Microsoft InfoPath facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Microsoft InfoPath

Screenshot of Microsoft InfoPath 2013 running on Windows 7
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Last release	2013 (15.0.4805.1000) / May 3, 2016; 9 years ago (2016-05-03)
Operating system	Windows 7 and later
Successor	Microsoft Forms
Type	Collaborative software
License	Trialware

Microsoft InfoPath was a computer program used to design, share, fill out, and send electronic forms. These forms held information in a structured way. Microsoft first released InfoPath as part of the Microsoft Office 2003 collection of programs.

InfoPath had a special design tool called WYSIWYG. This means "What You See Is What You Get." You could see how your form would look while you were building it. It had different parts like text boxes, radio buttons, and checkboxes. These parts were connected to the data you wanted to collect.

InfoPath 2013 became available on its own in 2015. However, you needed a special subscription to Office 365 called "ProPlus" to use it. Today, InfoPath has been replaced by Microsoft Forms. Microsoft Forms is free for anyone with a Microsoft account.

How InfoPath Worked

To use InfoPath to fill in a form, someone first had to create a form template. This template was like a blueprint for the form. A key idea behind InfoPath was to keep the information (data) separate from how it looked (formatting).

All the information saved in InfoPath forms was stored in a special format called XML. This XML data was called the "data source." A form template could get information from other places too. These could be external connections to programs like SharePoint or other web services. InfoPath form templates were saved as a single file with the extension .xsn.

Form Controls and Rules

InfoPath offered many tools, called "controls," to show data to users. These included text boxes, radio buttons, and checkboxes. For information that needed to be repeated, like items in a list, there were "Repeating Table" controls.

You could also add "rules" to these controls. Rules told the form to do specific actions. There were three main types of rules:

• Formatting rules: These changed how a control looked, like hiding it or changing its color.
• Validation rules: These checked if the information entered was correct. For example, ensuring a number had nine digits.
• Action rules: These set a field's value based on other fields. For instance, if you filled in "field1," the "Total" field could automatically become "100."

Rules could start when a user clicked a button or when certain conditions were met. For example, a rule could say: "Set the 'Total' field to 100 if 'field1' is not empty."

Key Features of InfoPath

• Rules: These made forms interactive. They could change values, send data to databases, show messages, or switch between different ways of viewing the form.
• Data validation: This checked if the information entered into fields was correct. It made sure the data matched patterns or was the right type (like text or a whole number).
• Conditional formatting: This changed how parts of the form looked or whether they were visible. This depended on the values entered in other parts of the form.
• Controls: InfoPath had many different controls. Each control was linked to a piece of data in the form. Common controls included text boxes, buttons, and checkboxes. InfoPath also had "repeating fields" and "sections." These could store many different values.
• Connections to external data: InfoPath could connect to databases like SQL, Microsoft Access, and SharePoint. This allowed forms to get and send information to these sources.
• Programming languages: You could use languages like JScript, Visual Basic, and C# to add more advanced features to InfoPath forms. This helped with tasks that were not possible with the basic design tools.
• SharePoint integration: InfoPath worked well with Microsoft SharePoint.
• User roles: Forms could change how they looked or behaved based on who was using them. This was done using conditional formatting.
• Look and feel: InfoPath's design and user interface were similar to Microsoft Word.

How InfoPath Was Used

InfoPath was used to create forms to collect information. This information could be saved as a file on a computer or on a web server if it was hosted on SharePoint. InfoPath could also get and show data from different places, like web services or databases. It had many interactive features based on rules and conditions.

To fill out an InfoPath form, you usually needed InfoPath Filler or Designer installed on your computer. However, if the form was hosted on SharePoint, you could fill it out using a web browser. InfoPath was mostly used by businesses. It helped collect data from many people in an organized way.

When a form was set up to run in a web browser, it needed to be uploaded to a server with InfoPath Forms Services. The good thing about this was that users didn't need InfoPath installed. They just needed a web browser. The form could then be set up to be emailed when finished. Its fields could also be added directly to a SharePoint list.

Working with SharePoint

A common way InfoPath was used was with Microsoft SharePoint. InfoPath forms could send information to SharePoint lists and libraries. Forms that were already filled out could be opened from SharePoint using InfoPath Filler.

In SharePoint, a "Form Library" was a special document library. It used an InfoPath template as its main document type. InfoPath fields could be "promoted" when published to SharePoint. This meant they could be read and shown as a "Column" in a library view. Like other SharePoint documents, InfoPath forms could have workflows. These workflows could use the "promoted" fields.

Support for InfoPath

On January 31, 2014, Microsoft announced that InfoPath would no longer be developed. It was planned to be replaced by a newer solution called PowerApps. However, Microsoft later said that the InfoPath 2013 program would still be supported until July 2026. InfoPath Forms Services is also included in SharePoint Server 2016 and is supported in Office 365.

Server-Side Parts

InfoPath Forms Services allowed InfoPath forms to be hosted on a SharePoint website. This meant they could be viewed and filled out using a web browser. This feature was part of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise edition. Later, it became available with other SharePoint and Office 365 plans. Even though Microsoft initially said they would stop supporting InfoPath Forms Services, they later changed their plan. They announced that it would be included in SharePoint 2016.

Versions of InfoPath

Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 running on Windows Vista

See also

In Spanish: Microsoft InfoPath para niños