Aug 04, 2016

There are 3 types of workflows that you can create in SharePoint Designer.

• List Workflows: are attached to a specific List or Library and have access to all the items in the list
• Site Workflows: are not attached to a specific List or Library but have access to all List and Library items including Site items
• Re-Usable Workflows: are not attached to a specific List or Library like a List Workflow but can be turned into a List Workflow

To create a workflow template follow these steps;

• Go to SharePoint Designer and create a Re-Usable Workflow
• From the Workflow tab click on Workflow Settings
• From the Workflow Setting Tab click on Save as Template
• The template file is created and put in Site Assets. Go to Site Assets and from the Quick Access Toolbar click on the refresh button

In order to use this file we need to upload it to the Solutions gallery in the Top Site so we first download it before uploading;

• Select the file in Site Assets and from the Assets tab click on Export File
• Nominate a folder (Typically Desktop) and click on Save
• From the Assets tab click on Administration Web Page to go to SharePoint
• In SharePoint click on the Cog and select Site Settings
• In the Site Setting click on “Go to top level site settings” if shown
• In the Site Settings of the Top Site from Web Designer Galleries click on Solutions
• From the tab click on Upload Solution and browse to upload your exported file above
• Click on Activate

You now have the template file available throughout you site collection, but before using it you need to go to the respective site and activate the feature;

• Go to the site that you want to use this template and go to its Site Settings
• Under Site Actions click on Manage site features
• Scroll down to find Workflow template from web template and click on the Activate button

That’s it. You can now add a workflow based on this template to a List or Library in your site by going to its List or Library tab and dropping down Workflow Settings and selecting Add a Workflow. Your template name will appear in the list of workflow templates which you can choose from.

Hope this has helped.

Cyrus Mohseni