Normally when updating Lightning Forms to a new version, you need only upload the new sppkg file to your app catalog, and the version will be updated throughout your tenant. However, due to a change in the App Title of Lightning Forms at Microsoft’s request in the Spring of 2024, when you update from version 3.5.0.0 or lower to version 3.6.0.0 or higher, you must first remove the previous version from your App Catalog before installing the newer version. You will not lose any of your form customizations by doing this, as they are all saved within the SharePoint sites where you have created them. We recommend performing this update outside of business hours, as your forms may be temporarily unavailable during the redeployment process. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
If you have not uninstalled the previous version during this update, you will likely find that the new version will show as Disabled in your App Catalog:
In that case, you will need to follow the steps below to successfully re-install the new version of Lightning Forms.
1. Delete the new package from your App Catalog (again, your existing customizations will not be affected, but you should do this outside of business hours, because your forms will be unavailable temporarily). We also recommend deleting the Lightning Forms app from the recycle bin of the app catalog site, and also from the Second-stage recycle bin (typically, there is a link to it at the bottom of the Recycle bin page).
2. Then navigate to the hidden SPFx Component Manifests list in your App Catalog site, by pasting the following URL into your browser: https://YourTenant.sharepoint.com/sites/YourAppCatalogSite/Lists/ComponentManifests
** replace the items in italics with your own tenant and app catalog sites.
3. In the Component Manifests list, check for any of the following entries related to Lightning Forms, as the issue is related to those components being mismatched during this particular version update (this doesn't occur during other updates).
- skyFormsFormCustomizer
- SkyFormsApplicationCustomizer
- SkyDataLookupFieldCustomizer
- ListCommandSet
You may be able to easily locate these files by displaying the Modified Date column on this list, and then filtering by the date Lightning Forms was last successfully updated.
4. Delete any of the components listed above.
5. Then go back to your App Catalog and re-upload the new version of Lightning Forms. It should be enabled as expected this time, and if you go to one of your lists, clear your browser cache (Ctrl-F5), and open the Lightning Forms dialog, you should see the new version number in the license panel. Note that the update may take a few moments to propagate out through the SharePoint sites.
If you have any trouble with this, please contact our Customer Success team at help@lightningtools.com.