This article explains important points to keep in mind when changing process management settings, as well as how to resolve related errors.

Even if you disable process management, the statuses of existing records and the history of status changes will be retained.
However, disabling the feature will delete permission settings and record filter settings where assignees are set as a filter condition.

If you enable process management again, each record will be restored to the status it had just before the feature was disabled.

Check the cause and solution for each error message below.

Cannot disable the process management option. The status or the assignee has been referred from a Lookup field "***" in an app "***". Change the "***" field setting or delete the field itself in "***". Go to the "***" settings page.

This error message appears when an app's process management assignee or status is specified in the settings of a Lookup field in another app. In this case, process management cannot be disabled.
To disable process management, open the App settings screen of the app indicated in the error message, then change the settings of or delete the relevant Lookup field.
Configuring a "Lookup" field

Cannot disable the process management. The status or the assignee has been referred from a Related records field "***" in an app "***". Change the "***" field setting or delete the field itself in "***". Go to the "***" settings page.

This error message appears when an app's process management assignee or status is specified in the Related records field settings in another app. In this case, process management cannot be disabled.
To disable process management, open the App settings screen of the app indicated in the error message, then change the settings of or delete the relevant Related records field.
Configuring a "Related records" field

Cannot disable the process management. The status or the assignee has been referred from the Lookup field "***" in the app "***", which was deleted and can be restored. To disable the process management, restore the app "***" (App ID: ***), and then delete or change the Lookup field settings. * Only "Users & system administrator" can restore the app. For details, please refer to the help.

This error message appears when an app's process management assignee or status is specified in the Lookup field settings in a deleted app. In this case, process management cannot be disabled. This is a measure to ensure that the Lookup field data is preserved in case you need to restore the deleted app.
To disable process management, restore the deleted app, then change the settings of or delete the relevant Lookup field. Alternatively, you can also disable process management after waiting 14 days from when the app was deleted, as the app will become unrecoverable at the time.
Note that only Kintone users & system administrators (who are able to register users and departments and configure security settings) can restore apps.
Restoring deleted apps
Configuring a "Lookup" field

Cannot disable the process management. The status or the assignee has been referred from the Related records field "***" in the app "***", which was deleted and can be restored. To disable the process management, restore the app "***" (App ID:***), and then delete or change the Related records field settings. * Only "Users & system administrator" can restore the app. For details, please refer to the help.

This error message appears when an app's process management assignee or status is specified in the Related records field settings in a deleted app. In this case, process management cannot be disabled. This is a measure to ensure that the Related records field data is preserved in case you need to restore the deleted app.
To disable process management, restore the deleted app, then change the settings of or delete the relevant Related records field. Alternatively, you can also disable process management after waiting 14 days from when the app was deleted, as the app will become unrecoverable at the time.
Note that only Kintone users & system administrators (who are able to register users and departments and configure security settings) can restore apps.
Restoring deleted apps
Configuring a "Related records" field

Only statuses that are currently not applied to any records can be deleted.
It is not possible to use a status name if it has already been used for an existing or deleted status.

When you try to delete a status that is currently applied to one or more records, the following error message will appear.

This status cannot be deleted because it is currently applied to one or more records in the app. Delete any records with the status or change their status to a different one, then try again.

If this error appears, you will be able to delete the relevant status after deleting the records it is applied to or changing the statuses of those records.

Make sure to keep in mind the following when changing assignee settings.

Changing your assignee settings will not change the assignees already set for existing records.
If there are records for which the assignee needs to be changed, an app administrator needs to make the changes individually.

It will no longer be possible to change the status of records for which the deactivated user is specified as the current assignee.
If an app administrator changes the current assignee to a user who can currently use Kintone, it will be possible to change the status again.

You cannot change the assignee selection method (User chooses one assignee from the list to take action, All assignees in the list must take action, or One assignee in the list must take action) if the status you want to change the assignee selection method for is currently applied to one or more records.
If you try to change the assignee selection method in such a case, the following error message will appear.

The method for specifying assignees cannot be changed because there are one or more records that have this status and a current assignee. Go to the records and delete the current assignee from Change assignee or change the status to a different one, then try again.

If this error message appears, you can change the assignee selection method after performing one of the following actions.

• Delete the records that have the relevant status
• Change the statuses of the records that have the relevant status
• Go to the Record details screen of the records that have the relevant status, click Change assignee, and delete all of the current assignees.

Even if you reconfigure the settings for an action, the statuses of existing records will not change.

An action cannot be deleted if both of the following conditions apply.

• There are existing records with the status for which the relevant action can be performed.
• The records mentioned above will have no other actions available if the relevant action is deleted.

An error message may appear when you try to update an app after changing the process management settings.

If a record with the status that you made changes to is created and an assignee is specified before you update the app with your changed settings, the following error message will appear when you click Update app.

Failed to complete the process. (Error: GAIA_IL35: Cannot change the assignee settings. Assignees already exist in one or more records for the status you are applying changes to in the activated app.)

You will be able to change the process management settings after the relevant records are deleted or have their statuses changed.

If you delete a status and a new record with that status is created before you update the app, the following error will appear when you click Update app.

Failed to complete the process. (Error: GAIA_IL10: Cannot delete the status. A record with the status that you are attempting to delete exists in the activated app.)

You will be able to change the process management settings after the relevant records are deleted or have their statuses changed.

If you try to delete a field that is being used to specify a process management assignee, the following error message may appear.

Cannot delete the following fields: ***. They have been used to specify an assignee.

This error occurs because the field you are trying to delete is set as an assignee in the Process management settings.
Open the Process management settings and remove the target field from Assignee list, then delete the field on the app form.

For example, if this error message appears when you try to delete an "Approver" field, you need to go to the Process management settings and delete "Approver" from Assignee list under 3. Process flow settings.
The "Approver" field can then be deleted from the app form.