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Assets skipped in DXML post-processing due to caching in AEM Guides

Last update: Fri Oct 03 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

DXML Post-Processing in AEM Guides plays a critical role in ensuring that asset metadata—such as titles, document states, and linking references—is correctly synchronized and rendered across the user interface. This enables accurate display and reliable navigation within authored content. If assets in AEM Guides are not being processed correctly—such as missing metadata, broken topic links, or incomplete output presets—the issue can stem from cached paths in the DXML Post-Processor. This article explains how to identify ignored paths in the repository and remove them to restore proper asset processing and metadata synchronization.

Description description

Environment

  • Product: Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Managed Services
  • Version: AEM 6.5, Guides 4.0+

Issues/Symptoms

  • The Title field in DITA files does not retain updates and reverts to its previous state after refreshing.
  • The Document State  field is absent in the Properties console but visible in the File Properties panel.
  • Files appear as File instead of the expected Topic  type within Guides.
  • Topics added to maps are displayed in red, indicating broken or unavailable links, instead of blue.
  • Output presets can be missing for newly created maps if the assets reside in paths that are listed under the /var/dxml/postprocess/ignoredPaths node in CRX/DE. These paths are treated as excluded from DXML post-processing, and the issue can occur across any location defined in that node.
  • The Used In  and Outgoing Links  references under File properties do not update correctly.

Resolution resolution

The root cause of this issue is that post-processing workflows ignore specific paths due to cached asset paths. AEM Guides provides an OSGi configuration that allows administrators to specify which folders should be excluded from post-processing — see Disable postprocessing for a folder in the AEM Guides Documentation. In addition to this configuration, the repository contains a node at /var/dxml/postprocess/ignoredPaths that acts as a cache of paths to be skipped. If an asset resides in one of these paths, it will be ignored during DXML post-processing, and INFO-level log messages such as the following can appear:

[ POSTPROCESSING] Path ignored due to cache configuration
[ POSTPROCESSING] Skipping post-processing for payload: /content/dam/< path-to-asset>

Steps to Resolve

  1. Verify that the affected paths are listed under /var/dxml/postprocess/ignoredPaths in CRX/DE. Navigate to this node and check for properties corresponding to ignored paths. For steps, refer to Getting Started with CRXDE Lite in AEM as a Cloud Service User Guide.

  2. Remove unnecessary entries from the ignoredPaths node: Retain only /content/dam/projects/translation_output, which is a default value. For steps, refer to Using cURL with AEM in AEM 6.5 User Guide. If you POST a property with an empty value to a node, AEM will delete that property. To remove a property from a given node, use the following format:

    code language-none 
    curl -u 'userId:password' \
-F "propertyName=" \
http://localhost:4502/path/to/node

    propertyName should be replaced with the name of the property you want to remove.

    path/to/node should be the repository path where the property exists. Leaving the value after the equals sign (=) blank tells AEM to delete the specified property.

    Note: You will need to repeat the command for each property you want to remove from the node.

  3. Delete all other entries related to affected paths. Or only delete the paths that are causing your affected assets to be ignored. For steps, refer to Sling content in the AEM 6.5 User Guide.

  4. Re-run the DAM Update Asset Workflow on all assets under affected paths. This ensures metadata generation and proper processing of assets. For steps, refer to Running DAM Update Asset Workflow in AEM Assets Tutorial.

  5. Validate that:

    1. Titles persist after updates.

    2. The Document State field appears correctly across interfaces.

    3. File icons display as Topic.

    4. Topics appear in blue when added to maps.

    5. All output presets are available for new maps.

    6. References (Used In, Outgoing Links) update accurately.

      You can refer to Reports in AEM Guides in AEM Guides Documentation to develop a validation checklist, verifying content states, references, and output-related properties across assets and maps.

After clearing the ignored paths and re-running asset workflows, the previously missing assets and metadata will reappear and display correctly in AEM Guides. Titles, document states, links, and output presets will update as expected, confirming that processing has resumed normally.

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