Word Form Builder (Legacy)

BP Logix STRONGLY recommends that ALL new forms be created with the Online Form Designer (OFD), and that customers migrate existing forms to the OFD format using the conversion tool provided on the Edit tab of the Form definition. The options to create a new Word-based Form were removed from the product in v5.44.900.

The Online Form Designer (OFD) is the primary tool for designing Forms in Process Director. Prior to Process Director v5.44.1000, the Word Form builder was available, along with an ActiveX plug-in for Microsoft Word. With the use of Internet Explorer, the Word Plug-in enabled you to use Microsoft Word as a Form-building tool, with round-trip editing via Internet Explorer. On 15 June 2022, Microsoft ended all support for both Internet Explorer and ActiveX, making it extremely difficult for BP Logix to continue support Word as a Form design tool. Thus, in v5.44.900, the ability to create new Forms using the Word Form Builder was removed from the product. Additionally, all other references to the Word Form Builder were removed from the product's documentation. Please refer to the archived legacy documentation for the product to view these Word-based topics.

Word-based forms can be easily converted to the OFD format, using the Convert to an HTML Form button that appears on the Edit tab of the Form definition. BP Logix recommends that you convert your existing Word-Based forms to the OFD format, if feasible.

Existing Word-based forms will continue work correctly in Process Director, so you won't lose the functionality of your existing forms. Those existing forms were already converted to HTML forms when they were checked in. Your users will still be able to access them normally.

Microsoft has eliminated the technologies that enable Word-based forms; therefore, creating, editing, and maintaining them will now be much more difficult. Creating and editing Word-based forms requires Internet Explorer and ActiveX running on both the server machine and any workstation used to edit the Word forms. Assuming that you're willing to follow some specific technical restrictions, you can, if you choose, continue maintaining Word forms in your installation.

The server on which Process Director is installed must:

1. Be running a Windows operating system that supports Internet Explorer.
2. Have Internet Explorer installed on the system.
3. Have Automatic Updates turned OFF, otherwise Microsoft will automatically remove Internet Explorer and ActiveX on every update. Any server updates you need will have to be installed manually, taking care to exclude updates that would remove Internet Explorer.

The client system on which you design forms must similarly:

1. Be running a Windows operating system that supports Internet Explorer.
2. Have Internet Explorer installed on the system.
3. Have Automatic Updates turned OFF, just as on the server, and for the same reasons.
4. Have only a 32-bit version of Microsoft Word 2016 or earlier installed.
5. Have the BP Logix Word Plug-in installed.

Turning off Automatic Updates may have security or other implications. Similarly, maintaining the appropriate server and client operating systems, along with older versions of Microsoft Word may also have implications for your network's administration. You should discuss these issues with the appropriate IT/IS personnel.

Microsoft's elimination of these technologies will also impact the ability of BP Logix to provide technical assistance with issues that arise from the use of Word-based forms. BP Logix will make every reasonable effort to provide technical support for Word-based Forms, but Microsoft's elimination of the Word Form Builder's supporting technologies imposes the same limits on BP Logix as it imposes on you.