Workflow stages
Workflow stages are the building blocks of a workflow. We need to create at least one stage before we can create a workflow.
Workflow stages
Stages determine:
- What actions to run when an item enters or exits a workflow stage
- The access levels of users or groups within that stage.
In most cases, actions are run when an item enters a stage. For example, you add a scheduled move action to run on entering a stage so that it is enabled as soon as an item enters that stage. However, if we set a scheduled move action to run on leaving a stage, it is never run. The most common type of actions to run on leaving a stage are email actions, when to notify users that an item has exited a workflow stage.
Some actions need to be run in a specific order. For example:
- A scheduled move action must always be the final action in a workflow stage, because any actions scheduled after a scheduled move action is not run.
- We cannot run a version action before a publish action because we cannot save versions of draft items.
- For a custom action, we can run the custom action before the email action is run, so that the draft content item is in a state ready to be reviewed by an approver.
The access settings that are defined in the properties section of the workflow stage form are the security settings that are applied to items during a workflow, not the Security section of a workflow stage. The Security section defines who has access to the workflow stage item itself.
Reject stages
In addition to the workflow stages that make up a workflow, workflow stages are also used as part of rejecting an item. When an item is rejected, a reject stage can be triggered that runs pre-defined actions. When the actions are run, the item is returned to the first stage of the workflow.
Parent topic: Workflow stages and actions