If you code it correctly, it will work - I know because it works for me. Antoine's suggestion of double-checking your spelling is right-on, that is usually the problem when it doesn't work for me. If that doesn't solve the problem, post your portlet.xml, porltet-instances.xml, and code that accesses the preferences. If those files are large, post only the preferences for one of the portlets that exhibits the problem. Out of curiosity, why did you post a generic "who do you do X?" question instead of indicating up front that you had a problem? View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4064349#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...