Workflow: Notifications not going out?-1521555719

Hey all,

We started a trial of Workflow today, and everything appears to have installed properly. I can create notifications in the web client and I see new Workflow-ey menu options when I right click on documents, etc.

I also created a Workflow with the Workflow Designer (desktop app). I then tested it and it appeared to run properly. I had two notifications that should have gone out, one as part of a task assignment and one as just an "email" event. It said those steps executed, but I never received emails. I tried just a straight notification as well and never got notified when I added documents or changed indexes where I had rules set up.

I bounded the Workflow Server service -- still no luck. I have yet to receive an email notification from either the Notifications set up in web client or notifications that are part of a workflow. Additionally, Saving changes to a Notification in the web client seems flaky. The Save button is always active, and if I close the tab and go back in it says I have the Notification locked. I don't know if notification preferences are not properly saving, emails are getting jammed up, or what. 

Is there a log I can check to see what might be going on with emails? Is there something additional I need to configure on the server for notifications to work? I just installed the LIC file -- that was it. Let me know if there is more I need to configure.

Thanks,

Joe Kaufman

Joe,

I presume you use Docuware on-premise.

You need to configure SMTP Connection - Under Data Connections in Docuware Administration System hive. You test it right from there to make sure your SMTP works (test e-mail to be sent to Sender email address in the configuration)

Then you'd need to restart your Notification server service. After that it all should work.

Josef,

Yes, on-prem, 6.11. Thank you for the information.

I am very ignorant when it comes to network admin stuff, even something as simple as setting up an SMTP connection. So, I have attached a picture of what is set up. The server is local and the port is 25. Am I supposed to be linking into our company email server? That runs Exchange, so I am not sure about using it as an SMTP relay. I set up the SMTP connection as configured in the pic, then did something that should have triggered a workflow notification and still nothing happened (I bounced both the Notify and Workflow services on the server).

What am I missing?

EDIT: Never mind, I got a notification to go out! I remembered I set up a backup software rule to send motifications and we got SMTP configured on our Exchange server, so I used that. And I just got a notification...

FURTHER EDIT: I have gotten web-client configured Notifications to go out, but with a lag (takes a few minutes before a changed notification displays the new content). And I have yet to get notifications to go out properly via a Workflow (see further down in the trhead for more on that).

Thanks,

Joe Kaufman

https://www.docuware.com/sites/default/files/forums-images/smtp.png

Joe,

it should not be "localhost" in the configuration, but your Exchange server instead. You really need to consult with your IT guys on setting this correctly, especially authentication and SSL setting. You may try without authentication and then with your own credentials. There is a check configuration button on top of this screen that actually sends a test e-mail. (to docuware@bellabs,com in your case).

If you are going to send e-mails to people outside your organization, your IT will have to allow your connection to use 'relay', but this is done on Exchange side.

Hello Joe,

yes, you need to enter the information of your E-Mail / Exchange Server there. The SMTP-Server Hostname is the DNS-Name of your Exchange server, for example "exchange.company.com" . 25 is the default port for SMTP connections, but you may need to ask your Exchange Administrator about the exact settings to enter there. Depending on the configuration of your Exchange Server, you might need to enable SSL or use a login, or even a different port. This all depends on the Exchange configuration, so the best way to go would be to ask your Exchange Administrator about the required settings.

Greetings from Germany,

Simon H. Hellmann

Thanks for the responses, and so sorry to have wasted your time -- once I recalled I had set up SMTP notifications in an Acronis backup, I checked that machine and Exchange works as an internal relay without even needing credentials. We should be good to go. Again, thanks for the help!

Thanks,

Joe Kaufman

Hey all,

I still have yet to have a notification go out via a Workflow. I published the workflow and have notifications set to go out with Task assignment and an explicit Email event in the flow -- still nothing goes out when I trigger the workflow via a new document or index change on the field I have defined to monitor. Testing the Workflow runs fine -- no notifications there, either, even though the test says it completed and every flow step was executed.

There also seems to be a lag on making Notification changes in the web client. Several minutes after I changed a notifcation email body, the previous version still came through. Does one have to bounce the Notification Server to have changes take effect immediately? Is there some other sort of refresh or publish operation I need to do for web client based Notifications?

Thanks,

Joe Kaufman

Hello Joe,

which way do you send out the Mail in the Workflow? Did you select a user manually or are you using a global variable? Best practice here would be to send mails to a global variable, for example: user 1 has a task to assign someone who has to proof-read some document. He has one field in the workflow form which lets him choose a user from a group. this form field then gets written into a global variable of type "User from a group".

Next up is an E-Mail notification to the global variable, which now holds the username. DocuWare then looks up the E-Mail address which is configured in the user account and sends a Mail there. If no mail address is found, the mail is sent to the workflow user you configured in the "Start" action of the workflow.

My guess is: 1. that you are either trying to send to an E-Mail address directly

or 2. you are trying to send to a user retrieved from an index field of the document which may not work because it does not specifically hold a username, only plaintext

or 3. you have no Mail address defined in the user settings. to solve this, either log in to DW as the user in question, click on the username on the top, then my profile, then fill in the Mail address. Or: log in to the Administration Desktop app, switch to: Organization -> User management -> Users -> the user in question -> fill out the mail property in the right pane. Remember to save!

Hope this helps.

Greetings from Germany,

Simon H. Hellmann

Simon,

Thanks for the in-depth reply!

I did get notifications working in the basic web client Configuration area. All emails are populated. I am not using a field with a username or email address.

In the Workflow, I specifically subscribe with my own username, which has a valid email address filled in. There is also a field to enter an email address manually, which I also populated with a valid address. I tried with both and with just the username, and no emails get sent out.

As I mentioned in another thread, my Workflow is as simple as possible and mimics the notification that does work in every way. But nothing goes out no matter what I do. I do not know if the Workflow simply is not triggering or if the email fails, and I don't know where to debug that.

Thanks,

Joe Kaufman

Hello Joe,

you might want to check the error logfiles from DW. The logs are located in %ProgramData%\DocuWare\Logs\ . Have a look in the Workflow Server logs, this might help you get to the root of the issue.

Greetings from Germany,

Simon H. Hellmann

Hi Simon

Is it possible to elaborate on this:

My guess is: 1. that you are either trying to send to an E-Mail address directly

Is that not possible in in DW7?  I am attempting to write an external user email address to a GV that is later used in a Email Notification on Task completion.  Would this need to be done separatly?

Thanks for any direction you can provide - New to the community

- Steve VanRossem

Hello Steve,

I just meant that the set E-Mail adress maybe has a typo or does not exist.

Taking a valid adress from lets say a document index entry, assigning this to a GV with a "Data assignment"-Step and then sending a Mail to that recipient should work. I have a customer who lets DocuWare send out their orders like this.

You might consider to send the mail to yourself additionally, to check if it really leaves the DocuWare Server.

Also keep in mind that in MS Exchange,you need to set extra permissions to allow an SMTP User to send mails to external recipients.

Hope this helps,
Simon H. Hellmann
DocuWare System Consultant