SharePoint Designer 2013 - Blank Workflow

Question

Hi,
I have created some workflows in SharePoint Designer 2013 on development server and deployed on production environment. when i try to open and modify those workflows directly on Production with SharePoint Designer 2013 installed on it, it opens blank workflow.

I did some research and found out that there are version differences of SharePoint Designer 2013 on DEV & PROD that's why workflow is not opening in older version of SP Designer.

SharePoint Designer version in Development: 15.0.4849.1000 (newer version)
SharePoint Designer version in Production: 15.0.4420.1017 (older version)

Once i update production server SharePoint designer, workflow starts opening without an issue but an it was shows blank page in an older version of SPD 2013.

could anyone let me know why there is a dependency on client tool (SharePoint Designer 2013) version? any article from technet?

Regards,
Adeel

Answer 1

Hi Adeel,

The older SharePoint Designer version 15.0.4420.1017 did not have the SP1 update installed. If SP1 is installed, the version will be 15.0.4569.1506 or higher. See: description-of-microsoft-sharepoint-designer-2013-service-pack-1-sp1

I used to have the same issue and resolved it by installing Service Pack 1. I think some functionality may not work in the older vesion before sp1.

Here is a similar issue:

workflow-opens-blank-on-sharepoint-designer-2013

---

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

Answer 2

A couple of days ago I faced the same issue. The SharePoint 2013 Workflow opened blank while newly created workflows worked fine (2010 + 2013). I found the SharePoint Designer Version to be the root cause. It was not the Service Pack 1 that was missing. Instead it was a difference in patch level - something after SP1.

The vanilla installation from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35491 gave me version 15.0.4420.1017.
After running Windows Update / Microsoft Update and a bunch of Office 2013 Updates later SharePoint Designer had version 15.0.4849.1000.

I then started SharePoint Designer and after restart again I could see my workflow actions again and problem was solved. So long story short: Check your SharePoint Designer patch level! A workflow built with a newer version of SharePoint Designer will not open in older versions.