Configuring Lazy Approval for Nintex Workflow
Troubleshooting LazyApproval
Prerequisites
- Incoming
email settings must be configured in SharePoint. This requires the SMTP
service installed.
- Global
Settings for Nintex Workflow must be correctly configured within Central
Administration.
Install the
SMTP Service (Windows Server 2008)
The SMTP server is not installed by default. SMTP can be
added through the Features Summary area
of the Server Manager tool in Windows Server 2008.
Please refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772058%28WS.10%29.aspx.
Configuring
Nintex Workflow Global Settings
The Email settings within the Nintex Workflow Global
settings page must be setup and configured before enabling
LazyApproval.
1. Navigate to Central Administration and
select the Nintex Workflow Management section. Click on
Global settings.
2. Configure your SMTP
Server, From Address and Reply
To Address with appropriate values for your environment.
Enabling/Configuring
LazyApproval
1. Navigate to Central Administration and
select the Nintex Workflow Management section.
2. Click on LazyApproval
settings. Then click on Enable / Disable LazyApproval for the
current server farm.
3.
Select Enabled and
ensure the Email Alias entered is unique.
After successfully configuring LazyApproval, you should see
a screen similar to the following (insert screen)
To use LazyApproval
immediately;
1. Perform an IISRESET on all servers
in the farm.
2. Restart all instances of
the “Windows SharePoint Services Timer” service on all servers.
a. From the Start Menu, select
Run…
b. Type services.msc
c. Locate the service,
right-click the service and restart it.
Otherwise, it will take
about 15 minutes for the changes to take effect.
You can now create a new workflow, or edit an
existing one. Include a Request Approval or Flexi
Task action on the workflow and open the configuration dialog.
You will now see the Allow LazyApproval checkbox in the dialog box. Once
checked, this action will allow the use of LazyApproval.
Troubleshooting LazyApproval
If LazyApproval is not working, follow the steps below for
troubleshooting.
If nothing happens, test the SharePoint
incoming email settings
LazyApproval uses the SharePoint incoming email function;
therefore this must be running correctly. To test the email settings, open a
test library and configure it to accept new items from email.
Complete the following steps to allow a document library or
list to accept email.
1. Navigate to the
desired document library or list and click Settings,
Document Library Settings, and Incoming
E-mail Settings.
2. Select Yes
to allow the Document Library to receive e-mail.
3. Assign an email
address to the document library.
4. Select an Option
for Attachments. You can save attachments in the root folder,
in a sub-folder grouped by email subject, or a sub-folder grouped by sender.
5. Select an option to
overwrite files with the same name.
6. Select an option to
save the original email. If you select Yes, and you send a
message with an attachment, the message and the document will be stored as two
separate items in the document library.
Note:
We recommend initially selecting Yes for this option until you verify that the document library
is properly accepting emails.
7. Select an option to
save meeting invitations.
8. Select an Email
security policy to accept messages based on document library
permissions (recommended) or to accept messages from any sender.
If this does not work, your incoming email settings may not
be configured incorrectly.
Please refer to the Microsoft documentation on setting
incoming email:
If incoming mail works, but still
nothing happens
Check the application event log on the server for any error
messages regarding EmailDropReceiver. Send any messages to support@nintex.com.
You receive the error message “Your
email could not be matched to a running workflow”
Check the notification you receive from the approval task
has the LazyApproval token in the subject. The LazyApproval token will look
similar to [#DD7FGH#]. (The characters inside the square brackets are used by
Nintex Workflow to link an incoming email to a task) It is a unique identifier
that associates any message with the ID as belonging to a specific workflow. If
the identifier is not there or has been modified by somebody, LazyApproval will
not work, generating the error message above. The error message will be
displayed in the SharePoint ULS logs.
