End of Life Announcement: Word-Based Forms

The purpose of this announcement is to specify the End of Service (EOS) and End of Life (EOL) date for all Form definitions created using the Word Form Builder.

Name and Description

The Word Form Builder was the original Form creation tool used in earlier versions of Process Director. This feature used the 32-bit Microsoft ActiveX technology and Internet Explorer to enable the creation of Forms in Microsoft Word. As part of this feature, a downloadable ActiveX plugin for Microsoft Word was provided. Using the ActiveX plugin and Internet Explorer, users could create Form definitions in Process Director, then use internet Explorer to enable round-trip Form creation and editing in Microsoft Word.

Reasons for Removal

Microsoft sent Internet Explorer into EOL status 15 June 2022 (as announced in 2016), along with ActiveX. All desktop/standalone versions of Microsoft Word released after Word 2016 no longer supported ActiveX. The online version of Microsoft Word, known as Office365 at that time, never provided support for it.

With the announced EOL of both ActiveX and Internet Explorer in 2016, BP Logix introduced the Online Form Designer (OFD) as a replacement for the Word Form Builder in Process Director v4.5. As part of this release, a conversion function was included as a button on the Edit tab of Word-based Form definitions, labeled Convert to an HTML Form, to convert Word-based Forms to the OFD's format. Since its initial release, the conversion function has received substantial updates to its functionality to make the conversion from word to the OFD as easy and reliable as possible.

For some time after the EOL of ActiveX, it was still possible to use the Word Form builder on a 32-bit computer (ActiveX was never released in a 64-bit version) that had Word 2016 or lower, along with Internet Explorer, installed. By 2020, however, the vast majority of organizations had found it technically impossible to maintain a special 32-bit system of this configuration in their organization. This technical obstacle meant that no new Word-based forms could be created, nor could any existing Forms be edited. With the final EOL of Internet Explorer, the ability of users to create new Word-based Forms was removed from the product. The detailed documentation for the Word Form Builder was also removed from the Process Director documentation.

Existing Word-based forms remain usable in the product, though they cannot be edited. But after five years of the feature existing in this state, the time has come to completely remove it from support. BP Logix strongly recommends that any existing Word-based forms be converted to the OFD format prior to the EOS Date.

Additional Note

Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, and ActiveX are all registered trademark names owned by the Microsoft Corporation.

EOS/EOL Dates

EOS Date: 1 April 2026

After this date, no free technical support for Word-based Forms will be provided. All support for Workflows will require a paid Direct Assistance engagement. While paid Direct Assistance will be available after the EOS date, limitations in the underlying legacy technology may prevent full resolution of some issues. Customers are strongly encouraged to complete their transitions before April 1, 2026.

EOL Date: 1 April 2026

Since the feature was formally removed from the product some years ago, the EOL for it should not be excessively burdensome to customers.

Completely removing all support for existing Word-based Forms will require an engineering effort. That effort may be undertaken at any time after 1 April 2026. Until the feature is completely removed from the product, existing Word-based Forms should continue to function.

Transition Support

To assist with the transition away from deprecated features, BP Logix offers free technical support for migrating away from legacy features prior to the EOS date. Customers can engage our Services team for help with planning or executing migrations. Customers can also access our online documentation for additional information.

We strongly recommend completing any needed transitions before the EOS date to ensure continuity and support.

Customer Action Checklist

To ensure a smooth transition before the End of Support date (April 1, 2026), we recommend:

• Identify all existing legacy objects currently in use.
• Evaluate which legacy objects need to be migrated.
• Use the Word-to-OFD conversion button on the Edit tab of the Form definition to convert the Form to the OFD format.
• Schedule a consultation with the BP Logix Services team for complex migrations.
• Review the latest documentation for the OFD.
• Test migrated processes and forms in a dev or staging environment before going live.