Cancel a Workflow (Workflow Task)

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There are two ways to cancel a workflow. You could cancel an in-progress workflow or include a Cancel Workflow task in your workflow.

A cancel workflow task is used to terminate or cancel a workflow that is in motion. It is best used for conditional logic branches that have undesirable results. A cancel workflow task is different form a complete workflow task.

In this article:

• Cancel an in-progress workflow
• Add a cancel workflow event task to cancel a workflow that proceeds down a particular path/branch

Before You Begin

You must be a workspace admin to cancel an in-progress workflow.

Cancel an In-Progress Workflow

Note: To cancel an in-progress workflow, you need to be an admin of the workspace that owns the workflow.

1. Click Workflows in the left nav bar to view all workflows.
2. Click the workflow name or select View Workflow List for the workflow from the shortcut menu to open its instance list.
3. In the In Progress tab, locate the in-progress workflow instance you want to cancel.
   Note: Click the workflow instance to view its information (History, Properties, and Files) in the right panel.
4. In the In Progress tab, click the trashcan icon at the right to delete the in-progress workflow.
   Note: Alternatively, select the checkbox to the left of the workflow instance to delete and from the upper-right corner Actions dropdown, select Delete.
5. Confirm the in-progress workflow’s cancellation by clicking Remove Workflow.
   Note: Access the canceled instance on the Canceled tab.

Add a Cancel Workflow Task

In a branched workflow, you may want to cancel a workflow that takes a particular path. For example, if a vacation request is rejected, you could send an email to the originator, and then have the workflow proceed to a cancel workflow step.

1. In the workflow builder, click the + below the last step (i.e., at the end) of the branch that should lead to canceling the workflow.
   Note: This task can only be added at the end of a branch, as an ending/terminal node.
   
2. Choose Workflow State, then Cancel Workflow.
   
3. In the right panel, modify the default task label from “Cancel Workflow” to a suitable one that reflects the reason for cancellation.
   • It’s a good idea to make your Cancellation Reason name descriptive and meaningful so that when workflows are in progress, it’s easy to distinguish the current workflow step.
4. In a running workflow, if that path is taken, the workflow instance will be canceled and will appear on the Canceled tab of the workflow instance list.

Related Information

Types of Tasks (Workflows)
All About Workflows (Quick Reference)

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