A couple of days back we have seen an error “Errors were found when compiling the workflow. The workflow files were saved but cannot be run” while trying to publish the SharePoint designer workflow. The error details were – “Unexpected error on server associating the workflow”

This error we have noticed in the workflow of the SharePoint 2010 version but it could be in other versions of SharePoint as well.
How to fix the “Errors were found when compiling the workflow. The workflow files were saved but cannot be run” error?
Go to the “Workflow settings” page from the list settings page.

Click on the “Remove, Block, or Restore a Workflow” link.

Locate the workflow which causing this issue. There we might see – there were many versions of the same workflow that have been published – so we should remove all previous versions of the workflow.
Click the Ok button.
Now, go to the Sharepoint designer and publish the workflow again – this time we will not face this issue.
Notes:
- The above error could be due to other reasons as well – but this is one of the reasons.
Summary: Errors were found when compiling the workflow
Thus in this SharePoint troubleshooting, we have learned how to fix the “Errors were found when compiling the workflow. The workflow files were saved but cannot be run” error.
See Also: SharePoint Troubleshooting
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