Deleting Workflow Instances and History Records
Deleted workflow instances and history records can't be recovered.
History records are created each time a workflow moves into a state, including the first state of the workflow. You can delete workflow instances and history records for finished workflow instances and view statistics on the Instances and History Records popup window.
Workflow instances and history records are deleted based on how long, in months, they've been stored. The default is 3 months, but you can set a different period.
The number of active and finished workflow instances in the Statistics section on the Instances and History Records popup window is an estimate and not an exact total. These numbers are rounded down to the closest number of instances and records.
The following screenshot shows the location of the More menu:
To delete workflow instances and history records:
-
Go to Customization > Workflow > Workflows.
-
Click Edit next to the workflow that you want to delete workflow instances and history records for.
-
From the More menu, select Instances and History Records.
-
In the Instances and History Records popup window, in the Delete section, enter the number of months for the age of the workflow instances and related history records that you want to delete. To delete all of the workflow instances and related history records, enter 0.
-
Click Delete.
To see the deletion status, from the More menu, select Instances and History Records. Statuses include Scheduling, Waiting for execution, and the deletion progress.
Deleting a large number of history records can take days. Only one deletion runs at a time; if you start several deletions, they're queued up and begin one after the other.
A record of the deletion process is logged on the History tab on the Workflow Definition page. When the deletion process is complete, an email is sent to the user who started the deletion process.