SharePoint designer workflow not changing after publish

Question

I'm working on SharePoint workflow (SharePoint 2010) in SharePoint designer 2010. I was published it many times without problems. But after many publishes (I thing 30) SharePoint stop to changing workflow (I published it without any error and I can find new workflow release in SharePoint web interface).

I published new version (with new commands) but workflow still use old one. But when I modified one of commands which was in workflow previously the modification will appear in next run. I need to add to workflow new commands. My only option is to rewrite whole workflow to new one. But this is much complicated workflow and rewriting takes me long time. Is this behavior normal? Is it some bug? is there any patch or workaround?

Answer 1

This happens most of the time due to the caching mechanism in SharePoint/SharePoint Designer. What you need to do is the following:

1. Close your SharePoint Designer
2. Navigate to the following directory: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache
3. Delete everything in this directory
4. Navigate to the following directory: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache
5. Delete everything in this directory
6. Open SharePoint Designer and try to publish your workflow again.

Everything should now work.

For SharePoint Designer 2013 you need to do the following steps:

1. Go to File > Options > General > Application Options
2. In the General tab, under the General header, check if the "Cache site data across SharePoint Designer sessions” is ticked. If it is, unchecked it.
3. Open your SharePoint Designer again and try to publish your workflows.

Answer 2

There is an easy workaround: You need to enable major versioning for the Workflows list. By default, that list is not visible but you still can get to the admin page:

1. Open SP Designer
2. Goto All Files
3. Right-Click Workflows list -> Properties
4. On the ribbon click Administration Web Page
5. On the admin page go to Versioning Settings
6. Enable major versioning
7. Save your workflow