If you have a situation to move a SharePoint Designer workflow from DEV to Test or to PROD, there is no easy way unless you have a migration tool (DocAve, ControlPoint, Quest , etc..), my present client I’ve no option for those, I know if we can backup/restore site collection then its all easy OOTB if not follow below steps.
- Create a new workflow on the Test/Production site with the same name. Be sure to add a fake condition and one fake activity. This will generate the standard workflow files.
- Copy the XOML and RULES files from your workflow in Dev (open the folder in SPD2010 and copy these specific files).
- Paste those files into the workflow folder you created in step 1
- Open the workflow again in Test/Prod, and click through all the steps to re-associate each data point (simply click on the item, and it will re-associate)
- If you have any lookups like “Update List Item,” then you’ll need to manually edit the XOML file in SPD or Notepad so that you can find/replace the GUID of the associated list. Of course, that list must already exist on the test/Prod site, too.
- When done, click Finish to publish the workflow with the copied settings, and it should work.
If the workflow is not working as expected double check the associations (I missed one and a while to figure out ,after all we are human’s and we miss :))