Read the documentation. The difference is described in there. Short summary: s:button: - does automatically propagate conversation - does NOT post the fields to the jsf comonent h:commandButton - does NOT automatically propagate the conversation (use s:conversationpropagation for that) - does post the fields to the jsf component. I think this should go into the FAQ since it was one of the pitfalls I fell into as well (two times, even worse/stupid ;-)) View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4007570#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...