How to Enable SharePoint 2013 Workflows in SharePoint Online

The 2013 version of SharePoint Online will not show your 2013 workflows and in order to make that a reality, you need to manually configure the settings. The first step is to install the SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013. Once you have installed the SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Designer 2013, you must proceed to configure the Workflow Manager 1.0. This is required so that you can use the SharePoint 2013 Workflow in Designer 2013. If you don’t do this, you will only be able to access the 2010 SharePoint Workflows in the SharePoint Designer 2013. We will break down the steps for you to follow one by one.

Step One

You must first download the Workflow Manager 1.0 which can be found on Microsoft’s site. Click on the installation file which will then make a User Account Control pop-up asking you if you want this program to make changes to your computer. Click yes. Then the Web Platform Installer 5.0 will appear, click yes to install the program onto your computer.

Step Two

In your start menu, you must find the application called Workflow Manager Configuration and open it which will then make a User Account Control pop-up asking you if you want this program to make changes to your computer. Click yes. Among the given recommendations upon the opening of the configure wizard, select Configure Workflow Manager with Default Settings (Recommended). After you have done this, you will be taken to the New Farm Configuration settings. Here, you must provide the SQL Server Instance name in the SharePoint 2013 farm and the service account you wish to use for it. Proceed to enable firewall rules below.

Run the Management Shell of SharePoint 2013 as the administrator. However, keep I mind that you require an issuer ID for this purpose. If you don’t have one, you can us PowerShell cmdlets in order to get one.

Example: [System.Guild]::NewGuild()

You will paste the guild in the Certification Generation Key to move forward.

Step Three

Clicking on ahead to proceed will bring you to a summary page in the Wizard. If you find that anything is missing, it will be in the highlighted red section. If everything is complete, click on Tick to move ahead to find the configuration process completed.

Step Four

When the configuration is done, you will proceed onto the IIS Manager and look for Workflow Management Site which should then be functional and running. Proceed onto the Central Admin and check if the process has begun in the Manage Services on Server section. If it has started, you may move on to step five.

Step Five

This is the final step where you open the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell when you are in the Administrator Mode. Right click on the app and click on Run as Administrator.

Register-SPWorkflowService -SPSite “http://myserver/mysitecollection” -WorkflowHostUri “http://workflow.example.com:12291” –AllowOAuthHttp

Having completed this, you should be able to see the SharePoint 2013 Workflows in the SharePoint Designer 2013 successfully.