If I delete the Workflow History, will it delete items in the Workflow Task List?

Question

I use Nintex to create workflows if that makes any difference.

We are creating an audit reminder workflow and the workflow tasks need to be kept so we have a record of comments and attachments.

When the person assigned to the task completes it, they enter their comments explaining what they did and then attach their findings.

My research indicates that if we purge the workflow history, it only purges the association between the workflow and the item in the history.

I would have to take the next step and delete the items manually.

My question is if I purge the workflow history, will it delete the tasks that are stored in the Workflow Task List?

Answer 1

SharePoint has a retention policy set in place that will delete items that are complete after 60days which I believe also includes the task list.

So when the Workflow Auto Cleanup Job is triggered it will remove any task list item involved.

Its the workflow history list that will stay forever unless you delete it and its this list that holds the primary information like the ID's, comments and approvals etc.

nintex uses a different library from sharepoint:

If memory serves me right:

http://SiteURL/Lists/NintexWorkflowHistory

nintex task history is stored in nintex's database

above is all explained more here:

https://habaneroconsulting.com/insights/the-truth-about-history-when-using-nintex-workflow#.V65gtYtRFMs

to answer your question, purging the workflow history list will not have an effect on the task list as both are independent of each other.

Answer 2

No it won't delete Workflow Task List..
It only delete workflow history items..

And just for information, SharePoint has a retention policy set in place that will delete workflow history items after 60days but Nintex does not have that type of retention policy. It will store data till you want..

Answer 3

If you don't have an Event Receiver attached to the Workflow History list that does this behavior, I think it will not. Find the Nintex features and disable them (just in case) before you delete the items wanted, then just re enable it after.