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I'm using Sharepoint Designer to craft a workflow that will do the following: When someone in a specific group enters a value in a field (i.e. the field is no longer empty) in one library, this workflow will run and do some validation and then change a value in another list. (The specifics aren't important, I don't think.)

I'm very confused as to whether the "Conditions" steps are triggers or rather things to look for when the workflow is eventually run. And I'm also not sure how the "If value equals value" construct can be massaged to do this.

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What do you mean 'when someone in a specific group'? Does that mean someone NOT in that group can edit that field or list as a whole? – Zork Mar 30 '12 at 19:48
We want this workflow to only run when someone in the site administrators group does this. Basically, there's an approval process for documents that occasionally happens offline, and when it does we want to let the manager set the approval column on the document and have that mark the task as approved. – Zelbinian Mar 30 '12 at 20:01

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The "Conditions" are not triggers, but are evaluated when the workflow runs to determine if the Steps within them should be executed.

For a SharePoint Designer Workflow, the only thing you can do is set the workflow to start when an item is added/updated and then check to see if the field is filled. If you only are allowed to change the other list the first time the field is changed, then you have to create some way of storing that this item has already been processed. This is most likely going to be a new column with just that purpose.

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" the only thing you can do is set the workflow to start when an item is added/updated" What setting is this? (I'm a n00b at this, sorry.) – Zelbinian Mar 30 '12 at 19:56
If you're creating a List Workflow then it's in SharePoint Designer, while editing the workflow, click "Workflow settings" in ribbon, then in section "Start options" you can specify when the workflow should start. If you're creating a reusable workflow, then you specify the same settings when you associate the workflow with a contenttype in the browser – Per Jakobsen Mar 30 '12 at 20:14
My workflow is a Site Workflow... does that mean it can't be done that way? – Zelbinian Mar 30 '12 at 20:17
Yes, if it's a Site Workflow, then it can only be started manually, BUT WHY is it a Site Workflow? – Per Jakobsen Mar 30 '12 at 20:59
Think of it this way... your workflow is always going to be triggered (created/edited/manual). The conditions are used to figure out when to take action... Condition: Field is not empty -> Action: Update list item. – Kit Menke♦ Mar 30 '12 at 21:01

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