Knowledge base
Workflows and approvals
Step conditions, send back, reopening items, deadlines, numbering and audit trails.
19 answers· 2 tips
Answers
- How-toHow do I write step and branch conditions and dynamic assignees?Use Field IDs, join values with || or &&, use .has() for multi-select fields, and assign steps to user fields or formulas.
- How-toHow do I record who approved each step and when?Add a field per step and fill it with an integration that runs when the step is approved, or keep an approval log table.
- How-toHow do deadlines work with weekends, holidays, reminders and escalation?Set your weekend and holidays in account settings, add a deadline with Notify or Escalate alerts on each step, and use an integration for anything beyond that.
- How-toCan I reopen a completed or rejected item, undo a reject, or edit an item after it completes?Process Admins can reopen a completed or rejected item and send it back to an earlier step, or edit its fields from Administration. Initiators can restart rejected or withdrawn items as new requests.
- How-toHow do request and sequence numbers work? Can I reset them, start at a set value, or include the year?The system request number can't be reset. Use a Sequence number field, which you can reset from Manage > Settings > Sequence numbers and prefix with a formula.
- How-toHow do I find out who changed, published or deleted an item or process?Open the process audit log, filter by event and period, and use Analytics or an integration for step history and reassignments the log doesn't show.
- FixWhy does Edit process or Simulate throw errors?Clear your browser cache and cookies, try an incognito window, and contact Kissflow support if only one process fails.
- How-toCan I send repeated reminders, notify a group, or turn off default notifications?Add several deadline alerts for staged reminders, create custom item notifications with conditions, toggle predefined ones off, and use the Email connector for anything else.
- How-toCan I undo changes to a process or restore a previously published version?Before Go live, discard the draft from Review changes; after Go live, the previous version can't be restored, so rebuild the change and publish again.
- How-toHow do I duplicate a process, what gets copied, and can I copy it to another account?Use More options > Duplicate to copy the form, workflow, permissions and optionally reports. Items and integrations aren't copied, and flows can't move between accounts.
- FixHow do I send an item back to a previous step, and why can't I?Only the current assignee can send back, and only to earlier steps the item actually passed. Admins reassign the item to themselves first.
- FixWhy is my process form blank or showing "Configuration for <field> is not present in container"?A lookup or aggregation field still points to a deleted or changed field. Remove that reference, go live again, and test.
- FixI renamed my process, but the URL or New item heading still shows the old nameThe URL uses the process ID, which never changes. Update the form title in Manage > Settings, or duplicate the process for a new URL.
- How-toWhy can't I tag some assignees in item comments?By default you can mention only the current step's assignees and earlier approvers; a Process Admin can turn on mentions for non-participants.
- FixWhy does a duplicated item skip steps or carry values it shouldn't?Duplicate copies the item's last saved values, including ones set later in the workflow, so conditions can behave differently. There's no setting to limit or disable it.
- How-toCan I customize the columns, statuses or search in My Items, My Tasks or Participated?Use Show/hide fields for a single process's lists, and build a filtered report when you need several statuses or search.
- FixItems show a "Suspended" step after I changed the workflow. How do I move them forward?Items on a deleted or moved step show as Suspended. Reassign them to yourself and send them back so they rejoin the new workflow.
- How-toHow do I email the requester when an item is sent back, with the reason?Build an integration on the trigger When an item is sent back that looks up the requester's email and sends an email with the send-back note.
- FixWhy does submitting fail with "unexpected error" or "another user is updating it"?A Goto is sending the item into steps that are all skipped by their conditions, which creates a loop. Fix the Goto targets and conditions, then retest in Simulate.
Tips
- TipAssign approvers to a workflow step with an IF formulaUse a nested IF formula in the step's assignee settings so each item goes to the right approver based on a form value.
- TipReset a sequence number after a test or mistaken submissionGo to Manage > Settings > Sequence numbers and reset the prefix to the value before the number you want next.