 <p>Try to initialize the object linked to the field in the previous action method.</p> <p>In your java File:</p> <pre><code>X object = new X() ; object.setDesc(""); request.setAttribute("theFormObject",object); </code></pre> <p>In your JSP:</p> <pre><code>&lt;s:textarea name="theFormObject" property="desc" ... /&gt; </code></pre>