the item.  Hopefully there is something there that could suggest why SP isn't starting the workflow.

Vadim

Were you able to find a way to start the workflow when email was received? I need this functionality, but apparently it is not possible without customization.

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@c_heindel wrote:

Hi Anderson Sarria,

 

Workflows do not start automatically if the item has been created by "System Account" (programmatically or via email). Can you please check if that is the case for your workflows that won't start?

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I have items created by the system, so how do you deal with this?

I have the same issue for Nintex O365 workflow everything was going smooth and nice tell yesterday

the all process suddeny stopped from running automatically based on condition the process usally start automaticully for modify or created today user reported that his process wont start

any clearificationfor sharepoint online Office 365

Hi,

Any news on this? Same thing happened, the workflows started automatically and they suddenly don't. We haven't changed anything. 

They start automatically when adding a document in the library manually, but not when we add it from another source.

Thank you