Custom Statuses and Workflows

Custom Statuses and Workflows are available on Business and Enterprise accounts.

⏱ 6 min read

• Overview
• Important Information
• Edit the Default Workflow
• Create a Custom Workflow
• Apply a Custom Workflow
• Edit a Custom Workflow
• Duplicate a Workflow
• Delete a Custom Workflow
• More Info

Overview

Task statuses reflect the typical states a task can be in over its lifecycle. Workflows in Wrike are made up of a set of statuses, and each workflow is made up of four groups: active, completed, deferred, and cancelled. The default workflow is available to all Wrike users and there is one status in each of the four groups. 

Business and Enterprise accounts: In addition to the default workflow these accounts can create Custom Workflows and Statuses and specify who should be added as an assignee if a task has a particular status. Create a new workflow to meet a team’s needs, and add statuses within that workflow which reflect the typical statuses your tasks go through.

For more information on how to automate statuses and workflows, check our Advanced Custom Workflows page. 

Important Information

• All new tasks are created as active by default. If a Custom Workflow is applied, then tasks are given the first status in the active group of the Custom Workflow.
• Deferred and cancelled tasks do not show up on task to-do emails or on overdue widgets on your Dashboard.
• A task can only have one status at a time.

For Business and Enterprise Accounts

• All users on Business and Enterprise accounts can use Custom Workflows and Statuses, but workflows can only be created or edited by an account admin.
• Each Business and Enterprise account can have a maximum of 200 workflows but there is no limit to the number of statuses that you can have within a workflow.
• You do not need to add statuses into the “Deferred” and “Cancelled” groups of Custom Workflows.

Edit the Default Workflow

Account admins on Business and Enterprise accounts can edit the default workflow.

1. Click your profile image in the upper right-hand corner of your Workspace.
2. Select "Settings" from the dropdown.
3. Click "Workflow" in the left panel. You will see a list of all workflows on the account.
4. Click “Default Workflow”. If you don’t see it, press Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F, if you are on a Mac) and search for it in the list.
5. To add a status: click “+ Add Status” at the bottom of any workflow group, enter its title and select a color associated with a status.
6. To edit or delete an existing status, click its title in the list.
7. Drag and drop statuses to arrange them in the order that makes the most sense for your team. The order you choose here is the order that statuses will appear within a Task’s dropdown status menu.
8. Click “Save” in the upper right-hand corner.

When you save changes to the default workflow, these changes are reflected in the account immediately.

Note! There must be at least one status in each category of the default workflow. As a result, the first status in a group can be edited but cannot be removed (or moved within the workflow). If you delete a Custom Status, Tasks currently in that status remain in the status, but you are not able to apply the status to additional tasks, or filter by deleted statuses thereafter.

Create a Custom Workflow

Account admins on Business and Enterprise accounts can create a Custom Workflow.

1. Click your profile image in the upper right-hand corner of your Workspace.
2. Select "Settings" from the dropdown.
3. Click "Workflow" in the left panel. You will see a list of all workflows on the account.
4. Click “+ New workflow”.
5. Enter your new workflow’s name. By default, it has one status in the Active and Completed workflow categories.
6. Add statuses to your workflow: click “+ Add Status” at the bottom of any workflow group, enter its title and select a color for that status.
7. Rename, delete, or change a status color by clicking on that status.
8. Drag and drop statuses to arrange them in the order that makes the most sense for your team. The order you choose here is the order that statuses will appear in on a Task’s dropdown status menu.
9. Click “Save” in the upper right-hand corner.

When you create a new workflow it becomes immediately available for all team members to see and use.

Some examples of the common workflows are shown below:

Apply a Custom Workflow

Any Regular or External User can apply a Custom Workflow to a Task, Folder, or Project. When you apply a workflow to a Folder or Project, new tasks created in that Folder or Project are automatically assigned the first status from the workflow’s active group.
You can always give a task a status from a workflow other than the applied workflow. To do that:

1. Click the current task's status 1 in the Task View.
2. Hover over "Change Task Workflow". 2
3. You will see all other workflows. To see statuses from a particular workflow, hover over its name. 3
4. Click on the status you want to apply. 4

Option 1: Change a Folder or Project’s Workflow

1. Right-click a Folder or Project’s name from the Workspace’s left-hand Navigation panel.
2. Hover over “Change workflow” on the dropdown menu.
3. Select the workflow you would like to apply.

Option 2: Change a Folder’s Workflow

1. Select a Folder from the left-hand Navigation panel in your Workspace.
   
2. Switch to the List View and click the folder icon in the upper right-hand corner.
   
3. In the folder info panel click the dropdown arrow next to the current workflow’s name on the left and from the list, select the workflow you would like to apply.

Option 3: Change a Project’s Workflow

1. Select a Project from the Workspace’s left-hand Navigation panel. 1
2. Click the clipboard icon to open the Project info panel (if it doesn't open by default). 2
3. The Project’s current workflow is listed under the Project’s name. 3
4. Click the dropdown arrow 4 to the right of the current workflow’s name.
5. Select a workflow from the dropdown list which appears. 5

Edit a Custom Workflow

1. Click your profile image in the upper right-hand corner of your Workspace.
2. Select "Settings" from the dropdown.
3. Click "Workflow" in the left panel. You will see a list of all workflows on the account.
4. Click the title of a workflow you would like to edit. If you don’t see it, press Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F, if you are on a Mac) and search for it in the list.
5. Click the “+ Add Status” button at the bottom of any workflow group to add a status to that section.
6. Click on an existing status to rename it, change its color, or delete it.
7. Drag and drop statuses to arrange them in the order that makes the most sense for your team. The order you choose here is the order that statuses will appear in on a task’s dropdown status menu.
8. Click “Save” in the upper right-hand corner.

Note! When you delete a Custom Status:

• Tasks currently in that status remain in the status, but you are not able to apply the status to additional tasks, or filter by deleted statuses.
• The active and finished groups must always contain at least one status. As a result, the first status in both of these categories can be edited, but cannot be removed (or moved within the workflow).

Duplicate a Workflow

When you duplicate a workflow, its copy has the same statuses, automatic assignees, and status transition settings as the original one.

1. Click your profile image in the Workspace's upper right-hand corner.
2. Select "Settings" from the dropdown.
3. Click "Workflow" in the left panel. You will see a list of all workflows on the account.
4. Click the title of a workflow you would like to duplicate. If you don’t see it, press Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F, if you are on a Mac) and search for it in the list.
5. Click the three-dot menu button in the upper right-hand corner.
6. Select "Duplicate workflow".
7. A duplicate of a workflow opens and you can immediately edit it.
8. Click “Save” in the upper right-hand corner once you make all necessary changes.

Delete a Custom Workflow

1. Click your profile image in the upper right-hand corner of your Workspace.
2. Select "Settings" from the dropdown.
3. Click "Workflow" in the left panel.
4. Right-click a workflow’s title in the list and select “Delete workflow”.
5. Click “Delete” to confirm your decision.

When you delete a Custom Workflow: if a task is currently in a status from the deleted workflow, then it remains in that status. However, you cannot apply statuses from deleted workflows to additional tasks and you are not able to filter by statuses which belong to deleted workflows.

More Info

• Understand and Create Statuses