Upgrading Grooper to a New Version

From Grooper Wiki

This article is about the current version of Grooper.

Note that some content may still need to be updated.

20252024 2023202220212.90

Upgrading to the newest version of Grooper ensures you have access to the newest features in our intelligent document processing platform.

About

PLEASE NOTE: There are a few things to be aware of before starting your upgrade.

  • You can upgrade directly from version 2.72 and above to version 2025.
  • When upgrading from versions older than 2.72, you must upgrade to 2.72 before upgrading to 2025.
  • Version 2022 introduced Projects to Grooper, which are a new way of organizing Grooper resources in the node tree. Upgraded Grooper Repositories older than 2022 will have many of their nodes reorganized into a Project called "Project 1".


Upgrading to 2025 is now easier than ever. The upgrade process is essentially four steps:

  1. Stop any Grooper services.
  2. Uninstall the older version of Grooper.
  3. Install the newer version of Grooper.
  4. Upgrade Grooper Repositories from the older version to the newer.

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BE AWARE: This article instructs users on how to perform simple upgrades. The instructions in this article outline the basic steps for all upgrades.

However, depending on your Grooper install, your upgrade process may be more involved.

  • Custom scripts/Object Libraries are not guaranteed to work without changes upon upgrading to a new major version of Grooper.
    • If you are running scripts in your environment to customize Grooper's functionality, you may need to update the associated scripting code and Object Libraries. Some code objects may have been altered/obsoleted or their names may have changed.
    • Make sure you re-compile all Object Libraries after the upgrade.
  • If you are using code expressions in your Batch Processes, IP Profiles, Data Models or Import/Export Mappings, please verify all expressions are working as intended. Some as some code objects may have been altered or obsoleted or their names may have changed.
  • If you are running custom reports polling the Grooper database, you may need to update the report query, as Grooper's database tables may have changed.
  • When upgrading across multiple major versions, Grooper has changed more than if upgrading from the most recent version. Especially when upgrading across multiple versions, your solution design may not be taking advantage of features added in newer versions!

In all cases, you should take some time to test your Grooper system after an upgrade to ensure everything is working as expected. When upgrading across multiple major versions, please take extra care to do so.


How to perform a simple upgrade

Best practices before upgrading

Back up your Grooper Repository before upgrading

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IMPORTANT!!! DON'T FORGET TO BACKUP YOUR REPOS

You should always perform a complete backup of your Grooper Repository's file store and database before upgrading to any newer Grooper version.

  • If, for whatever reason, something goes wrong during the upgrade process and your file store and/or database is corrupted, you could loose critical components, such as your Batch Processes, Content Models, or document files for any Test or Production Batches.
  • Performing a backup will ensure you have something to revert to in the rare cases where the upgrade does improperly overwrite existing database values or files in your file store.


For information on one way to backup and restore your Grooper database and file store, please visit the article below:

Validate your Grooper Repository before upgrading

While not strictly necessary, the Grooper developers strongly encourage you perform validation on your Grooper Repository before upgrading from and older version to a newer version of Grooper. Improperly configured nodes can cause unexpected issues during upgrade. Validating your repository helps catch these configuration issues to avoid configuration related problems when upgrading the objects in your existing repository to the newer versions of those objects.

For more information on validating your Grooper Repository, visit the Validate Branch article.

Step 1: Stop services

Before uninstalling your current version of Grooper, you need to stop all services currently running in the Grooper Repository. This will help avoid potential errors regarding the services connected to your repositories. The easiest way to do this is from the Machines folder node in the Design Page.

  1. Go to the Machines folder.
  2. Select the "Services" tab.
    • This will ensure you can select all services installed on any machine connected to the Grooper Repository.
  3. Select all services in the list.
  4. Press the "Stop" button.
    • Once stopped, you will see each service's "Status" listed as "Stopped".

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Very rarely, a Grooper service will not uninstall properly when you uninstall a Grooper service service. Or, a user may delete a Grooper Repository connection or purge a Grooper Repository without uninstalling services first.

This can make it appear as though a duplicate or "ghost" Windows service is installed without being listed in GCC (or Grooper Config before version 2024).


If this does occur, you will need to manually delete the service. If you know the name of the service instance (something like Grooper.ServiceTypeName.##) you need to delete, you can use the following command lines to stop the service (if necessary) and manually delete it. 

SC STOP Grooper.ServiceTypeName.##
SC DELETE Grooper.ServiceTypeName.##

OR

You can delete the service from the Windows Registry Editor, using the following steps:

  1. Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.
  3. Select the key of the service you want to delete.
    • Grooper services will always be named something like Grooper.ServiceTypeName.##
  4. From the "Edit" menu select "Delete.
  5. You will be prompted "Are you sure you want to delete this Key?". Click Yes.
  6. Exit the Registry Editor.

Step 2: Uninstall the current version of Grooper

The first thing you need to do is uninstall the current version of Grooper before installing the new version. This can be done in a number of ways, most commonly from the Windows Settings menu.

  • BE AWARE: When upgrading to a new major Grooper version (##.##.####), always back up your Grooper Repositories (database and file store) before upgrading.
  • BE AWARE: Even when upgrading to a new minor Grooper version (##.##.####), it is still considered best practice to back up your Grooper Repositories.

To uninstall Grooper:

  1. On the machine(s) where Grooper is installed, open Windows Settings and select "Apps". Scroll down through your list of apps until you find the Grooper application. Or, use the search bar to search for "Grooper".
  2. Select the Grooper application.
  3. When it expands, select "Uninstall".
    • The uninstallation process may take a few minutes. You may be prompted to restart the computer once finished.
  4. If uninstalling the Grooper Web Client, repeat this process for the Grooper Web Client application on the Grooper web server.
    • It is also considered best practice to stop the Grooper app pool in IIS before uninstalling the Grooper Web Client application.
  5. If uninstalling Grooper Desktop, repeat this process for the Grooper Desktop application on each workstation where Grooper Desktop is installed.

Step 3: Install the new Grooper version

If you have not done so, you will need to download the current installer files from Grooper xChange. ZIP archives containing the installer files can be found in the "Downloads and Resources" section, linked below:

Once downloaded, unzip the installers file, open the "Setup" executable files and follow the onscreen instructions to install the current Grooper version. If you need more help, you can find the full Grooper installation instructions following the links below:

Step 4: Upgrade Grooper Repositories

  • Grooper Repositories only need to be upgraded when upgrading to a new major Grooper version (##.##.####). For minor version upgrades (##.##.####) you can skip this step.
  • BE AWARE: Grooper Repositories can be upgraded to a newer major version but cannot be downgraded. Please be sure you want to upgrade a Grooper Repository before doing so.


After installing a newer major version of Grooper, each Grooper Repository must be upgraded as well. This is done from Grooper Command Console with the following GCC command: 

connections upgrade <connectionNo>

Full instructions for upgrading a Grooper Repository can be found in the GCC article.

Click here for an interactive walkthrough!

Congratulations! You've upgraded Grooper! Once a Grooper Repository is upgraded, it is effectively up to date with the installed Grooper version.

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