diff --git a/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormController.java b/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormController.java
index 89ed3711..c473987c 100644
--- a/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormController.java
+++ b/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormController.java
@@ -135,11 +135,7 @@ public void onWorkflowEvent(@Observes WorkflowEvent workflowEvent) throws ModelE
      */
     public void computeFieldDefinition(ItemCollection workitem) throws ModelException {
         logger.fine("---> computeFieldDefinition");
-        String content = workitem.getItemValueString("txtWorkflowEditorCustomForm");
-        if (content.isEmpty()) {
-            // no custom form definition found, try to load a new one....
-            content = customFormService.updateCustomFieldDefinition(workitem);
-        }
+        String content = customFormService.updateCustomFieldDefinition(workitem);
         sections = new ArrayList<CustomFormSection>();
         if (!content.isEmpty()) {
             // start parsing....
diff --git a/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormService.java b/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormService.java
index 1f27355b..dd05dc2a 100644
--- a/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormService.java
+++ b/imixs-office-workflow-util/src/main/java/org/imixs/workflow/office/forms/CustomFormService.java
@@ -99,7 +99,11 @@ public void onWorkflowEvent(@Observes ProcessingEvent processingEvent) throws Mo
     /**
      * This method updates the custom Field Definition based on a given workitem.
      * The method first looks if the model contains a custom definition and stores
-     * the data into the field txtWorkflowEditorCustomForm
+     * the data into the field txtWorkflowEditorCustomForm.
+     * <p>
+     * In case the model does not provide a custom Field Definition but the workitem
+     * has stored one the method returns the existing one and did not update the
+     * item 'txtWorkflowEditorCustomForm'
      * 
      * @return
      * @throws ModelException
@@ -107,8 +111,10 @@ public void onWorkflowEvent(@Observes ProcessingEvent processingEvent) throws Mo
     public String updateCustomFieldDefinition(ItemCollection workitem) throws ModelException {
         logger.fine("---> updateCustomFieldDefinition");
         String content = fetchFormDefinitionFromModel(workitem);
-        if (!content.isEmpty()) {
-            // store the new content
+        if (content.isEmpty()) {
+            // take the existing one to be returned...
+            content = workitem.getItemValueString("txtWorkflowEditorCustomForm");
+        } else {
             workitem.replaceItemValue("txtWorkflowEditorCustomForm", content);
         }
         return content;
diff --git a/workflow/test/debug-de-1.0.0.bpmn b/workflow/test/debug-de-1.0.0.bpmn
index ae8b3567..2a8ad6ef 100644
--- a/workflow/test/debug-de-1.0.0.bpmn
+++ b/workflow/test/debug-de-1.0.0.bpmn
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
       <imixs:value><![CDATA[org.imixs.workflow.engine.plugins.IntervalPlugin]]></imixs:value>
       <imixs:value><![CDATA[org.imixs.workflow.engine.plugins.EventLogPlugin]]></imixs:value>
     </imixs:item>
+    <open-bpmn:auto-align/>
   </bpmn2:extensionElements>
   <bpmn2:signal id="Signal_1" name="org.imixs.ml.workflow.MLAdapter"/>
   <bpmn2:signal id="Signal_2" name="org.imixs.archive.documents.OCRDocumentAdapter"/>
@@ -608,7 +609,7 @@ if (workitem.getItemValueString('txtcomment')=='') {
         </imixs-form-section>
 
         <imixs-form-section columns="2">
-            <item name="debug.user" type="custom" path="userinput"  label="Responsible2:" />
+            <item name="debug.user" type="custom" path="userinput"  label="Responsible:" />
             <item name="debug.team" type="custom" path="userlistinput"  label="Team:" />
             <item name="invoice.ref" type="custom" path="workitemlink"  label="Invoice No.:" options="($workflowgroup:Rechnungseingang)" />
             <item  type="custom" path="workitemlink"  label="Order No.:" options="($workflowgroup:Bedarfsmeldung)" />