The Problem
In it’s default configuration, SharePoint (2007 and 2010) will delete workflow associations after 60 days (e.g. the information found on the Workflow Status page). There are times when you may want to alter this functionality and retain the association for a longer period of time.
In SharePoint 2007, the recommendation from Microsoft (per TechNet), is to disable the Workflow Auto Cleanup timer job. The Workflow Auto Cleanup timer job is a web application scoped timer job. As such, disabling the job is often not the optimal solution; as disabling the job will ensure that cleanup is not occurring for all of the site collections within the web application for which the timer job was disabled.
The Solution
Thankfully, there is a property (SPWorkflowAssociation.AutoCleanupDays) that is exposed with the workflows associated with a given list/content type. And once again, PowerShell comes to the rescue, giving us the ability to manipulate the cleanup days at a more granular level. This ensures that we do not disable the timer job for an entire web application.
Presented as two functions, we can manipulate the workflow association settings for either the workflows associated with a list or the workflows associated with a content type attached to a list.
Set-SPListWorkflowAssocationCleanup
The following function allows us to set the AutoCleanupDays for all of the workflows associated with a given list.
Set-SPListWorkflowAssocationCleanup -WebUrl "http://intranet" -ListName "Shared Documents" -CleanupDays 365 -ReportOnly:$false
function Set-SPListWorkflowAssocationCleanup {
param (
[string] $WebUrl = $(Read-Host -prompt "Enter a Url"),
[string] $ListName = $(Read-Host -prompt "Enter a List Name"),
[int32] $CleanupDays = $(Read-Host -prompt "Enter the number of Cleanup Days"),
[switch] $ReportOnly = $true
)
$web = Get-SPWeb $WebUrl;
if ($web -eq $null) {
Write-Error -message "Error: Web Not Found" -category InvalidArgument
} else {
$list = $web.Lists[$ListName];
if ($list -eq $null) {
Write-Error -message "Error: List Not Found" -category InvalidArgument
} else {
[Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowAssociation[]] $wfaMods = @();
foreach ($wfa in $list.WorkflowAssociations) {
$message = "Found Workflow Association for " + $wfa.Name + " with AutoCleanupDays set to " + $wfa.AutoCleanupDays
Write-Verbose -message $message -verbose
if ($ReportOnly -eq $false) {
$wfa.AutoCleanupDays = $CleanupDays;
$wfaMods = $wfaMods + $wfa;
}
}
if ($ReportOnly -eq $false) {
foreach ($wfa in $wfaMods) {
$message = "Setting AutoCleanupDays for " + $wfa.Name + " to " + $CleanupDays
Write-Verbose -message $message -verbose
$list.WorkflowAssociations.Update($wfa);
}
}
}
}
}
Set-SPListContentTypeWorkflowAssocationCleanup
The following function allows us to set the AutoCleanupDays for all of the workflows associated with content type for a given list.
Set-SPListContentTypeWorkflowAssocationCleanup -WebUrl "http://intranet" -ListName "Shared Documents" -ContentTypeName "Document Content Type" -CleanupDays 365 -ReportOnly:$false
function Set-SPListContentTypeWorkflowAssocationCleanup {
param (
[string] $WebUrl = $(Read-Host -prompt "Enter a Url"),
[string] $ListName = $(Read-Host -prompt "Enter a List Name"),
[string] $ContentTypeName = $(Read-Host -prompt "Enter a Content Type Name"),
[int32] $CleanupDays = $(Read-Host -prompt "Enter the number of Cleanup Days"),
[switch] $ReportOnly = $true
)
$web = Get-SPWeb $WebUrl;
if ($web -eq $null) {
Write-Error -message "Error: Web Not Found" -category InvalidArgument
} else {
$list = $web.Lists[$ListName];
if ($list -eq $null) {
Write-Error -message "Error: List Not Found" -category InvalidArgument
} else {
$ct = $list.ContentTypes[$ContentTypeName];
if ($ct -eq $null) {
Write-Error -message "Error: Content Type Not Found" - category InvalidArgument
} else {
[Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowAssociation[]] $wfaMods = @();
foreach ($wfa in $ct.WorkflowAssociations) {
$message = "Found Workflow Association for " + $wfa.Name + " with AutoCleanupDays set to " + $wfa.AutoCleanupDays
Write-Verbose -message $message -verbose
if ($ReportOnly -eq $false) {
$wfa.AutoCleanupDays = $CleanupDays;
$wfaMods = $wfaMods + $wfa;
}
}
if ($ReportOnly -eq $false) {
foreach ($wfa in $wfaMods) {
$message = "Setting AutoCleanupDays for " + $wfa.Name + " to " + $CleanupDays
Write-Verbose -message $message -verbose
$ct.WorkflowAssociations.Update($wfa);
}
}
}
}
}
}
Conclusion
By manipulating the workflow associations for a list at the list/content type level the default configuration of a SharePoint farm can be retained (e.g. Workflow associations removed after 60 days) and in those cases where there is a business need, the workflow associations can be maintained for a longer period of time.
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