We have posted multiple times about waiting workflows, and one of the big challenges surrounding them is that when you update a workflow definition, there is no way to cancel the waiting instances of the workflow in bulk. Also, jobs may go into waiting state if there is a condition that prevents the step from completing. For example, if you have a step to send email to a contact, and the contact doesn’t have an email address, the workflow will go into an indefinite wait status.
Gap Consulting from the UK has filled this gap with the latest update to their excellent Workflow Essentials solution. Their Workflow Executor tool in the solution now has the ability to select a workflow and in bulk cancel or retry all waiting instances of that workflow.
This will be helpful to clear out the waiting instances when you change a workflow definition, but also when you have a data condition that makes a bunch of workflows go into indefinite wait status, you can use the tool to retry the workflows after you have fixed the data issue.
Read more on the Gap Consulting blog.