When a moform file contains Unicode special characters, the Word template output fails. You will see an empty dropdown when attempting to output to Word, even though a valid Word template has been created and linked to the template version.
This article explains what causes the issue, which characters are affected, and how to fix your moform XML to restore Word template output.
What is happening
The Word template rendering engine cannot process certain Unicode special characters in moform XML. When these characters are present, the template binding breaks and the Word output dropdown appears empty.
The affected characters are visually almost identical to their plain ASCII equivalents, so the issue is not obvious when viewing the form in the editor or at runtime. The following characters cause the problem:
En dash (–) instead of a hyphen (-).
Smart or curly apostrophe (') instead of a straight apostrophe (').
Unicode ellipsis (…) instead of three dots (...).
Who is affected
Any user attempting to output a form to a Word template where the moform XML contains one or more of the Unicode special characters listed above.
Impact
The Word template output will not work. Users will see an empty dropdown when they attempt to output to Word, despite a valid Word template being linked to the template version.
Fix the moform XML
To resolve the issue, replace all instances of the Unicode special characters with their plain ASCII equivalents in the moform XML before re-importing.
Replace the following characters:
En dashes (–) with hyphens (-).
Smart or curly apostrophes (') with straight apostrophes (').
Unicode ellipsis (…) with three dots (...).
📌 Note: These characters are visually very similar to their ASCII counterparts. Use your text editor's find and replace function to search for the Unicode characters and replace them with the correct ASCII equivalents.