SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

3071290 - "unsupported character" error during Document Generation step in SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding

Symptom

During document generation, candidates encounter a BPE error indicating unsupported characters.
  • Example error traces (from Business Process Todo):
    • {"code": null, "message": "unsupported character! XXX}}"}
    • HCP Response Content: {"error":{"code":null,"message":"unsupported character!"}}



Environment

SAP Successfactors Onboarding

Reproducing the Issue

  1. Generate onboarding documents (e.g., forms populated with candidate data).
  2. Error is recorded in BPE with “unsupported character”.

Cause

Scenario A: Arabic language content

  • Arabic text used in document generation is not supported by the Onboarding module’s document service.
  • Result: Document generation fails with “unsupported character” errors in BPE.

Scenario B: Thai language content and font support

  • Candidate data (e.g., first name/last name) mapped in Thai via Business Rules to a PDF form.
  • Support for languages is tied to the fonts available in the document service.

Currently available fonts:

    • Commercial fonts: Arial, Times New Roman, Courier
    • Adobe open-source fonts:
      • SourceSerifPro-Regular (European languages such as English, French, German, etc.)
      • SourceHanSerifK-Regular (Korean)
      • SourceHanSerifSC-Regular (Simplified Chinese)
  • If a form uses a font not among the above, or attempts to render a language with a font that does not support it, the service will overwrite to one of the listed open-source fonts for rendering.
  • Thai is not supported by any of the listed commercial or included open-source fonts.

Resolution

  • Scenario A: Arabic language content

    • Arabic language is not currently supported within the Onboarding document generation module. Documents containing Arabic characters will not render successfully.
    • Recommendation: If Arabic is required for your business process, please submit an enhancement request.
  • Scenario B: Thai language content and font support

    • Thai language is not supported by the currently available fonts in the document service (neither the three commercial fonts nor the included open-source fonts).
    • Recommendation:
      • Ensure forms use only the supported fonts listed above and languages supported by those fonts.
      • If Thai is required, please submit an enhancement request. This behavior is currently by design.

Keywords

Document generation, unsupported character, Thai, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Language, Onboarding, Document, Error, Form, Generation, FormId, Code, 500, HCP, Response, Content, Unsupported, Character, Onb, Obx

, KBA , LOD-SF-OBX-DOC , Generation of Documents using PFS , Product Enhancement

Product

SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding