When Workflows Go Wild: Managing Stuck and Sprawling Processes in SharePoint

Workflows are supposed to make SharePoint easier. They automate approvals, move documents along, and save your team from manual busywork. But anyone who has lived with SharePoint for more than a few months knows the truth: workflows can just as easily become a source of frustration.

In both on-premises SharePoint and Microsoft 365, tasks and workflows are executed via a complex background timer system. And when things go wrong, they go really wrong.

I’ve seen it firsthand:

• Workflows that never complete because an instance gets “stuck” in In Progress mode.

• Multiple versions of the same workflow spinning endlessly in the background for months.

• A growing backlog of failed or frozen tasks, clogging the system and confusing users.

• No clear way to figure out which items those stuck workflows are tied to, leaving you chasing ghosts.

  
  

The result? Wasted time, frustrated users, and processes that everyone stops trusting.

Where SharePoint Falls Short

The real pain isn’t just the failures—it’s the visibility. Native SharePoint gives you very little insight into:

• Which workflows exist in a given web or site.

• Which lists those workflows are connected to.

• Where the “stuck” instances actually live.

  
  

Administrators are left sifting through logs and item histories, trying to match instances to the right content. It’s slow, clunky, and sometimes impossible to fully resolve.

How the Commander Tool Helps

This is where the Commander Tool changes the game—at least for on-premises SharePoint (Power Automate support is on our roadmap). With Commander, you can:

• See all workflows that exist for a web in a single dashboard.

• Quickly identify which lists and libraries those workflows belong to.

• Enable or disable workflows with just a click—no digging through site settings.

• Discover every “stuck” workflow instance and immediately see which item it’s tied to.

• Stop broken or looping instances on the spot, before they drag on for weeks or months.

  
  

Instead of chasing invisible errors, you get clear, actionable visibility. What was once a black box becomes a manageable part of your SharePoint environment.

Why This Matters

When workflows are reliable, users trust them. When they’re not, adoption suffers. By giving admins the tools to untangle messy or broken workflows, Commander helps restore confidence in the processes that should be making life easier.

SharePoint workflows don’t have to be the bane of your existence. With the right visibility and control, they can finally do what they were designed to do: save time, not waste it.