Event Receivers vs Workflows – Decide Which One to Use

As SharePoint Event Receivers & SharePoint workflows have a lot of similarities, Many people stuck on deciding which one to go with: Event Receiver or Workflow? event receiver vs. workflow in SharePoint is always tricky to decide.

Differences Between SharePoint Event Receivers and SharePoint Workflows:

1. Event handlers Can’t be manually initiated – workflows can be initiated either automatically or manually.

2. Event Handlers can be Synchronous or Asynchronous – Workflows are always async (They executes after the operation)

3. In Event Receivers we can cancel the operation (such as add/update/delete) – But in Workflows its not possible.

4. Event handlers execute from a Particular WFE, So when some thing goes wrong in that WFE, It may end-up. But Workflow Jobs are robust and  can resume even after Reboots.

5. Usually Event handlers runs for short period – Workflows can be longer even for years!

6. There is no User Interface/user Interaction in Event Receivers – Workflows can have user interactions such as getting user input in Initiation forms.

7. As the Name indicates, SharePoint Event receivers are triggered by events like New Item Adding-Added, Updating-Updated, Deleting-Deleted, etc. – But Workflows triggered only on Creation/Change/deletion.

8. Event Receivers are created using Visual studio – Workflows can be via SharePoint user interface, SharePoint Designer, Visio or Visual studio.

9. Workflows leaves “Workflow History” logs which we can refer for debugging – Event handler doesn’t do such.

10. Event receivers are better for large volume – Workflows are better for small amount of data.

This one from Codeplex: SharePoint 2010 event receiver vs workflow

event receiver vs workflow

Thanks to: https://spdevguide.codeplex.com

MSDN version: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff649084.aspx

sharepoint event receiver vs workflow

Salaudeen Rajack

Salaudeen Rajack - Information Technology Expert with Two-decades of hands-on experience, specializing in SharePoint, PowerShell, Microsoft 365, and related products. He has held various positions including SharePoint Architect, Administrator, Developer and consultant, has helped many organizations to implement and optimize SharePoint solutions. Known for his deep technical expertise, He's passionate about sharing the knowledge and insights to help others, through the real-world articles!

3 thoughts on “Event Receivers vs Workflows – Decide Which One to Use

  • thanks it was wonderfull..

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  • may allah bless u dear

    Reply

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