The criteria only option is designed to look for documents in the project whose index values have been altered to meet the pre-condition criteria. When the values meet the pre-condition, the automation service creates the workflow instance.

There are two primary reasons that a correctly configured workflow is not spawning new criteria only instances: either the automation server has not been configured to run this operation, or the project index field isn’t configured as a workflow trigger.

Begin by checking that the automation service is setup to run the operation Workflow (Pre-Conditions). If it is not yet configured, add the operation and set the schedule to run fairly often.

Next, check the project properties of the project containing the workflow. Select the index field that is configured for ‘criteria only’ in the pre-condition, and edit the field.  The property Workflow Trigger needs to be enabled/checked to tell the automation service to check this field for index value changes that could trigger a workflow instance to be created.  If this is not enabled on the selected field, enable the option and save the changes.  Repeat for any additional index fields that are configured as workflow pre-condition ‘criteria only’ fields.

Documents will now be instantiated when their indexes are altered to meet the pre-conditions.