Cancel a workflow in progress

There are two different ways that you can cancel a workflow in progress:

• Cancel the workflow and notify participants     If a workflow is behaving as expected, but you do not want it to continue because it is no longer needed, you can cancel the workflow. Canceling a workflow sets the status of the workflow to Canceled and cancels all tasks created by the workflow. The participants receive an e-mail message that the workflow is canceled.

• Terminate the workflow     If an error occurs with a workflow, or a workflow stops responding, you can terminate the workflow. Terminating a workflow sets the status of the workflow to Canceled and deletes all tasks created by the workflow but does not notify the participants.

Note: You cannot restart a workflow that was canceled.

What do you want to do?

Cancel a workflow and notify the participants

Terminate a workflow that is not responding

Cancel a workflow and notify the participants

If you no longer want a workflow that is in progress to continue, you can cancel the workflow. When you cancel a workflow, all uncompleted workflow tasks are marked as canceled in the workflow history, and the workflow participants receive an e-mail message that the workflow is canceled.

The option to cancel a workflow in progress is available only if the workflow template supports cancellation. The Approval, Collect Feedback, Collect Signatures, and Translation Management workflows that are included in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 all support cancellation.

To cancel a workflow in progress, you must be the person who started the workflow or have the Manage Lists permission.

1. If the list or library that contains the item for which you want to terminate a workflow is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Point to the document or item involved in the workflow, click the arrow that appears, and then click Workflows.

3. Under Running Workflows, click the name of the workflow you want.

4. Under Workflow Information, click Cancel this workflow.

5. Click Yes.

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Terminate a workflow that is not responding

If an error occurs with a workflow, or a workflow stops responding when users submit task information, the workflow can be terminated. When you terminate a workflow, the workflow's status is set to Canceled, and all of the tasks created by the workflow are deleted.

You must have the Manage Lists permission to terminate a workflow.

1. If the list or library that contains the item for which you want to terminate a workflow is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Point to the document or item involved in the workflow, click the arrow that appears, and then click Workflows.

3. Under Running Workflows, click the name of the workflow that you want.

4. On the Workflow Status page, under Workflow Information, click Terminate this workflow now.

   Note: If the Terminate this workflow now link does not appear, you do not have the correct permission to perform this task. Contact your server administrator if you need to have a workflow terminated.

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