DRAFT KB-XXXX Setup tab error in Send Email node, "The system has encountered a problem"

Symptoms

 The Setup tab of a Send E-mail Smart Service node throws the following error:

The system has encountered a problem. 
We're sorry! A problem occurred while processing your last request. 
Please contact the system administrator for more information.

Additionally, the application server logs the following error for SYSTEM_DOC_EMAIL_HEADER or SYSTEM_DOC_EMAIL_FOOTER:

INFO [ajp-nio-8009-exec-2300] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke 2018-10-23 02:27:10,836 [ajp-nio-8009-exec-2300] 
ERROR com.appiancorp.common.struts.BaseAction - Error executing action: com.appiancorp.ix.binding.UnresolvedRuntimeException: type=content, sourceId=SYSTEM_DOC_EMAIL_HEADER: 
java.lang.NullPointerException [{1}] cannot be found. [{1}] cannot be found.

Cause

emailHeader.html or emailFooter.html are missing from Appian.

Action

These files can be regenerated without having to restart Appian by using the load.bat/sh script located in <APPIAN_HOME>/_admin/_scripts

 To do this, take the following steps:

1. Edit config.xml located at <APPIAN_HOME>/ear/suite.ear/web.war/WEB-INF/conf/dataload (18.2 and below) or <APPIAN_HOME>/deployment/web.war/WEB-INF/conf/dataload (18.3 and above)
   1. Create a backup of config.xml
   2. Comment out all <configuration-object> elements except for "email-template" so the file reads:
   3. If on 18.3 or above, edit the workingPath in load.bat/sh by replacing ear/suite.ear with deployment
   4. Run load.bat/sh
   5. Restore the backup of config.xml

<configuration-objects>
 <configuration-object name="email-template" type="com.appiancorp.common.initialize.LoadEmailTemplates"/>
</configuration-objects>

Affected Versions

This article applies to all versions of Appian.

Last Reviewed: November 2018