SharePoint Server 2013 known issues

Welcome to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013.

Please refer to the provided End-User License Agreement for license information.

The following list contains important facts about SharePoint Server 2013 and Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2013. To see other related 2013 known issue articles, click SharePoint Foundation known issues or SharePoint Online known issues.

What products have issues?

SharePoint Server (release)

SharePoint Server (preview)

SharePoint Server search (release)

SharePoint Server search (preview)

Audit and Control Management Server (ACM) (preview)

SharePoint Designer (release)

SharePoint Designer (preview)

SharePoint Server (release)

Context menus might not be available for PerformancePoint content on mobile devices

If your organization is using SharePoint Server 2013 running in SharePoint Server 2010 mode, context menus for PerformancePoint content might not be available when viewed on a mobile device such as a Windows 8 tablet or an Apple iPad. This is especially true when users are viewing content using the Internet Explorer app as opposed to running Internet Explorer from the Windows 8 desktop or when using the iOS 6 Safari browser on Apple iPad.

Workaround    We recommend running SharePoint Server 2013 in its default mode. Or have people open Internet Explorer from the Windows 8 desktop.

No workaround is currently available for the iOS Safari browser.

Delete the AverageRating property prior to upgrading from Preview

The upgrade from Preview to the released version will automatically add a new managed property called AverageRating. If you created this property in their Preview installation, the upgrade will fail.

My Site upgraded to 2013 but is set to run in 2010 mode, clicking Gear Menu >Add an App gives an error

When the My Site is upgraded to 2013 but is set to remain in 2010 mode, you will get an error message.

Workaround    There is currently no workaround available.

Indexer process doesn’t free up old memory after repartitioning

One reason to trigger repartitioning might be high memory pressure on index nodes. The issue is that after index repartitioning old index nodes are still at the same memory usage, which stays forever until the Index node restarts.

Workaround    We recommend you restart spsearchhostcontroller service on old index components and to run this step before doing $ssa.ResumeAfterIndexRepartitioning(). But before restarting hostcontroller it makes sense to check that old index replicas are in sync with their primaries.

Trying to retrieve fcocount when collapsing/grouping isn’t turned on causes the query to crash

If TrimDuplicates=False or TrimDuplicatesIncludeId is used while retrieving the managed property fcocount then the query fails.

Workaround    Don’t request for fcocount while TrimDuplicates=False or TrimDuplicatesIncludeId is used.

New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent checks the existence of RootDirectory in the wrong server

You want to add a new index component to the search topology, and want to specify a non-default root directory for the index files. For example:

New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent -SearchTopology $t -SearchServiceInstance $ssi -IndexPartition 1 -RootDirectory ""d:\index4"

The cmdlet might fail with the following error message because it incorrectly checks if the indicated root directory exists on the server the cmdlet is run on:

Cannot bind parameter 'RootDirectory' to the target. Exception setting ""RootDirectory"": ""Could not find a part of the path 'd:\index4'."

Workaround    You can create the new index component using the following procedure instead:

$host02 = (Get-SPServer"<Name of server>").Name

$ssa = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchserviceApplication

$t = $ssa.ActiveTopology.Clone()

$ic = (New-Object Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.Topology.IndexComponent $host02,1);

$ic.RootDirectory =""d:\index4"

$t.AddComponent($ic)"

PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer Help doesn’t open as expected

When you click Help in Dashboard Designer, Help for SharePoint Server opens, and there is no mention of Dashboard Designer on the page.

Workaround    Help is available for Dashboard Designer, even though it's not visible on the Home screen of the Help Viewer. To view content about Dashboard Designer, in the search box near the top of the Help window, type "Dashboard Designer." A list of resources for Dashboard Designer appears.

PowerPoint intent isn’t shown

PowerPoint intent isn’t shown as PowerPoint query rule condition is missing semicolon in Spanish build and results in incorrect behavior in OOB intent for PowerPoint. Also this happens only for Arabic and Spanish server, without any language packs.

Workaround    Administrators can copy the existing query rule condition for PowerPoint and insert the missing semicolon or correctly place the semicolons that were causing the issue. The old entry can then be deleted to ensure the updated query rule is picked up.

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SharePoint Server (preview)

Syncing a SharePoint site with SharePoint Workspace 2010 gives AppAuthor error

When you use SharePoint Workspace 2010 to sync a SharePoint Server 2013 site, you can get an error for lists indicating issues with AppAuthor.

Workaround    Download and install Description of the SharePoint Workspace 2010 Update: August 2, 2012.

Repair operations on SharePoint Standalone can delete your content database

Don’t initiate a repair operation on a SharePoint standalone instance of SharePoint 2013 Preview. It’s not supported and might damage your content database.

Workaround    If you have problems with a Standalone instance of SharePoint Preview, reinstall it. But make sure to back up your content database before starting any repair.

Some "15" or "2010" strings not updated to “2013” in SharePoint 2013 Preview Management Pack

Some "15" or "2010" strings aren’t updated to "2013" or "2013 Preview" in the User Guide, file names, and some user interface strings of SharePoint 2013 Preview Management Pack.

Workaround    No workaround is available.

High possibility that User Profile Change Job runs for days and blocks Online Index rebuild job

When there are a large number of changes to the user profiles, the User Profile Change Job can run for days and blocks Online Index rebuild job, which in turn can block UPA operation until the User Profile Change Job is complete.

When the problem occurs any UPA operation can pile up in the queue and will back further UPA access that can result in any of the following:

• My Site Login failure
• Team Site Login failure
• Profile Sync downtime

Currently the only known way of detecting the problem is if someone complains of a site-down, and it’s because the UPA isn’t available.

Workaround    Do the following during the first import.

1. Disable User Profile Change Job
2. Once the Import is complete Enable User Profile Change Job and disable the health Rule that rebuilds indexes online
3. After User profile change job completes, enable the health rule

ADImport EDog: Long running statements blocking UPA actions

For SharePoint deployments of 5000 or more users, there is the possibility of user profile data availability issues during the initial full synchronization of user data into SharePoint.

When the problem occurs, any UPA operation can pile up in the queue and will back further UPA access that can result in any of the following:

• My Site Login failure
• Team Site Login failure
• Profile Sync downtime
• Provisioning failure

Workaround    For on-prem customers, to reduce the likelihood of these availability issues, we recommend you disable the User Profile Change Job during the first full sync of user data. If you don’t plan to make SharePoint widely available to people during the initial setup and import of user data, you don’t have to disable the User Profile Change Job.

For SPO, we recommend that you turn off the job as part of the runbook for SPO Beta 2.

Failure to create a sandbox for the Machine Translation Service, Word Automation Services, and/or PowerPoint Automation Service

Run the Machine Translation Service, Word Automation Services, and/or PowerPoint Automation Services in a SharePoint application pool running as an account that has never had a user profile created on the server. The worker processes fail to be created, causing the services to not work at all.

Workaround    Have the user profile of the app pool account created by either logging on to the server with that account or using a runas command such as runas /u:domain\appPoolAccount cmd.

WCF process might crash when under high load

The WCF process might crash with “System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An invalid argument was supplied” when under high load.

Workaround    Install KB 2726478 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Install Windows Server 2012.

Hashing fails for documents uploaded through DAV

The Hashing fails on the DAV upload when the file is uploaded either using Explorer or Web UI. So the entire document is uploaded to server. The performance benefits of Branch Cache features are affected.

Workaround    Upload the files using a rich client.

WSS Sync failed to run in because of a lack of profile database permission

If the federated farm is upgraded to Office first with content farm still in Office 2010 mode, WSS Sync fails to run with the SQL exception thrown by the constructor of ProfileSynchLockContentDB():

Failure trying to synch web application d881bbf2-4ed6-4399-b81b-11234d157e84, ContentDB 60fcd170-5ec0-4f0d-9f3a-1644b0fd9739

Exception message is:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: The specified schema name "dbo" either does not exist or you do not have permission to use it. at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)

Workaround    Grant create permission to the SPDataAccess role after the federated farm upgrade is done. Below are the steps to grant the permission:

1. Connect to the old profile database using SQL command:

use [profiledatabasename]

2. Grant permission using SQL command:

GRANT ALTER ON SCHEMA::DBO TO [SPDataAccess]

Machine Translation Service privacy

Machine translation features in Microsoft Office and SharePoint connect to the Microsoft Translator online service. Microsoft Translator may collect some data to improve the quality of translations.

Workaround    No workaround is available.

Changes to the BI Center Left Navigation Pane

In 15 Technical Refresh, the navigation pane usually shows Dashboards, Data Connections, and PerformancePoint Content, all specialized PerformancePoint information, plus Documents. But starting in 2013 Preview, you only see BICenter and More.

Workaround    Go to Site Settings > Navigation and change the site to use structural navigation, and you'll see the links.

PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer Help doesn’t open as expected

Dashboard Designer Help doesn’t open as expected, especially in Office 2010 (deferred) mode.

Workaround    Help for Dashboard Designer is available on Microsoft TechNet.

Custom actions can’t be a part of SharePoint app

Custom actions that are part of a SharePoint app aren’t activated during the feature installation.

Workaround    No workaround is available.

Management Shell shows an error when open

When you open the Management Shell, you see the following error message:

Could not create a CmdletConfiguration for CmdletName Start-BulkOperation, CmldetClass, CmdletHelpFile C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\CONFIG\PowerShell\Help\Microsoft.Office.Education.Institution.dll-Help.xml.

Cannot process argument because the value of argument"implementingType" is null. Change the value of argument "implementingType" to a non-null value.

Workaround    This error doesn't block any scenarios. The shell works for all cmdlets.

Managed properties of type Decimal isn’t fully supported

If you define a Decimal managed property, querying and refinement related to this property might not work correctly.

Workaround    Use another numeric managed property type.

Developer Dashboard: Aggregated SQL counts doesn’t match number of calls in SQL tab

You might see a higher number in the Overview tab for SQL aggregates, compared to the SQL queries displayed in the SQL details tab.

Workaround    No workaround is available.

Can't post picture on site feed when site feed is on a separate server from My Site   

When you are on a site feed and try to open the Upload Picture dialog box, SharePoint attempts to load the selectpicture2.aspx page from MySiteHost. If the domain that the site feed is on is different than the domain of the MySiteHost, then the Upload Picture dialog box will not load.

This means that in SharePoint Online Preview, you cannot post a picture on the site feed. And in SharePoint Server 2013 Preview and SharePoint Foundation 2013 Preview, when the site feeds are located on a separate server (or domain with a different URL), you also cannot post a picture on the site feed.

Workaround To work around this issue:

• In SharePoint Online Preview, click Follow to follow the site. Then, go to My Site, select Share With and select the site, and post a picture from the My Site to the site feed.
• In SharePoint Server 2013 Preview and SharePoint Foundation 2013 Preview, admins can configure Team Sites on the same server, domain, or URL as My Sites, or they can follow the same steps as with SharePoint Online Preview.

Server-to-server environments configured in least privileges may encounter problems with the site feed feature

In SharePoint Online Preview or SharePoint Server 2013 Preview environments that are configured with least privileges with My Site Host running in one server and Team Sites hosted on a separate server, the site feed feature may encounter some problems. These problems may include repopulation in the Distributed Cache, meaning that if the Distributed Cache is restarted, the site feed posts may not reappear in the cache. Additionally, users may experience other issues with the site feed, such as the inability to like, post, or reply to any site feed post from the My Site.

Workaround    The workaround is to either configure Self Service Site Creation on the same server as the My Site Host, which would fix all problems, or to not configure least privileges (for example, to have the same service account for My Site Host and Team Site servers). If you still decide to configure My Site Host and Self Service Site Creation on separate servers, thus requiring server-to-server calls, then the cache repopulation problem will persist.

SharePoint 2010 mode site collections may have missing or incorrect Help content

If you try to access Help content from SharePoint 2010 mode site collections in SharePoint Server 2013 Preview and SharePoint Online Preview, you may see incorrect Help content, or no Help content at all.

Workaround    You can access the correct Help content by visiting Office.com.

Tagged posts may appear to have been tagged with the author's name or an incorrect tag

The description preceding tagged posts in your newsfeed in SharePoint Online Preview or SharePoint Server 2013 Preview should state the tag you are following, but may instead state that the conversation was tagged with the author's name or an incorrect tag.

Workaround    There is no workaround for this issue.

SharePoint 2010 out-of-the-box workflow tasks become locked after upgrade to SharePoint Server 2013 if users didn’t have SP1

If you haven’t installed SharePoint 2010 SP1, after you upgrade to SharePoint Server 2013, your out-of-the-box workflow tasks (such as Approval, Collect Feedback) will go into locked status. When a task is locked, you cannot edit your tasks, which means you cannot approve or reject it. This only affects uncustomized workflows; if the workflows have been customized, they will not be locked.   

Workaround    Users should install SharePoint 2010 SP1 before upgrade to SharePoint Server 2013.

Can't select shapes in Visio Web Part using the Chrome browser

When a Visio diagram is viewed in a Web Part using the Chrome browser, you can't select the shapes in the diagram.   

Workaround    No workaround is available for the Chrome browser, but you can use other browsers to view and select shapes.

Workflow Status columns do not update automatically   

Workflow Status columns should update automatically as workflows progress, but they do not correctly update in the SharePoint Online Preview. Instead, the status column stays blank.

Workaround    You can manually add updates to the SharePoint Online list as part of your workflows.

If you are an on-premises server customer, you can manually work around the issue by setting the read-only property to false.

In a SharePoint PowerShell prompt, run the following:

$web = get-spweb<the Site Url>

$list = $web.Lists[<name of the list or document library>]

$statusField = $list.Fields[<name of workflow status field>]

$statusField.ReadOnlyField=$false

$statusField.Update()"

Clicking Newsfeed results will lead to a broken page

When searching for a post or reply from someone's Newsfeed, you will find the post or reply in search results, but when you click on the title, you will see a broken page instead of the post.

Workaround    There is no workaround for this issue.

Deploying a SharePoint Server 2013 solution in Visual Studio results in an error if Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service is not started

If you deploy a SharePoint solution in Visual Studio, you will see an error if Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service is not started in the target SharePoint farm.

Error message: "Error occurred in deployment step 'Add Solution': Cannot start service SPUserCodeV4 on computer ..."

Workaround    Prior to deploying the SharePoint solution in Visual Studio, manually start Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service from the SharePoint Server 2013 Central Administration Services on Server page.

External list instance cannot be created for an external content type that has PageNumber filter   

If you create an external content type in SharePoint Online or SharePoint Server using Visual Studio and want to add a PageNumber filter to the external content type, you'll need to make sure that no list instance is created for that external content type. Otherwise, you will see an error stating “Fail to install App for SharePoint.”

Workaround    Remove the list instance for that external content type or remove the PageNumber filter from that external content type.

eDiscovery queries without any keywords do not return Exchange results   

In SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server, you can create an eDiscovery query in the eDiscovery Case site template, connect the site to Exchange, and then search SharePoint and Exchange from there. Currently, if your search query is blank, search will return SharePoint results but not Exchange results.

Workaround    To make the eDiscovery query return Exchange results, enter size>=0 in the free text keywords box of the query.

Users sometimes can't access the Site Mailbox on the root SharePoint site

When you try to access the Site Mailbox app on your root site in SharePoint, you may run into an “Access Denied” error message or just a blank page. This is usually because the site's default Owners and Members groups don’t contain any individual users, and Site Mailboxes only allow access to users who are individually listed in these groups. This issue may also occur on any subsites that inherit permissions from the root site on the site collection.

Workaround    The best way to work around this issue is to install the Site Mailbox app on sites that do not inherit permissions from the root site in your site collection. You can create sites with unique permissions by going to the Sites tab and clicking on New site.

You can also work around this issue on sites that inherit permissions, but only if you haven't created a site mailbox for those sites already. You will need to add users to the Owners or Members groups on the root site of that site collection. To do this, go to the root site, navigate to Site Settings (by clicking the gear icon at the top right of your SharePoint page), and then click People and Groups. Once on that page, add yourself and any other relevant users individually to the Owners or Members groups by clicking New and then Add users to this group. Remember, access to the Site Mailboxes will be restricted to users that are individually listed in the Owners or Members groups on your site. Security groups or distribution lists are not supported by Site Mailboxes.

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SharePoint Server search (release)

Trouble getting search to work with anonymous access

You might get the following error message when you try to use search with anonymous access.

An exception occurred when trying to issue security token: The security token username and password could not be validated.

This is because the windowsIdentity.Name on a non-English operating system (OS) is different than the hardcoded English AnonymousUserName (NT Authority\IUSR) that gets set in //depot/dev15/sts/stsom/IdentityServices/SPSecurityTokenServiceManager.cs

Workaround    The workaround is to change the OS locale to a local language.

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SharePoint Server search (preview)

Install updates to use a Search Service Application in SharePoint 2013 Preview on Windows Server 2008

If you use Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 SP1 for SharePoint 2013 Preview, you might see the following error message when you go to the Search Administration page:

Search Application Topology

Unable to retrieve topology component health states. This may be because the admin component is not up and running.

Workaround    Install MS11-063: Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time subsystem could allow elevation of privilege: August 9, 2011 (KB 2567680) and the three additional updates (KB 2554876, KB 2708075, and KB 2472264) recommended in the TechNet SharePoint Installation guidelines at Install SharePoint 2013 Preview.

Activating a search topology with more than one admin component requires a restart

If you create a search topology with more than one admin component, the search system might not provide proper fault tolerance for the admin component after the topology activation.

Workaround    Restart the SharePoint Search Host Controller service on the servers hosting the admin components after the topology activation.

Recommended configuration for crawling large hosts

When defining content sources to crawl in SharePoint Search, the maximum number of threads that can simultaneously make requests to a host is set to 12 by default OOB. This value affects the rate of content discovery from the host. For all small and medium sized hosts (<10M), this thread count is sufficient. But if the target host is >10M, we recommend you increase the thread count.

Workaround    For large hosts (>10M items), we recommend you set the number of threads to 32 or more. This is over-and-above the recommendation to have dedicated crawl targets that helps manage load on front ends efficiently without impacting performance observed by users of that host.

Admin component shows as green in search administration even if have a failed generation controller

Even though a search admin component can be in a bad state, the administration page gives the impression that the admin component is in a good state.

Workaround    Use the cmdlet Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus to get the actual status of the search admin component.

Hardware requirements for SharePoint search

You might experience bad performance if you don’t use a high-end server and at least 8 gigabytes (GB) of memory and sufficient disk space for the search index.

Workaround    We recommend you use a high-end server with at least 8 GB of memory available. For a single-server search, you might also install SQL Server on a separate server to improve performance.

We recommended you have at least 500 GB of disk on index component servers for up to 10 megabyte (MB) documents in the index, preferably more when doing long running backups.

Can’t disable continuous crawl on a SharePoint content source when FollowDirectories is set to 1

If you create a SharePoint content source with a start address and set the follow directories option through PowerShell, the disable continuous crawl fails.

• Enable & subsequently
• Disable continuous crawls

Workaround    Use $cs.SetProperty("FollowDirectories",0), and then restart-Service OSearch.

Modify the search topology that contains indexed items isn’t fully supported

Modifying the layout of index components in the search topology of a search service application might not work correctly if items have been indexed. This might lead to an inconsistent topology state or items lost from the index.

Workaround    Reset the content index before you modify the layout of index components in the search topology.

Multi-level search result collapsing on farms with more than one index partition might show incorrect results

In a multiple index partition setting with search result collapsing based on more than one managed property might show false results. These false results are either single documents or group of documents that should have been collapsed as part of other collapsed groups. So more documents are shown than expected as part of the results table.

Workaround    No workaround is available.

CollapsingStatus doesn’t correctly reflect the actual collapsing status

The CollapsingStatus search property is used to indicate if a document has duplicates. Web UI depends on CollapsingStatus to show duplicates. But sometimes the collapsing status doesn’t correctly reflect the actual collapsing status. That is, some documents found to have duplicates isn’t indicated by CollapsingStatus to have any duplicates. The result is that some duplicates are hidden.

Workaround    Use the managed property fcocount instead of CollapsingStatus to get the collapsing status. A fcocount > 1 indicates the a document has duplicates.

SharePoint search doesn’t support Hyper-V dynamic memory feature

Memory is dynamically used. Hyper-V can be set to allocate memory dynamically and use the freed memory for other VMs. But, this can cause SharePoint search to believe that there isn't enough memory available and abort the merging of larger indexes.

Workaround    Set Hyper-V to use static memory allocation.

Search result collapse specification is case sensitive

A collapse specification on Query OM or Query Web Service is case sensitive. For example ‘CollapseSpecification="FileExtension"’ will work while ‘CollapseSpecification="fileextension"’ won’t work. You won’t get a warning if an incorrect collapse specification is used.

Workaround    Re-crawl the affected content, and wait for a master merge of the index to occur.

Changing a managed property to sortable might cause an exception for queries

When you search on a managed property that has been changed to sortable or created with sortable enabled, queries can throw an exception.

Workaround    The problem should go away after everything is reefed, check pointed, and a master merge has been done.

Search email files doesn’t work

When you run a search query on SharePoint installed on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, it doesn’t search inside of EML or MHT files.

Workaround    Install KB2554876 “The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2” from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2554876 on all content processing component servers.

Crawl log error “Occurrences truncated” is only a warning

The following crawl log message is a warning, not an error. The item has been properly indexed.

The content processing pipeline failed to process the item. (Occurrences truncated. Field=body, Occurrences=65590, Chars=524291; )

Workaround    No workaround is available.

Preview panel appears blank when hovering over SharePoint search results in Internet Explorer   

When you search for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents in SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server, you should be able to hover your mouse over the search results and see a preview of the document in a pop-up hover panel. In Internet Explorer, you will often see a blank space in the hover panel where this preview should show. This is true for Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, and Internet Explorer 10.

Chrome and FireFox browsers are not affected.

Workaround    In Internet Explorer, zoom in and zoom back out (press Ctrl+Plus Sign to zoom in, and Ctrl+Minus Sign to zoom out) and the preview will show in the hover panel. You will have to perform this workaround on each search query, and sometimes on each result that is being inspected.

Errors while importing the search configuration   

When the users try to import the search configuration to a tenant, site collection, or site, they may get an error.    

Workaround    Depending on the error, following are the workarounds.

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Audit and Control Management Server (ACM Server) (preview)

Requirements for ACM Server

The ACM Server applications should be deployed on an English operating system with U.S. English regional settings. Also, the English versions of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel should also be installed.

Workaround    No workaround is available.

Upgrade isn’t supported from preview to final release

There is no plan to support an upgrade from the preview version to the final release version for the following applications:

• Audit and Control Management Server
• Discovery and Risk Assessment
• Inquire
• Spreadsheet Compare
• Database Compare

Any data collected, created, saved, exported, or otherwise generated by these applications in the Preview shouldn’t be expected to function properly with the final release version of these products.

Workaround    No workaround is available. You should plan accordingly and have no expectation of upgrading from the preview version to the final released version of the products mentioned in this issue.

Error creating application services

If you do following steps after installing, you get an error message that says: "An error occurred creating application services: The service installation failed. Reason: Cannot Open Security Policy Error detail: A device attached to the system is not functioning.

1. Run the ACM Server Configuration application.
2. Create a database and save the database connection.
3. Go to the ACM Application Server tab, and click Show Service Manager.

Workaround    Review the installation guide for instructions on how to manually configure the ACM Application services using the ACM Service Manager application. There is a problem with the ACM Server Configuration application that prevents it from automatically creating the application services.

Can't process files with Unicode characters in their name or path

Files with some Unicode characters in their file name monitored for changes appear with question marks (?) in their file name and an error might occur if you try to retrieve a prior version of the file.

Workaround    No workaround is available. Make sure that file names and paths used to test ACM application don’t contain Unicode characters.

Account Administration Services tab doesn’t display any data

If you go to the Account Administration page, and then highlight the Services tab, it doesn’t display the list of services unless the browser window is resized.

Workaround    After going to the Services tab, resize the browser window.

Web pages might not work with certain browsers

If you browse to ACM Server web pages with browsers other than Internet Explorer 8 or Internet Explorer 9, some pages might not display properly and some features might not function properly.

Workaround    You can use Internet Explorer 8 or Internet Explorer 9 when browsing to web pages.

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SharePoint Designer (release)

Calling HTTP web service fails when calling non-SharePoint HTTP (REST) web service from SharePoint workflow

When a workflow developer writes a workflow that calls non-SharePoint HTTP (REST) web service from SharePoint workflow, “Authorization: Bearer” is added to HTTP header by default, which may sometimes result in “401 Unauthorized" error response.

Workaround    A workflow developer explicitly needs to have “Authorization” field set with empty string (“”) in a “RequestHeader” property of “Call HTTP Web Service” action. This will result in suppressing the bearer authorization header for this HTTP request.

Can’t create DocSet using Create List Item action

In SharePoint 2010 workflow we were able to create DocSet using Create List Item action in SharePoint Designer, but in SharePoint 2013 we don't support creating DocSet using Create List Item action.

Workaround    Try calling the SharePoint 2010 workflow using the Start a workflow action.

Workflow doesn’t support external list in SharePoint 2013

Workflow in SharePoint 2010 supported create, read, update, delete (CRUD) operation for external list but SharePoint 2013 workflow doesn’t support CRUD operation for external list due to platform limitation.

Workaround    Try SharePoint 2010 workflow by using Start a list/site workflow action inside the SharePoint 2013 workflow.

Create List Item action doesn’t support creating items in the folder

We could create a list item under folder in custom list using Create List Item action in SharePoint 2010 but in SharePoint 2013 Create List Item action doesn’t support creating items in the folder due to platform limitation.

Workaround    Try calling SharePoint 2010 workflow using Start a list/site workflow action in the SharePoint 2013 workflow.

CompletionCondition property of Parallel Block in SharePoint 2010 workflow isn’t supported

CompletionCondition property of Parallel Block in SharePoint 2010 workflow isn’t supported. You can create SharePoint 2010 workflow and SharePoint 2013 workflow in SharePoint Designer 2013. But the CompletionCondition property of Parallel Block is a property that we only support for a SharePoint 2013 workflow. But we show this property for SharePoint 2010 workflow but you can’t set it in 2010.

Workaround    There is currently no workaround.

Document created by Create List Item action doesn’t keep the file extension given at workflow design time

A document created by Create List Item action doesn’t keep the file extension given at workflow design time. For example, when you create a new SharePoint 2013 workflow on document library that has document template like "template.dotx", the workflow has “Create list item” action and its "Path and Name" parameter is set to "excel_file.xls". When you publish and execute the workflow, a new document is created with name "excel_file.xls.docx" instead of "excel_file.xls".

We supported this in SharePoint 2010 workflow.

Workaround    Try using the SharePoint 2010 workflow using the Start a list/site workflow action in the SharePoint 2013 workflow.

Workflow doesn’t support Survey list

Workflow in SharePoint 2010 supported create, read, update, or delete (CRUD) operation for the Survey list but SharePoint 2013 workflow doesn’t support CRUD operation for Survey list because of a platform limitation — Survey list doesn't have GUID field).

Workaround    Try calling the SharePoint 2010 workflow by using Start a list/site workflow action inside SharePoint 2013 workflow.

Doesn’t preserve user setting when users use Create a List Item or Update List Item action

When you add Date/Time or Boolean type field with empty value to the parameter dialog of Create List Item or Update List Item action, we don’t preserve those fields when a parameter dialog box is reopened.

Workaround    Try to call the SharePoint 2010 workflow using Start a list/site workflow action.

Updating a list item doesn’t work when updating an item field with empty value

When you try to update list item field that is non-string types, such as Date/Time, Boolean, Number, or Person, with empty value using Update List Item action, it doesn’t work. Updating string type field with empty string or updating single user type field with empty value works well.

Workaround    Try to call the SharePoint 2010 workflow using the Start a list/site workflow action.

Value of "Current Time" ("Today") differs based on time zone

When we use Date/Time value in a workflow and SharePoint Designer, we need the current date at run-time. SharePoint Designer provides "Current Time" ("Today") when setting Date/Time value but its value at run-time differs based on time zone because it has time portion while Current Time in 2010 has only date portion without time portion.

Workaround    After setting a Date/Time variable, use "Set Time Portion of Date/Time Field" action with time portion all 0 (zero) so that we can have date only value. For example, set time as 0 : 0 for date (Output to Variable: date).

Document item with empty title in Document Library crashes 2013 workflow using condition Title field contains keyword

If a document item with an empty title using condition Title field contains keyword is run, we can expect the condition to resolves to False but instead it crashes.

Workaround    Use If any value equals value condition and set Current Item:Title in the left value and set contains for the operator.

CreatedDate and ModifiedDate of 2010 uses the client time but 2013 uses time zone of server

CreatedDate and ModifiedDate of SharePoint Designer 2010 use the client time but SharePoint Designer 2013 uses time zone of the server when displayed in a Workflow Gallery.

Workaround    There is currently no workaround. But we recommend you use the same time zone settings on client and server.

Workflow with Unicode/DBCS name and packaged via Save As Template feature to a predefined name WorkflowSolution.wsp

Workflows with Unicode or DBCS names will be packaged into .wsp files with the default hard-coded name of WorkflowSolution.wsp.

Workaround    You can rename the WorkflowSolution.wsp to the original workflow name. Regardless of whether you rename it or not, the original workflow name will be kept for the workflow definition at the destination site.

Can't show Created Date and Modified Date field for 2013 workflows in Workflows gallery

If the client locale and server locale are different from each other, SharePoint Designer can't show Created Date and Modified Date field in Workflows gallery

Workaround    There is currently no workaround available. We do recommend that you use the same locale settings on client and server.

Same task outcome variable is reused

When you copy and paste, the basic rule is to keep the outcome variable, but the design of Assign a Task and Start a Task Process action is to use unique outcome variable that isn’t used by any other task actions as it has some hidden information to show the outcome dropdown when it is used.

When you change the outcome variable to something else, the hidden information is removed and the new variable will have the information. So if you change the outcome variable of some pasted task actions, it also breaks the other task actions' outcome variable which is the same.

Workaround    If you changed the outcome variable for some pasted task action and saw some weird behavior with If condition or set variable action, try to set it back to the original variable. And instead, if needed, create and use local variables to store the task outcome values for your scenarios.

If condition doesn't work correctly at runtime with Approval Status column

If you use Approval Status column in If condition, the dropdown will be shown to choose from options such as '1;#Rejected'. But the resolution of the If statement is wrong at runtime.

Workaround    Instead of using

if 'Current Item:Approval Status' equals '1:#Rejected'

you should use

if '1' equals 'Current Item:Approval Status’

Dictionary list column can cause wrong error detection with Check for Error

If a list has a multi-line type column named Dictionary and SharePoint Designer 2013 workflow uses it in Create Item action, Check for Error gets the following message:

This action contains errors that are not currently visible. Click the hyperlink...

Workaround    Use the other list column name.

Use User ID Number for Person type field

You should use the User ID Number for a Person type filed when it is used in Wait for current item event action.

Workaround    Use the User ID Number option.

No support for Both or Association type initiation parameter of reusable workflow

We hide the user interface to create Both or Association type initiation parameter that are used for reusable workflow scenario.

Workaround    There is currently no workaround available. You can try to use a default value for the Initiation parameter or Initiation type parameter or Use list workflow depending on your scenario.

Check for Error reports invisible error

When a stage has an If condition in the Transition Section that compares String type local variable to some value, and is copied and pasted, some invisible error is detected.

Workaround    You can use the Cut command to move the condition statement in the Transition Section and paste it to the original location.

Or you can copy the condition statement in the Transition Section and paste it to the same location. And then delete one of the duplicate condition statement.

Workflow canceled with an empty DataTime initiation parameter

If a list workflow is manually started with an empty DataTime initiation parameter, the workflow is canceled.

Workaround    Don’t leave the DateTime field empty.

Out of the Box Workflow Task Content Type isn’t applied automatically to sites that have broken inheritance from the root site

When SharePoint Designer publishes a workflow to a site with broken inheritance from the root site, it won’t be able to automatically associate the Out of the Box Content Type with the task list. This means that when you try to run a workflow that uses tasks that are using the Out of the Box task content type, the workflow will fail during run time.

This is happening because the Out of the Box content type is stored on the root site. And if SharePoint Designer doesn’t have access to that root site, it can’t get the Out of the Box content type and associate it to the task list.

Workaround    Manually apply the content type to the task list before running any workflows.

SharePoint Designer 2013 workflow canceled if it has Lookup for 2010 local variable of type String or List Item ID

When a SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow local variable of type String or List Item ID is created but has not been assigned any value after that, and looked up by a 2013 workflow via Start a Workflow action or Interop activity, the workflow is cancelled at run time.

Workaround    When calling a 2010 workflow and using its return value in a 2013 workflow via Start a Workflow, make sure that all the variables being looked up has values assigned at least once. After set, the variables has no problem at all.

Trigger SharePoint Designer workflows on a wrong list

Start a List Workflow receives "item" as parameter on which the called SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow will run on at the run time. The item should be located in the same list where the association/workflow resides in. But we don’t restrict item input to only the same list where association/workflow is at. So when the item and association/workflow don’t have one list in common, the workflow won’t be executed and raise an error at the run time.

Workaround    Set the "item" parameter appropriately. For instance, if a SharePoint Designer 2013 list workflow calls a 2010 workflow associated with other list, you shouldn’t use "Current Item" but an item that is in the list where the 2010 workflow is.

Internal output datasource variable seen on the action Set Workflow Variable

The data source for Start a Workflow calls return value is displayed as a Dictionary type variable in certain actions. In this case, other dictionary type variable can be assigned to the data source, but which shouldn’t be done since it is a reserved space for the return values from SharePoint Designer 2010 called workflow at the run time.

Workaround    Don’t use the __SharePoint 2010 Output: <workflow_name> variable other than looking it up as a data source.

SharePoint Designer 2010 output datasource should be deleted if the association is changed or if the action sentence is deleted

Every time an association/workflow parameter in Start a Workflow, one data source to retrieve return data from the called 2010 workflow is created. So when you choose the same association/workflow, for instance by erasing a Start a Workflow action and adding the action and parameter again, there will be multiple data sources. But using the older source in other parts of the workflow will cause a workflow cancellation.

Workaround    Don’t use older version of a data source when new versions with higher number is created and available.

SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow's local variable name can’t contain a special characters

If you look up a SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow's local variable from a SharePoint Designer 2013 workflow, when 2010 workflow's local variable name contains a special character (for example, ? or #), it is represented as a hexadecimal code.

This is happening because 2013 workflow doesn’t allow the use of such special characters in variable names.

Workaround    The data is handled intact, but just displayed differently at the design time. Just be aware of the issue and it is fine to use the variables with the special characters without any additional work.

SharePoint 2013 (WF4) workflow package fails at feature activation if the referenced lists don't exist

After deploying the on Solutions gallery and activating it, you need to activate the site feature for it. But it will fail if the referenced lists don't exist.

Workaround    When the package failed to be activated at the target site, you have to look at two things.

• What happens if the workflow package is deployed to a site where referenced lists don’t exist?

The site feature activation will fail.

The error message isn’t very detailed but if you look at the ULS log, you can find some hints like the following:

“Workflow XAML failed validation due to the following errors: Failed to create a 'ListId' from the text '$ListId:Lists/Vacation;”

But after the feature activation has failed, re-activating the feature might fail again even after you create the necessary lists. This is because your workflow definition is deployed incompletely. You need to do the following:

1. Open SharePoint Designer and delete the workflow definition which failed during feature activation.
2. Deactivate the solution and remove the solution.
3. Upload the solution and activate the solution.
4. Activate the site feature.

• You need to guarantee that the relative lists URLs (for example, Lists/Vacation) are the same. Even if you create a list with a given name and then change it to a different name, the list URL won’t change, this is because it is based on the original display name. As such, even though you packaged the workflow based on the list’s updated name, the workflow will still look for a list URL based on the old name in the target site. Therefore, when you are recreating the lists in the target site, you must make sure that you initially give the lists the original name, and not the updated name. This way the list URL will be preserved. After the list is created, you can change the list’s name to the updated one.

Workflow is canceled if the list/site workflow is deployed from SharePoint 2013 workflow package to a site without Workflow Task and Workflow History list

When the list/site workflow package is deployed, correct Workflow Task and Workflow History should exist in the target site. If the target server doesn’t have the Workflow Task list and Workflow History list, you might see an error message when you click the workflow from the Workflow Settings page.

Workaround    This happens when you deploy the workflow to a target server where no workflows have ever been created before. As a workaround, you can create and publish a dummy workflow from SharePoint Designer to create the Workflow Task list and Workflow History list, and then open the deployed workflow from SharePoint Designer, adjust the Workflow Task list and Workflow History list settings and republish the workflow.

Copy and paste feature issues SharePoint Designer 2013 text-based workflow designer

Even though we tried to enable frequently used features found within most editing tools, the following are some limitations:

• Can’t use Undo (Ctrl+Z).
• Can’t select multiple objects by clicking and dragging.
• Can’t move selected items by clicking and dragging objects.
• Can’t use Shift+Left Mouse Click to select multiple constructs such as Stage, Step, or Parallel Block but can be used for multi-selection of actions.
• Don’t support copy-and-paste across the different workflow platform types.
• Clipboard isn’t fully integrated with copy and paste of workflow actions in the text based designer so the Paste button within the Clipboard doesn’t work as expected.
• Can’t copy and paste contents across Remote Desktop, because we don’t support copy and paste across SharePoint Designer installations with different PIDs.
• Can’t use paste on the Build Dictionary action, because it doesn’t keep its properties.

Workaround For most mouse operations, you can use the keyboard. For other items, there are no workarounds.

Workflow form changed from InfoPath form to ASPX form

For the workflow based on SharePoint Designer 2013 and Windows Azure Workflow, SharePoint Designer creates ASPX forms instead of InfoPath forms that were created by SharePoint 2010 workflows. If you want to customize the form, you can click it from the forms slab in workflow summary page to show a generic ASPX page editor.

Workaround    No workaround is currently available.

Task Process actions can’t be inserted when two instances of SharePoint Designer are running

SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow actions, such as Start Approval process and Start Feedback process, can’t be inserted into the workflow designer when two instances of SharePoint Designer are running at the same time.

Workaround    Work with one instance of SharePoint Designer when you work with SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow actions.

Fields SharePoint Designer workflows don’t support for lookup

Some fields in SharePoint lists and document libraries aren’t supported for lookup in SharePoint Designer 2013 and when those lookup fields are read from the workflow, that workflow will be canceled. Those fields are all Lookup type fields and mainly references to the global (hidden) list, and some fields are Lookup type to the fields in the same list.

• [Fields in List]
• App Created By
• App Modified By
• Client Id
• Discussion Title
• Folder Child Count
• Item Child Count
• Item Type
• Parent Item ID
• Path
• Replies
• Shortest Thread-Index Id Lookup
• Sort Type
• URL Path
• [Fields in Document Library]
• App Created By
• Check In Comment
• Client Id
• File Size
• Folder Child Count
• Item Child Count
• Item Type
• Path
• Sort Type
• URL Path
• Virus Status

Workaround    Do one of the following:

• Use Call HTTP Web Service action. For example: http://site_name/_api/Web/Lists/GetByTitle('list_name')/Items(item_ID)/FieldValuesAsText?$select=field_name

where field_name is EntityPropertyName property of SPField object

• Cal SharePoint 2010 workflows using Start List/Site Workflow action.

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SharePoint Designer (preview)

“is empty” operation can’t be used with “If” condition when comparing person type fields

When you compare a person type field in an If conditional statement, we don't provide an "is empty" operation that we supported in SharePoint Designer 2010.

Workaround    Store person data to string type variable (using coercion) and compare it with other string that has ID or account name in it.

Storing person data to integer type variable also doesn’t work if this field is empty, so using string type is safest way.

Some of workflow actions/conditions aren’t available

Some of workflow actions/conditions aren’t available. Major reason for this disparity is because of the change in the workflow platform, which are shifting to SharePoint Designer 2013 (WF4) based from SharePoint Designer 2010 (WF3).

Here's a detailed list of deprecated actions/conditions and deprecated features.

Actions

• Stop Workflow
• Capture a version of the Document Set
• Send Document Set to Repository
• Set Content Approval Status for the Document Set
• Start Document Set Approval Process
• Declare Record
• Set Content Approval Status
• Undeclare Record
• Add List Item Permissions
• Inherit List Item Parent Permissions
• Remove List Item Permissions
• Replace List Item Permissions
• Lookup Manager of a User
• Assign a Form to a Group
• Assign a To-do Item
• Collect Data from a User
• Start Approval Process
• Start Custom Task Process
• Start Feedback Process
• Copy List Item (SharePoint Designer 2013 only supports document-copying action)

Conditions

• If current item field equals value
• Check list item permission levels
• Check list item permissions

Blocks

• Impersonation Step

Data sources

• User Profile lookup

Other features

• Visio integration
• Association Column
• Content Type Association for reusable workflow
• ‘Require Manage List/Web Permission’ feature for list/site workflow
• Globally reusable workflow type
• Workflow visualization option

Workaround    As a workaround we have the Start a list/site workflow action so you can create SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow (WF3) where you can put the missing actions and call that workflow from the SharePoint Designer 2013 (WF4) workflow.

Workflow fails when ‘{‘ or ‘}’ is used with Lookup in Email editor and String Builder designer type

SharePoint 2013 workflow fails when ‘{‘ or ‘}’ is used with Lookup in Email editor and String Builder designer type.

Workaround    Store ‘{‘ or ‘}’ in a different string variable and use it with lookup.

Quick Step can’t use SharePoint 2013 workflow

When you click Quick Step on the ribbon menu of a list in SharePoint Server 2013, you are redirected to SharePoint Designer 2013 but you can’t use SharePoint 2013 workflow.

Workaround    Use SharePoint 2010 workflow for quick step.

Visual Designer might not be available even if Visio Pro is installed

Sometimes the Visio license registry key gets set to Standard (STD) instead of Professional (Pro) causing the Visual Designer not being available. In Visio, you see a blank canvas when creating Workflow diagrams (instead of a canvas with the default stage in it).

Workaround    Do the following:

1. Open Registry Editor.
2. Go to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Visio\Application
3. Look for the LicenseCache property and check to see if it's set to Standard (STD).
4. If yes, delete it from that one property.
5. Close SharePoint Designer and Visio.
6. Open Visio Pro.

After Visio Pro is open, refresh Registry Editor and make sure the LicenseCache property has been correctly set to Pro.

Lookup data sources shared

Lookup data sources are shared if you call a SharePoint Designer 2010 (WF3) workflow/association multiple times albeit multiple data sources are shown.

Workaround    Create another WF3 workflow with different name and call it.

Can’t use Assignments type field in WF3 workflow with Task Process

You can't use Assignments type field as a parameter when you invoke a SharePoint Designer 2010 (WF3) workflow that has a Task Process related action in it.

Workaround    Use a SharePoint Designer 2013 (WF4) Task Actions or Start a Task Process, or use WF3 workflow stand-alone.

Special characters shown as hexadecimal code

If a local variable name contains a special character (such as ? or #) in a SharePoint Designer 2010 (WF3) workflow, those characters are shown as a hexadecimal code. Special character or reserved Visual Basic keywords can’t be used for local variable names for SharePoint Designer 2013 (WF4).

Workaround    Remove special characters from the WF3 workflow's variable name.

No error message if project fields are missing in visual designer actions

When creating Project Server workflows using the Visual Designer, and if the fields are missing in the Set this field in the project to this value project action, you don’t get an error message.

Workaround    Make sure all the fields are specified.

Unable to publish a project workflow when it includes a "If any value equals value" condition

If a project workflow contains the “If any value equals value" condition for a custom field, it can't be published.

Workaround    The custom field value needs to be mapped to another variable first, and then that variable can be used for comparison.

Date type project custom fields can’t be used in project workflows

Data type project custom fields can’t be used in a project workflow.

Workaround    Use a different type of custom field, such as a number or text custom field.

Workflow form changed from InfoPath form to aspx form

For a workflow based on SharePoint Designer 2013 (WF4) and Windows Azure Workflow, SharePoint creates aspx forms instead of InfoPath forms that were created by SharePoint Designer 2010 (WF3.5) workflows.

Workaround    No workaround is available. If you want to customize the form, you can click it from Forms in workflow summary page and a generic aspx page editor appears.

List workflows don’t update their status field on the list item

When a workflow is associated to a list, a workflow status column is automatically created for that workflow. The column has the same name as the workflow association. But when an instance of the workflow is actually run, the status field on the list item remains blank, and is never set to a value.

Workaround    The main cause of the issue is that the workflow status field is set to read-only. You can manually work around this by setting the read-only property to false.

In a SharePoint PowerShell prompt, run the following:

$web = get-spweb <my web url>

$list = $web.Lists[<name of list or document library>]

$statusField = $list.Fields[<name of workflow status field>]

$statusField.ReadOnlyField=$false

$statusField.Update()

Design view and Split view are removed from SharePoint Designer 2013

For editing HTML and ASPX pages, only Code view is available and the Design view/Split view aren’t supported. So some menu related web parts and web part zones won’t work.

Workaround    You can use the Parse HTML menu before taking actions on related web parts and web part zones.

Fields not supported for lookup

The following is a list of fields not supported for lookup. These fields aren’t visible in lookup user interface and don’t work at run-time.

• App Created By
• App Modified By
• Check In Comment
• Client Id
• Comment Type
• Document Concurrency Number
• File Size
• Folder Child Count
• Item Child Count
• Item Type
• Name (for use in forms)
• Sort Type
• Source Name (Converted Document)
• Source Version (Converted Document)
• URL Path
• Virus Status

Workaround    No workaround is available.

Error creating a workflow

If you use a page editing related area before you create a workflow, you will get the following error message.

The list of workflow actions on the server references an assembly that does not exist. Some actions will not be available. The assembly strong name is Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c. Contact your server administrator for more informations.

Workaround    Do the following:

1. Delete the cached folder: %appdata%\ roaming\Microsoft\SharePoint Designer\ProxyAssemblyCache
2. Open SharePoint Designer again. (But not from a browser link like Edit in SharePoint Designer.)
3. Select the Workflow tab.
4. Create a Reusable, List, or Site workflow.

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