SharePoint Online (Office 365) is deleting tasks from workflow after 2 months

Question

Hi all,

It seems that after around 2 months or 60 days, SharePoint is deleting the approval/tasks from workflows.

I get notifications from the site saying the task has been deleted by 'unknown'

I have added retention policies with no expiration date to all types of items in that list, but it is still deleting the tasks.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Is there any way to increase the timer duration to at least 1 year?

Answer 2

Hi AlexDena,

This is an expected behavior. The reason is because there is a timer job in SharePoint Online which permanently deletes every workflow instance and related task entries that are older than 60 days from the time a workflow is completed or cancelled.

Please refer to the following article:

All about Approval workflows.

In the Complete an Approval workflow task section:

“After your workflow instance has completed, you can review the events recorded in its history. (You can access the record for any instance for up to 60 days after the instance completes.)”

60 days after the workflow is completed / cancelled, the timer will run and delete the following workflow record.

Given the situation, we suggest you submit your feedback via UserVoice; this is the best way to influence our products and services to make it better for you and others.

Regards,

Sheen

Answer 3

Hi Alex,

We couldn't. Given this situation, you can raise a new Uservoice thread, or come up with more votes for that thread to attract more attention.

Thanks,

Jim

Answer 4

I've done that, but the last comment is from January 2016 and still no answer from the team, what's the point then?

Can you contact them directly and tell them there's an issue with this?

Answer 5

Hi AlexDena,

No, there isn't. We suggest you vote on the UserVoice thread to let the SharePoint team know;  this is the best way to influence our products and services to make it better for you and others.

Regards,

Sheen