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Restore Previous Workflow Statuses

Overview 

Wrike helps you manage tasks and projects using both default and custom workflows. Each workflow includes a set of statuses that reflect the lifecycle of a task or project. In accounts with Business and higher subscriptions, account admins can edit the default workflow and account-wide custom workflows. Space workflows can be edited by space admins for their respective spaces. In accounts with Enterprise and Pinnacle subscriptions, workflow editing permissions may be restricted to certain admins.

Situation

When workflow statuses are modified, the changes apply to all tasks and projects where the workflow is used. Sometimes, these changes are made unintentionally or without realizing their account-wide impact.
You can’t automatically revert these changes or restore a previous version of the workflow, but you can manually rename the statuses or recreate any that were deleted to return to the original workflow structure. This article provides steps for restoring default and custom workflow statuses.

Restore default workflow statuses

If the default workflow was edited, account admin can manually change the statuses back.

  1. Click your profile image in the sidebar.
  2. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
  3. Click Workflow in the left-hand navigation panel. You’ll see a list of all workflows created at both the space and account levels presented in a table format.
  4. Click the Default Workflow to edit. You can use search shortcuts to find it faster: Ctrl + F (Windows) or Cmd + F (Mac).
  5. Click Add Status at the bottom of any status group to add a status to that section.
  6. Click an existing status to rename it, change its color.
  7. Click Save in the upper right-hand corner.

If you want to restore the original set of statuses for your account’s Default Workflow, you can find them listed below:

  • New (Active group)
  • In Progress (Active group)
  • Completed (Completed group)
  • On Hold (Deferred group)
  • Canceled (Canceled group)

Find previous custom status names

If changes were made to a custom workflow and you don't remember the previous status names, here are some ways to trace them in your account:

  • Use the Activity Stream feature to review records and see what statuses existed before any changes.
  • If a status was deleted, items that were using it will keep that status. When you open the item view of such item and click the status dropdown, the deleted status is displayed at the top of the list.
  • Use Table view to group or filter items by their current status. If any items are still assigned to deleted values, those values appear in the status filter dropdown or as a separate group.
  • Use Reports to group items by their current status. If items are still assigned to deleted statuses, they are shown as separate groups.
  • If you are familiar with Wrike API, you can identify deleted statuses by checking the 'hidden' parameter in the GET/workflows response. A value of 'true'  indicates that the status has been deleted. This data isn’t available in the standard UI, and using the API requires technical expertise.

Tip

In accounts with Enterprise subscription, admins can use Activity Reports to find out who deleted workflow statuses.

Restore custom workflow statuses

An account admin or space admin can update or recreate custom workflow statuses.

  1. Click your profile image in the sidebar.
  2. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
  3. Click Workflow in the left-hand navigation panel. You’ll see a list of all workflows created at both the space and account levels presented in a table format.
  4. Click the title of a custom workflow you want to edit. You can use search shortcuts to find it faster: Ctrl + F (Windows) or Cmd + F (Mac).
    • To update an existing status, simply click on it to rename or change its color.
    • To recreate a deleted status, click Add Status at the bottom of any status group and enter the status name, select its color.
  5. Click Save in the upper right-hand corner.

Important

After recreating a deleted status, update any items that still have the old, deleted status. Deleted statuses are still visible on relevant items, but can't be assigned anymore. Use mass editing to move these items to the new, active status.

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