By default, if a workflow step (Approval, Task, or Acknowledge) is set up to use groups, and a group is selected that doesn't have any users configured, the workflow step will go to error.  An app/product admin needs to manually act to keep the document moving through the approval workflow:

Now, if a group option is selected as the recipient within an Approval, Task, or Acknowledge workflow step, you'll have the new 'Skip this step if there are no users in the role' configuration option:

The Bypass Workflow option is a time-saving feature for app administrators who need to move documents through workflows more quickly. Rather than manually advancing each workflow step, admins can now bypass the entire workflow with a single action. 

Workflow Settings

App designers can now enable a setting that allows app admins to bypass the workflow entirely. In the Workflow Settings, you’ll see a new option titled Allow app admins to bypass workflow.

Once enabled, additional options will appear to app admins in the Document List view.

Document List View

When a document has the status of In Progress or Draft, and the bypass feature has been enabled in Workflow Settings, an admin can open the document from the Document List and take the Bypass Workflow action.

Once the bypass has been completed, you will need to refresh the page or return to the document list to see the change in the status or see the workflow history. The workflow history will only contain steps that have already been completed, up to the step where the bypass workflow option takes place. Steps after the bypass workflow option occurs will not show within the workflow status. 

More information can be found in the Bypass Workflow Option for Admins article.

You can now configure Sections to have no formatting associated (borders, spacing, or indentation). By default, if you have Sections and especially embedded Sections it will apply certain spacing and indentation to the form to delineate each Section.  But sometimes a user wants to use a section for configuration scale or complexity, and not for layout purposes and doesn't want to impact the way the form looks.  Now within the Sections gadget you will have the Hide Section borders and spacing configuration option:

Some common use cases for this functionality:

• Apply conditional permissions to a large number of fields, but you don't want to impact the way the form looks by embedding a visual section.
• Setup a small set of forms within a section to be Office Use Only, but you don't want to impact the visual display of the form.
• Setup complex Conditional Visbility Rules that include and as well as or logic, but you don't want to leave visual artifacts by embedding multiple visual sections within.
• Have a section header to create trackable headers for accessibility, but you don't want to sacrifice horizontal real estate on the screen, especially in a product where we have multiple sidebars.

Example of a Section embedded in another Section (without Hide section borders and spacing enabled):

Example of a Section embedded in another Section (with Hide section borders and spacing enabled):

Note:  If a section is at the top level of a repeater or document there will still be some spacing that remains, however any sections embedded within other sections will be fully invisible.

For our enterprise customers with Spaces you can now add custom links that will display above the products and apps within each space.  This will allow System Administrators or Space Administrators to add links at the top of each Space to external resources commonly used by your end users (i.e other local institutional systems or sites).  

Within Spaces you'll now see the Apps & Links tab where it will display all apps and links within each space:

Within the Apps & Links you'll now see the Links section:

To add external Links to your Space you can click the +Add Link button to add the Title that will display, url, description (optional), and upload an image for the link:

After saved you'll see the link information at the top of each Space: 

You can now export form documents utilizing our new PDF Experience!  The new PDF export utilizes a headless browser to get a PDF that is much closer to what the form looks like on the screen and it's fully accessible!!  This functionality will eventually replace the PDF generation in Kuali forms but we're providing the option to preview the functionality so we can gather your feedback and not disrupt your currently configured export setup.  Within Form Settings you'll see a new option of 'New PDF Experience' option once the 'Allow PDF export of documents' is enabled.  You also have the option to append all the PDF attachments uploaded in the form to the end of the PDF in the new generator if you select the 'Include PDFs uploaded through the form' option:

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the current print verses the new PDF Experience:

Some things to keep in mind:

• There is no immediate impact or action required - the current PDF export will continue to work as is and you'll need to update your configuration in Form Settings to take advantage of the new PDF Experience.
• When the new option is selected all PDF exports in that app will use the new PDF export. This includes the document view, workflow notification attachments and the GraphQL API.
• New PDF export meets accessibility standards and it will render a PDF that looks like the actual form on the screen.

Start using today and let us know your feedback! :)

Please note, we have many requests to be able to control which sections of the form are exported when the PDF is created (included Office Use Only sections).  This new PDF Experience does not address that need but that's still on our roadmap to address in the future.

We've added a new meta data field of 'Current Workflow Step' which will display the name (Step Label) of the current step where the document is in the workflow. Meta Data Fields can be used in Form Builder (as a field or with Conditional Visibility), the Form Workflow, and in the Document List when creating reports.  

Add the new 'Current Workflow Step' column in the Document List to see which workflow step each document is on:

Or hide/show sections on the form based on the current workflow step. 

More information can be found in the Meta Data Fields article.

We wanted to give you a heads up on some changes related to Workflow Status that will be deployed this Thursday 3/6.  First, we've pulled out 'Workflow Status' from the menu options and put it the main header of documents so it's easier for users to find. Please note, the Workflow Status option is available to System, App Admins, and end users if it's configured as visible in Workflow Settings.

Second, we're releasing a new option of 'Save a copy of all email notifications sent' in Workflow Settings. When enabled all future notifications sent by the workflow system will be saved as entries in the Workflow Status tracker. This will allow you to have a history of all notifications sent for a given document and be viewable if the document is opened from the Document List or Action List (not visible to end user if document is opened from My Documents).

When you open the Workflow Status Tracker in a document and view a workflow action that has taken place since the above setting was turned on you will see associated emails collapsed within the workflow action. Please note, reminder emails will be recorded in individual entries in the Workflow Status Tracker.

A simple view without formatting or images will be displayed when you expand the Workflow Status drawer:

You can click 'Full Email' to open the email as it was sent to the user with formatting and images in a full screen printable view. 

Please note, any user with permissions to view the workflow tracker will be able to view and print saved notifications.

You can now configure custom send back workflow notifications and include the entered send back comments.  Within an Approval or Task workflow step you'll now see a 'Customize send back email notification' option:

Once enabled you can customize the message (subject and body) of the notification that will send when the send back action is taken.  You can also include the new 'Sendback Comment' variable to include the comments entered by the reviewer on the send back action:

The email sent will include the customized subject/body text including the send back comments:

More information on how to configure can be found in the Approval Step and Task Step workflow articles.

Now in the Form Settings you have two additional options in Submission Settings to limit the number of submissions for the given form:

Limit submissions to one per user:

Allows you to limit to only one submission per user in the form.  If enabled and a user creates a new document when they are the creator on another submission in the dataset the below validation error will display and the submit button will be inactive.

Limit total submissions for this dataset:

Once you click this option you can then 'Enter submission limit' to specify the limit of total submissions allowed in the form overall.  Could be used for a variety of scenarios - for example, a contest app that will only take the first 25 entries. If enabled and a user creates a document when the submission limit has already been met the following validation error will display and the submit button will be inactive.

Have you wanted to add a custom error validation in a form based on certain field selections?? Now you can with the new Validation gadget!!!

The Validation gadget can be used to add a form validation under certain criteria (beyond just "A required field is blank") to prevent submission or a workflow action.  Sometimes gadgets require a certain number of responses, or a field is only required if specific data is entered elsewhere in the form (otherwise it's optional), certain lookup selections aren't allowed, etc.  You can set any combination of desired criteria in the Validation rules to trigger when appropriate.

Within the Validation gadget you must first enter the desired Error Text that will display when the rule(s) for visibility are met.  And then you can add the desired rule(s) to fire that validation.  For example, in the below example the validation will display when the Sponsor selected is 'To Be Determined':

Within the form the user will see the Validation message immediately:

And if they attempt to submit the form or take a workflow action (i.e. Approve, Complete Task) without addressing the validation they'll also see the error display: