I have a 2010 Designer workflow that, after conditions are met, copies a library item to another library. There are 12 metadata fields and 99% of the time everything copies just fine but every once in awhile an item copies and is missing a couple of metadata fields. Both fields are set at the beginning of the workflow. One is a date field set to Today and one is a text field set from another field. Both are critical fields that are needed in the processes that follow. It appears to be a random skip as there is no common denominator or logic in the items that don’t copy completely. We’re moving a significant volume of records through this workflow each day. Does anyone have a suggestion on how I can ensure that the metadata is copied every single time?
Unfortunately the issues still continued but it was random. We could not determine why it was happening on only some of the files. We ended up changing the library structure and workflow due to other requirements so, although the issue was not resolved, it no longer applied in the new structure.
Hi Susan, I’m experiencing a similar issue. I have a SP 2010 Designer WF that after certain conditions are met copies the file from one lib to another. The same set of columns some of which are managed metadata columns exist in both libraries. The item copies over but is missing the info for one of the managed metadata columns in the library that it gets copied to. I have other libraries setup the same way and those are fine. Not sure what’s going on with this one and this particular metadata column. I wanted to try applying the fix that worked for you of adding a pause but wanted to make sure first this was exactly the issue you were having also.
Glad to hear it is working…
Timing can cause some unpredictable results with workflows. You need to remember that these processes run on the SharePoint Timer Service which, with a 1 minute delay, could be a 5 minute plus delay depending on the timing of the Workflow Timer Job.
Adding a one minute pause did the trick! It’s working perfectly now. Thanks!
Thanks for the reply Richard! It appears that the workflow is moving the item before the fields are set and that is causing the problem. I do believe that I need to add a pause in the workflow after the two fields are set. I am actually writing that in a test site right now. Hopefully that resolves the issue. I’ll post an update later.
Hi Susan, how Do you set the metadata columns in your workflow? I try to set a metadata column value in my workflow where I have the value in a variable taken from the datasheet view in the library plus the GUID of the term. This looks like this 133;#[TERMLABEL]|063101ae-dc18-4334-8244-1cf7f2d2a6da. I’m using the update item field action but I’m not able to set the value. Can you tell me which type of field I’have to use or Do you have any other idea what could be the problem? Best regards