General - Recent Threads

How to escape special chars - (for example, / \ ; : " | ? ' < > * ).

ravib950399 — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:54:15 GMT

Example -

Validation: Filename cannot contain special characters (for example, / \ ; : " | ? ' < > * ).

Expression evaluation error: Syntax error. Details: Expression evaluation error : Invalid character found in expression: |

Clarification on Storage of Documents Generated via Record Grid “Export to Excel”

Subramanyam — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:54:19 GMT

Hi Team,

We have a dashboard where we display Test Cases in a read-only grid. The grid is built using the recordData() function, and we have enabled the “Export to Excel” option provided out-of-the-box. Users are able to click this option and successfully download the Excel file.

As part of our document cleanup process, we are deleting Excel documents generated within the application. Currently, we are able to identify and delete documents that are created via our custom export functionality.

However, we have a question regarding the Excel files generated through the Record Type’s inbuilt “Export to Excel” feature:

Are these exported Excel files stored anywhere in Appian (e.g., in Appian Documents or temporary storage)?
If yes, is there a way to identify and delete them as part of our cleanup process?
Or are these files generated on-the-fly and not persisted in Appian?

Any clarification or guidance on how Appian handles these export files would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!

How To Extract Data from Microsoft Publisher (.PUB) Files in Appian?

ravitejap370818 — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 04:02:06 GMT

Has anyone worked with Microsoft Publisher (.PUB) files in Appian?

Our requirement is to allow users to upload .pub files and extract specific data from them for further processing. AI Capabilities are not enabled.

Is there any Appian-native approach, plugin or integration that supports reading/extracting content from .pub files? or is conversion to another format (ex PDF) generally required before processing.

Compare

Nishtha — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 03:51:23 GMT

Hi All,

I want to compare the record type and a map that have similar data , I want to compare if it is same then create a list of that fields name.

Thanks

How can we pass record filter value as process variable in the process model

yamunak2053 — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 07:59:17 GMT

I need to pass the filter value in my process model but as i am using record filter not the custom filter and hence i am not able to record or see that record filter values. Can anyone suggest some way to pass that record filter value from my interface to process model.

Unable to Use @Mentions in a!eventHistoryListField

Yogi Patel — Fri, 29 May 2026 11:28:14 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I am facing an issue with the Event History List (a!eventHistoryListField). I am not able to mention/tag users (using @, for example @ABC) while adding top-level comments.

Has anyone used this feature successfully with eventHistoryListField? Any inputs or suggestions would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

regarding system logs

lalithyak07 — Fri, 29 May 2026 07:19:33 GMT

Hi Team,

I came across an unexpected situation in Appian and would like to understand the possible root cause behind it.

While reviewing the system logs, I noticed that a few interface objects were deleted at timestamp 2026-05-29 04:44:18. The logs show the deletion action under my username.

However, during that time:

I was attending a team call,
my screen was being shared,
and I was working on exporting/deleting objects only within a different application.

The surprising part is that interfaces from another application were also deleted, even though I did not manually access or delete them.

I have a few questions regarding this behavior:

Are Appian system logs stored in GMT/UTC timezone by default?
- If yes, then 04:44 GMT converts to approximately 10:14 AM IST, which matches the time I was on the call.
Can Compare & Deploy, package export/import, or dependency cleanup operations indirectly delete shared objects from another application?
Is it possible for Appian to log deletion actions under a user session even if the deletion was triggered indirectly through deployment operations?
Are there any known scenarios/glitches where shared interfaces across applications get deleted unexpectedly?
How can we verify whether:
- another session was active using the same credentials,
- deployment automation triggered the action,
- or object dependencies caused the deletion?
What are the recommended ways to prevent this in future?
- Object governance?
- Dependency checks?
- Deployment best practices?
- Audit/session tracking?

Would appreciate any insights from the community or anyone who has experienced similar behavior.

Indexing an array of records

stevenh6272 — Wed, 27 May 2026 18:33:10 GMT

Appian 25.3

I'm using a!queryRecords(.....).data to get an array of records from my record type in a process model. Next, I setup a loop and need to index each record in the array. However, this syntax does not work within the process model:

pv!myRecords[pv!recordIndex]

I receive this error:

An error occurred while evaluating expression: myRec:pv!myRecords[pv!recordIndex] (Expression evaluation error: PE My RecType must be indexed by its corresponding record type fields or relationships) (Data Outputs)

This exact, same syntax works if I move it into an expression rule and call that from the process model.

The process variable is of the exact same type as the rule input on the expression rule (i.e. array of my record type). Yet, I cannot index the array directly in a script task in the process model

Is there something I'm doing wrong here?

Thank you.

Recommend the most effective data migration strategies for transitioning from a legacy enterprise content management and workflow automation platform to appian.

karthikeyp898126 — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:51:49 GMT

Hi Community,

I'm looking for some best approaches, documentation if any for migration strategies. I would need info on below 2 scenarios:

1. Best practices/approach for migrating an application from other technology OnBase to Appian

2. Best practices/approach for migrating data in old application.

Quick pointer on above is much appreciated.

Formatting for MS 2007 Word Doc from Template no longer working under Appian Version 26.3

Mathew Langner — Fri, 22 May 2026 20:21:03 GMT

The organization I'm working with recently had their Appian environments upgraded to 26.3 and it appears that the documented method for passing formatted text to the MS Word template using the MS 2007 Word Doc from Template smart service no longer works. Before the upgrade, when passing text to the template via the smart service, all newlines (char(10)) were replaced with the Word ML tag <w:br />, which would allow the formatting in the replacement text to be preserved. However since the upgrade, the formatting is lost and the <w:br /> tag is visible in the generated document. Using other formatting characters like <br/> or char(10), char(13) doesn't seem to fix this, how to we proceed from here?

ACD101 Exam Completed but Certification/Result Not Visible

prashamas6791 — Wed, 20 May 2026 01:58:34 GMT

hi All! I completed the ACD101: Appian Certified Associate Developer exam on 05/16/2026.

The exam status in the ProctorU portal shows “Fulfilled” ,”but my certification/result is still not visible in my Appian account and not get any score report.

Also, the exam auto-submitted before I manually clicked the final submit button and I got no email for my score or any pop up to show my score while auto submitted.

I already contacted certifications@appian.com and support@appian.com but have not received a response yet since saturday.

Has anyone faced a similar issue before? How long does it usually take for the certification/result to appear?or what step i need to take next?

Thank you.

Case Management Studio

JMAHABI2 — Wed, 13 May 2026 20:54:11 GMT

We are currently using Appian Case Management Studio (CMGT) as a base application in our organization. On top of this, several separate applications have been built for different business sectors.

The issue is that each of these applications appears to be using a copied version of the “My Cases” module rather than extending or reusing the core CMGT “My Cases” functionality. This has resulted in multiple duplicated implementations of essentially the same case listing and interaction layer, each diverging slightly per application.

We are trying to understand the best practice for handling this pattern in Appian:

How can we properly extend or customize “My Cases” functionality per application while still relying on the same base CMGT module?
Is there a recommended approach for reusing the CMGT case views (e.g., configuration, overrides, or parameterized interfaces) instead of duplicating the module?
What is the cleanest architecture pattern to avoid multiple forked versions of “My Cases” across applications while still allowing sector-specific requirements?

Any guidance on how to structure this properly within CMGT best practices would be appreciated.

Dev Days

Adam Wartell — Tue, 12 May 2026 15:19:20 GMT

Are there any upcoming Appian Dev Days? I've been to a couple in the past. One in NYC and on in Jersey.

Issue with getGridContents() function in 26.3

shivakanthreddyp0001 — Tue, 12 May 2026 02:10:04 GMT

Hi all,

We recently upgraded to Appian 26.3. During regression testing using Appian Selenium API, our scripts are failing while reading grid data.

The getGridContents() function is not able to read the grid label, although it is able to read the rows and columns. The same script works as expected in Appian 25.4.

Has anyone else faced this issue? I would appreciate any inputs or insights.

FYI, our libraries are up to date.

Thanks in advance.

Editable Grid

narayanak0001 — Fri, 08 May 2026 06:42:47 GMT

How to disable all the remaining checkboxes while we select one checkbox in Editable grid ?

Best practice for Process Upgrade when active instances use an older CDT version

Raúl Gómez Moya — Wed, 06 May 2026 23:37:15 GMT

We are facing an issue with Process Upgrade and CDT versioning in active process instances.

Context

We have a process model that contains a process variable of type Comentarios.

Recently, we added a new field to the Comentarios CDT. As a result:

Existing/running process instances still have the process variable using an older CDT version, for example Comentarios^4.
New process instances use the latest version of the Comentarios CDT.
We are trying to upgrade the old running process instances to the latest process model version using the Process Upgrade approach / Upgrade Processes From Version smart service.

Problem

The upgrade fails because the source process instances have the process variable using Comentarios^4, while the target process model has the same process variable using the latest Comentarios CDT version.

The error indicates that the process upgrade is not compatible because the CDT type/version is different.

From the official Process Upgrade documentation, I understand that the target process model must contain all PVs from the source model matched by name, type, and multiplicity, and that a CDT version difference is treated as a different type.

Question

What is the recommended Appian pattern for this situation?

Specifically:

How do you usually handle running process instances when a CDT used as a process variable has evolved to a new version?
Is there a recommended migration strategy to move data from Comentarios^4 to the latest Comentarios CDT version?

Goal

We want to understand the standard Appian-recommended approach for long-running process instances when a CDT evolves, especially when the CDT is used in process variables and blocks Process Upgrade.

Any guidance, real-world patterns, or Appian best practices would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Id are changing while creating xpaths in Automation testing

vijayp6380 — Wed, 06 May 2026 06:54:29 GMT

My Team's Automation engineers are trying to automate the testing for the applications. They are using id for input fields to create x paths. The problem when the tab is refreshed, the ID's for the same field is being changed in the html. Can we keep any unique identifier for creating x paths?

Expression error

Radhamani Ramasamy — Wed, 06 May 2026 06:17:06 GMT

Expression evaluation error at function a!isNullOrEmpty parameter 1 ???null???: Invalid index: Cannot index property 'x' of type Text into type List of Variant.

This error is faced by user when opening record action. This is only faced by a specific user. when I open the same request, I am not getting this error. Also in design error log only highlights the process which calls the interface. This error looks very high level and not highlighting the object name clearly. Does anyone faced any similar kind of issue? Please let me know if there is way to debug this.

how to extract the id's from the text

sureshs276515 — Tue, 05 May 2026 09:22:03 GMT

hi team,

testing the emailid's,1234567-45 testing 1234567-9ow2 doing 12 34 567- 2 2 test 12/34,567:- 2.2 tests 12345an67-92 dummy 12345-23

have to extract the id's and after extracting need to format in below format,

12345-05,

123456-06

1234567-07

could you please suggest best approch.

Fitnesse for Appian - login with username not retrieving configured password from users.properties

kylebarthelson — Tue, 05 May 2026 01:56:00 GMT

Hi all,

Seeking some help, our current Fitnesse for Appian implementation has been signing into our application via credentials entered in a SetUp wiki page -

| login with username | fitnesse.user | and password | examplePassword |

This works as expected and allows the automation user to sign in.

I am trying to switch to using the provided configs/users.properties file to sign in with a key/value pair, however the password never ends up getting retrieved from the configs/users.properties file?

# Users used for | login with username | fitnesse.user |
fitnesse.user=examplePassword

| login with username | fitnesse.user |

As you can see, the result of our setup script is as follows (and it stops here)

Site is on 25.4 using SAML, Fitnesse for Appian version 23.4

Fitnesse start.bat script is:

java -jar lib/fitnesse-20230503-standalone.jar -p 8980 -e 0 -f configs/custom.properties

Has anyone experienced this same problem and been able to resolve it?

Extract Meta Data of all Documents in Environment

chitra_sharma — Mon, 04 May 2026 11:55:50 GMT

Hi All,

I am looking for best way to extract meta data of all documents that exist on an environment. This I need for migration purpose.

My requirement is to store document details(document id, doc name, parent folder, kc name etc) from all over the environment. This would require traversing through each KCs and find folders and documents recursively.

Has anyone faced such requirement and is there a provision for this to be done OOTB or any best way which won't hamper the environment running status.

Thanks in advance!

Grid Plus Layout Field : Drag and Drop Functionality

Riyaz Ahmad Ganaie — Sun, 03 May 2026 13:42:29 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I am currently working with the new gridPlusLayoutField component and noticed that the drag & drop functionality (which was working in the older gridPlusLayout) is not available anymore.

In the older version, we were able to use drag interactions, but in the new GridPlus, it seems to be disabled or not supported.

I wanted to check:

Is there any configuration or property to enable drag & drop in gridPlusLayoutField?
Or has this functionality been removed/changed in the new version?

I have already checked basic configurations like readOnly and edit-related settings, but didn’t find anything specific for drag & drop.

Any clarification or workaround would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!

26.3 Feedback: Interface Test Scenarios

Mike Schmitt — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:26:30 GMT

Preface: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new Test Scenarios feature within the 26.1+ interface designer - it takes my longstanding wishlist item and implements it more richly still.

Nevertheless I find myself, while using it, having the following pain points / nitpicks, which I hope relevant parties might see here. (I also posted them in my a!ppIdeas feature request, FWIW.)

Issues / wishlist:

Ability to tell which scenario we're currently ON
- We are given no clue what scenario (if any) we're currently viewing, whether you look at
  - The interface designer,
  - the test scenario picker drop-down (which should be a bare minimum)
- Somewhere, we should be able to see which one we're on and/or which one was most recently selected
Ability to reorder the scenarios within the "Manage Scenarios" pop-up
- if one is selected, give us a "move up / move down" button or something
If a scenario is loaded and we click "TEST", the default values seen in the inputs should populate with that scenario (curently populates blank), and that scenario should show by default in the "scenario values" dropdown
- Corrolary: if a scenario is loaded and then updated from the general "TEST" pop-up, it'd be nice to have an "update and TEST" button as well as the general "TEST" button, similar to when a scenario is updated from the Manage pop-up.
"Reset to Default State" button would be better served to revert to the "load state" for the CURRENT SELECTED SCENARIO (if any), rather than resetting to the scenario marked as "Default". If I need to switch to default I can simply pick it from the "Test" dropdown scenario selector; if I want 1-touch "reset" functionality, 99% of the time it'll be for resetting the thing I'm currently working on (which will usually be the loaded scenario).

Everyone is invited to add your own feedback in the comments if you want, but please keep it RELEVANT and GENERAL (i.e. focused on this feature, and not hyper-specific or niche use cases unlikely to affect many other implementations).

Date format

francescagulinelli — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:33:18 GMT

Hello, my team and I are creating an application regarding pensions data.

I wanted to come here and ask: what is the best way to handle date formats if I want it to be customizable. I want to store somewhere these formats (for example: shortDate, longDate, technicalDate).

We set it up as a decision, where the different formats are stored and passed to an expression rule, like the image.

for now it works, of course, but we would like to make understadable even to other developer who are not necessarily used to Appian. How can we make it "smart", whenever i want to set up a date format in a ui field, i will have to pass which format I want and the data. This is what we are aiming for, making it understand that if I choose a "wrong" format it breaks. I would want it to behave like colors in certain components, I can only choose between few like POSITIVE, NEGATIVE or SECONDARY, for example, I want my date format set up ti suggest and accept ONLY shortDate, longDate, techinicalDate.

Is there any way that Appian make it pssible for us to do so? thank you so much!

Strategy for Bulk Decommissioning of Legacy Assets (2010–2025) and Disk Space Optimization

abhishekb118888 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:55:06 GMT

Hi Appian Community,

I am working on a large-scale decommissioning project for a legacy system that has been active for over 15 years. We are currently on Appian 25.4 and are facing significant disk space consumption (approx. 12GB in Process Model definitions and 11GB in Engine KDBs).

A major challenge is that these legacy assets do not follow any standard naming conventions or abbreviations and are scattered across multiple applications. We are currently trying to define the best criteria to categorize which objects are "Dead" and safe to delete versus which are still "Active."

I am seeking best practices and recommended utilities for the following:

1. Categorization & Filtering Strategies Since naming conventions are unreliable, what parameters are most effective for identifying legacy artifacts?

Are there ways to bulk-query metadata (like Last Run Date, Last Modified Date, or Total Instance Count) to distinguish between legacy and active objects?
Is there any Plug-in that can generate a list of "Orphan" objects (Interfaces, Expression Rules, Query Rules) that are no longer called by any top-level process models?

2. Instance Management (Running & Archived) The legacy architecture kept many parent processes "Live".

What is the most efficient way to Terminate and then Hard Delete thousands of instances (Running, Paused, and Archived) across different models?
Should we use a specific batching strategy to avoid engine performance issues during a mass cleanup?

3. Identifying Hidden Dependencies We need to clean up related DB triggers, Stored Procedures, and filesystem documents.

Are there recommended methods to map an Appian Process Model to its specific database triggers or Knowledge Center documents when names are not linked?

Any advice, plugin recommendations, or strategy frameworks would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!