Umbraco Workflow tables stay on the old version after a major CMS upgrade

Type: Troubleshooting
Category: Troubleshooting > Umbraco Workflow / Upgrades
Tags: Umbraco Workflow, migration, upgrade, keyValue, database, v13, v17, stuck migration, package migration

Symptoms

After a major Umbraco upgrade, Umbraco Workflow's database tables still reflect the schema/format from your previous version.
The Workflow migration doesn't appear to have run, even though the core CMS upgrade completed.
Workflow features behave unexpectedly or fail to load correctly in the backoffice.

Cause

Umbraco Workflow is a separate add-on package with its own migration process, tracked independently from Umbraco CMS's core migrations. A major CMS upgrade can complete successfully while the Workflow package migration fails to run or gets interrupted, leaving Workflow's tables in their pre-upgrade state.

Note: This is a package-level migration issue, not a core CMS issue. If you're also troubleshooting a core CMS migration problem, that uses a different mechanism (resetting the Umbraco.Core.Upgrader.State+Umbraco.Core key).

Do not use the steps below for core migration issues, and don't use the core reset method for this Workflow issue. The two are tracked separately and are not interchangeable.

Note: This issue is unrelated to licensing. Unlike Umbraco Forms (which requires a subscription-key migration for v17+), Umbraco Workflow's license-key model is unchanged for v17 — no license conversion or purchase action is needed to resolve this issue.

Solution

Option 1: Reset the keyValue table to force the Workflow migration to re-run

Before you start: Try this on a local clone or non-production environment first, if at all possible. If you must do this in a live environment, the backup step below is crucial.

Back up your database. Do this before making any changes — this step is required.
Open the keyValue table in your database.
Delete the values from the relevant rows, but keep the keys — do not delete the rows themselves.
Restart the site.

After the restart, Umbraco repopulates the deleted values and re-runs the pending migration, including the Workflow package migration.

Option 2: If the migration still doesn't run

If Workflow tables are still on the old schema after trying Option 1, or if you see data anomalies in the Workflow section (such as incorrect approvers or mixed-up approval history) rather than a migration that simply won't start, see Data Corruption in Workflow TaskInstance Table Causes Incorrect Approvers After Major Upgrade — this covers a related but distinct symptom (NULL GroupId values) that can occur in the same upgrade scenario.

Prevention

Before any major upgrade, check whether Umbraco Workflow (or any installed add-on) has version-specific upgrade notes in addition to the core CMS upgrade guide.
Always take a full database backup before starting a major upgrade, not just before troubleshooting afterward.
Test major upgrades on a staging or local clone environment before applying them to production.

Still Having Issues?

If the Workflow migration still hasn't run after trying the steps above, or if you're unsure about any step involving direct database changes, reach out to Umbraco Support (or ask for a human agent, if you are already in a support conversation) with your Umbraco Workflow version, CMS version, and a description of what you're seeing — a support engineer can help verify the correct state before making further changes.

Last updated at Jul, 16, 2026