In SPFx v1.4.1 there was an important bug fix which was introduced in SPFx v1.4.0. If you created a web part which was manually installed on a site collection, upgrading the web part would result in the web part not showing. The issue noted on the release notes for v1.4.1 says in order to fix this do the following:
- Remove all instances of existing SharePoint Framework solutions from site level
- Remove SharePoint Framework solution from app catalog
- Upload new SharePoint Framework solution built with 1.4.1 version to your app catalog
- Install SharePoint Framework solutions back to sites.
You don’t have to uninstall the solution, but can follow these steps instead:
- Upgrade your web part to SPFx v1.4.1 and bump the version number of the part in package-solution.json and package it.
- Navigate to https://<tenant>.sharepoint.com/sites/<AppCatalogSite>/Lists/ComponentManifests and remove the entry for the web part in question.
- Upload the updated web part to your app catalog, overwriting the old one, and ensure the app is checked in, if it becomes checked out.
- Upgrade the web part package on the site collection(s) where used (site contents, classic view, about on the part, then “Get it” to get the latest version.
Unfortunately there is no easy way to see all sites which have installed a particular SPFx v1.4.0 web part, so you have to loop over all sites in order to ensure they are all working as expected.