When a workflow with a scheduled or recurring trigger is Inactive, it may be activated by invoking Activate at the trigger’s mini toolbar. This sets its active status to Active. The trigger enters a Waiting for Trigger state until the arrival of its start date and time. When in this state, the workflow is read-only.
A workflow can be activated only when valid (note that other workflows, and the interaction as a whole, may be in an invalid state at this time).
When the trigger’s start date and time arrives it fires, creating a workflow instance, which is assigned a unique integer ID (firing is subject to satisfaction of any associated trigger constraints). In the case of a recurring trigger, the start time used is always local.
If the workflow is currently Active, but the trigger has not yet fired, the same button can be used to deactivate the workflow. A scheduled or recurring trigger within an Inactive workflow does not fire at the arrival of its scheduled date and time.
A workflow can only be activated if it is valid and contains no unsaved changes.
If you activate a scheduled or recurring trigger when its scheduled date and time have already passed, it fires immediately.
If the workflow’s trigger is a recurring trigger, its behavior depends on the setting at its Create property.
If Create is set to Single workflow instance, when the trigger fires, a workflow instance is created and, after its initial execution, the workflow enters a Waiting for Trigger state. On firing for a second or subsequent time, a new workflow instance is not created; instead, only qualifying records that have not yet been contacted within the workflow instance are targeted. Results bubbles continue to be shown when the workflow’s status is Waiting for Trigger.
If Create is set to New workflow instance each time trigger fires, following completion of the initial workflow instance, the workflow enters a Waiting for Next Trigger state. The next workflow instance is created in accordance with the trigger’s recurrence parameters, as defined within its configuration panel. The workflow continues creating instances, in accordance with its configuration settings, until all instances required have executed (unless configured to never end, in which case instances will continue to be created in perpetuity). Note that results bubbles do not continue to be shown when the workflow’s state is Waiting for Trigger.
A recurring trigger’s recurrence pattern is observed in the context of the time zone specified within the trigger.
Following deactivation of a Production recurring trigger, you can edit the trigger's schedule settings, and can re-activate workflow having saved your changes. This functionality is available irrespective of as to whether a workflow instance had been created by the trigger at the point of workflow deactivation.
If a recurring trigger is unable to start workflow execution (for example, if the Workflow Manager service happens to be unavailable), a series of retry attempts are performed. An attempt to start is made every 10 seconds for the first minute, then every 1 minute for the next 9 minutes, then every 10 minutes for the next 50 minutes. After this time the attempt to start the workflow is abandoned and the trigger reverts to its defined schedule.
If the Manual tab is selected at a recurring trigger, on activation, the trigger enters a Waiting for Trigger state. It is necessary to click the Fire Trigger button manually to invoke activity at the same. If end after is set, workflow execution ceases after trigger is fired the prescribed number of times. If end by is set, workflow execution ceases at the appointed time. If never end is set, there is no limit to the number of times the trigger can be fired.