Problem
When you try to add a new out-of-the-box workflow against a document library or list, for example “Approval Workflow”, you get the following error after completing the ‘Add a workflow’ screen:
“The specified form template could not be found, or it is not compatible with rendering in the browser. It might need to be republished as a browser-enabled form.”
After a short troubleshooting , you verify that the workflows features are activated at site collection features, all the .xsn templates in Central Administration site the Workflow category are of status ‘ready’ and Workflow Enabled ‘yes’.
The problem actually occurs on sites that were imported to the environment from another, using STSADM (Import/Export) commands or Import-SPWeb using PowerShell. So, what went wrong?
Usually, it is something with the export/import steps that corrupted the forms.
Resolution
1. Connect to the relevant site using SharePoint Designer interface.
2. Go to the left navigation bar and click on “Workflows” section.
3. Remove the problematic out of the box workflows, by clicking on it and then “Delete”.
4. Go to site collection features and deactivate the workflows.
5. Activate the relevant ones (For example: Publishing Approval Workflow) and then go back to SharePoint Designer to check if it exists.