Who is this article for?

Administrators manage workflows

Administration, Alter Workflow Instances or Edit Completed Workflows and permissions are required.

Many workflows are set to reopen on an expiry date for periodic review. However, some instances, like retired records, must stay permanently closed.

This article explains how to bulk reopen via the workflow definition while preventing reopening of specific instances without deleting records.

1. Configuring reopen behaviour

To configure reopening behaviour:

1. Go to Administration.
2. Select Workflows.
3. Open the workflow you need to close.
4. Click Workflow Definition Settings.
5. Locate the Expires setting.
6. Configure the rule used for reopening by:
   • Setting a fixed expiration date, or
   • Linking the expires field to a custom date field on the instance
7. Click Save Changes.

All completed instances that follow the definition’s expiration logic will reopen as scheduled.

2. Configuring close behaviour

To keep specific instances permanently closed:

1. Open the completed workflow instance.
2. Identify the expiration driver used by the definition (e.g., Expiration Date field or a custom date field).
3. Clear that value.
   Alternatively, set it to a value/state that does not trigger reopening per your definition’s rule.
4. Click Save Changes.
5. Confirm the instance status is now Closed and that no other triggers are present.

This instance will not reopen, even though other instances do..

Further reading

• Deleting workflow instances
• Accessing workflows