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Welcome to SharePoint Designer 2013 Customer Preview

  • Article

Hello All!

The SharePoint Designer team is very proud and happy to announce the release of SharePoint Designer 2013 Customer Preview! This new release of SharePoint Designer is going to bring about a HOST of new and amazing changes which we’re all hoping you guys will love!

Show me the Blogs!

First of all, for those of you who aren’t aware, the entire Microsoft Office organization has setup a blog site where you can find out all of the latest info regarding the new Office 2013. The Office blog can be found here:

https://blogs.office.com/b/office-next/

You can find all sorts of information regarding Office 2013.

We’re also going to be releasing help files online with tons of general information regarding SharePoint Designer 2013.   You can find that here:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219638%28office.15%29.aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/hh850380

You can also find a great set of info on SPD 2013 and the new Workflow architecture here:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sharepoint/jj163986(v=office.15)

This will be our primary blog though, our current plan is to use this blog for examples and to drill deeper into some of the new features we’ve created for 2013.

Where’s the bits?

First thing is first though, if you’re looking to download a copy of SPD 2013, you can do so here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30346

Important Note: Remember, the new SPD 2013 needs to be connected to a SharePoint 2013 site. And if you want to take advantage of all the new workflow features, you’ll need to install and configure Windows Azure Workflow server.

You can find install and configuration notes here:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/jj193528

So what’s new?

The SharePoint Designer team has spent a large amount of effort revamping and changing up how we create and edit workflows in SharePoint Designer 2013. The bulk of the new features are in this area. Here’s a short list of some, but not all, of the new stuff we have for you all:

1) Ability to create workflow based off the new .Net 4.x Workflow Infrastructure

a. While at the same time still able to create and edit the old SharePoint 2010 Workflows

2) Tight integration with Stages.

a. Workflows no longer have to be serial.

b. All 2013 Workflows are now state-based, and you can have your workflow jump to any stage you want, even to a previous stage.

3) The new Visual Designer

a. A brand new design surface that integrates the Visio canvas right inside SharePoint Designer

b. You can create workflows using click and drag

c. You can even set the properties of every action right within the Visual Designer. No need to jump back to the Text-Based Designer if you do not wish to.

4) Copy and Paste

a. You can now Copy, Cut, and Paste within the Text-Based Designer!

5) Loops!

a. Loops are now a fully integrated action which you can use within all 2013 Workflows

6) Call Web Service Action

a. You can now call Rest/HTTP web services right from within SharePoint 2013 workflows.

7) Start Workflow Actions

a. We now have an action that lets you spawn up old 2010 workflows right from within a 2013 workflow.

b. You can use this action to take advantage of any 2010 workflow functionality (e.g. your old custom actions)

8) Packaging

a. You can now package individual workflows straight from within SPD

9) Dictionary Type Variables

a. You can now create variables that can hold an array of values!

b. Combining this with the new Loop action opens up a whole host of new scenarios.

There are still many more new features we’re introducing this release, and we’ll go over them all in separate blog entries. For now, I highly recommend everyone go out and download the current Customer Preview version of SPD and try it out yourselves!

Thanks,

SPD Team

Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 06, 2012
    So you're talking about Visual Workflow Designer, no actual normal design view? Thanks

  • Anonymous
    August 06, 2012
    One workflow feature that many have been hoping for is the ability to use List data from Lists that exist in sites other than the site the workflow is associated with.  In other words, master type of data that is stored in another site.  Did this make it in?

  • Anonymous
    August 06, 2012
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2012
    Useful information shared..I am very happy to read this article..Thanks for giving us nice info. Fantastic walk-through. I appreciate this post.

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2012
    @ Matthew: Hi Matthew we'll have another blog entry very soon regarding the new Visual Designer.  But you can basically think of it as a Visio canvas built right into SPD that allows you to create workflows without ever needing to go to the Text-Based editor.  But of course we'll still have the Text-Based Editor. @ Jeff: Hi Jeff, that feature didn't make it in as a built in feature.  However, with the new call web service action, coupled with the build dictionary action, we can now enable this scenario.  So yes, it is doable, and we'll have a blog entry on how to do it  hopefully in the next few weeks. @ Erik: So are we. :) @ Amol: Happy to hear you're as excited as we are. :) Thank you all! Sam

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2012
    Can we get a blog post regarding the decision to remove the HTML Design View? social.technet.microsoft.com/.../8f8e2cb3-a90f-4653-9d22-050f9f0d8612

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2012
    Momentum is growing for the #SaveSPDDV movement. We're are very concerned that the Design View is not longer available in SPD2013. There is a <a href="social.technet.microsoft.com/.../">very active thread</a> in the SharePoint 2013 Preview for IT Professionals forums. M.

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2012
    Love the new workflow model! - Very concerned about the lack of the page 'Design View' that many a business analyst and nonprogrammer use everyday - all I see where I used to look is 'Code' ... is this an oversight or a new route Microsoft is taking?

  • Anonymous
    August 08, 2012
    I notice that the requirements to download spd 2013 are Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012 preview. In previous versions of spd you were able to download to your desktop. Is this not going to still be possible? thanks

  • Anonymous
    August 08, 2012
    @ Barry: It will still be possible to use SPD on a desktop machine, don't need to always install it on a server machine. @ Greg, Marc & Raymond: We hear you all. We'll release a blog posting on the design view story shortly. Thanks, Sam

  • Anonymous
    August 14, 2012
    I am also very concerned about the missing design view. The story better be a good one :-)

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2012
    Design View is a complete must-have for SPD! No negotiation - if this is not done, I could well find myself making recommendations to clients AGAINST using SharePoint (my whole livelihood depends on Sharepoint consulting and training!).

  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2013
    Its a nice collect of links for quick info. Very informative

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2014
    You should be swallowing your pride. And have nothing to be proud about, for removing the Design View in SharePoint Designer 2013!!!