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Question

Non Breaking Space Characters showing up on Word doc generated by Workflow

asked on March 5, 2021 Show version history

I have a Forms Process that completes successfully, and initiates a workflow to generate a certificate that is then emailed to who it needs to go to.  The problem was that the non breaking character space aka (&nbsp) was showing up on the certificate in a certain place:

It had to go away.  Not acceptable.

I looked on LF Answers, and could not find exactly what I needed so, searched online and found the following advice:

"As for your problem with seeing them in your Word document, it's very easy to fix. All you need to do is copy-paste and example of an NBSP into the search part of Find and Replace, and then type a regular space into the replace part. This should clear up your problem."

Armed with that information I headed back into Workflow and added a find replace based on the info above:

Saved the changes and published the workflow.  Ran the process and voila!  It worked.

Had to share in case it helps someone else.  Also, if this answer is out there in Laserfiche Answers, I am sorry for being redundant!  

:)

Christine

I found the information above at the link below:

https://superuser.com/questions/1421154/how-to-remove-strange-space-symbols-in-word

 

Also, if anyone has any other solutions, I would be interested.

Update 4/9/2021- I had to add the following additional items to the Find / Replace option for that Certificate generating workflow.  This was due to the Rich Text field on the form that allowed the submitter to apply formatting (bulleted line items) to a list while filling out the form.  When workflow brings the word doc and the form info together, those formatting characters show up:

so I found it helpful Find Replace all of these:

Hope this helps someone else.

Christine

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on April 9, 2021

Wow, that's a lot of work. I hate to reply with something so simple, but in the Workflow task for the Word file, use the Options to set this as Rich Text. That will handle all the characters and escapes properly. I believe this was added in Workflow 10.4

One thing to be aware of is that it won't follow the font set up in your Word file, so you may need to use some HTML tags. Something like (sorry, doing this from memory, it's been over a year): <span>%(token)</span>  I forget if you use the old style HTML inline font options, or the current style CSS elements.

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replied on April 22, 2021 Show version history

Hey Peter,

I am not seeing that option.  Workflow version is 10.4.0.131.

I now have the opposite situation where the department that requested the form is now wanting the formatting to transfer over to the word doc based certificate created by Workflow.  

Any help on forcing Rich Text would be great.

Thanks,

Christine

Update 4/26/2021,

I found a setting when configuring a form to be saved to Laserfiche that has an option for "Save Rich Text field value as plain text."

This may be the answer for Workflow version 10.4.0.131.  If the field value is sent to Workflow by Forms as plain text.  I still need to test this.  Was working on something else when I came across this and wanted to post so I did not forget.

Maybe it is helpful?

Christine

 

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replied on April 22, 2021

That's been added for Workflow 10.4.2 as part of supporting Forms' rich text fields.

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replied on April 22, 2021

Hi Miruna, 
Appreciate the update.  Is there any way to force Rich Text in 10.4.0.131?

If not, I may have to replace the Rich Text field on the form itself to a multi line.

Thanks,

Christine

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replied on April 27, 2021

No, the feature added as Workflow 10.4.2. Is an upgrade not possible for you?

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replied on April 27, 2021 Show version history

Hey Miruna,

It is possible, and definitely in the plans.  Until then, using plain text (ex:  multiline field or selecting the "Save Rich Text field value as plain text." option, when configuring fields in Forms) should take care of that.   Plain text is best too when it comes to generating the certificates for different licenses (using Workflow).  Too much formatting can make the text not fit correctly in the space provided on the Word document template (example:  bulleted items).  See screenshot of a portion of the Alcohol License Certificate.  The bolded items needed to come into Workflow as plain text.

Thanks so much for all of your help.

I do look forward to the upgrade.

Christine

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Replies

replied on April 12, 2021

Thank you Peter!  This is why I love Laserfiche Answers!  Never think a reply is too simple.  If there are other people out there like me, it is all appreciated.

You have been a great help.

Christine

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