White Paper: Making InfoPath Documents Available for Long-Term Archiving

Whenever we exhibit at trade shows or speak at user groups we are frequently asked InfoPath related questions, specifically about long term archiving of InfoPath forms and sharing files with third parties. With Microsoft formally retiring InfoPath and Forms Services this subject has become even more relevant.

We are engineers at heart so don’t like to repeat ourselves. As a result we have invested our time in writing the ultimate white paper on this topic. It is available for free, you don’t even have to register to download it.

We love talking to our customers, so please contact us if you have any questions on the topic of InfoPath conversion and archiving (or any other document conversion topic, SharePoint based or otherwise).

Executive Summary

Microsoft InfoPath is a simple yet powerful tool to create forms. As a result almost anyone can create a centralized form for entering data. However, without spending a significant amount of time on planning and architecture, it will most likely not be possible to unlock the information stored on these forms in the future. For practical, legal, fiscal, or regulatory1 reasons this may be problematic. (Many regulatory bodies issue document retention regulations: SEC, FTC, FCC, EPA, NLRB, IRS, EEOC, OSHA, and OFCOM are some examples.)

Even with careful planning, it is best to accept the inevitable and choose a different file format to archive the contents of the InfoPath forms once they have been through their life-cycle. Once archived in a different file format such as PDF or MS-Word, the ability to open documents years down the line is guaranteed, with the added advantage that the content of forms can be easily shared.

If your InfoPath data is non-trivial and it is important to maintain access to the data stored in your forms, then act before it is too late.

The Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint makes it easy to automate the conversion of various file formats such as InfoPath, including all attachments, to file formats more suitable to archiving such as PDF, PDF/A1b, PDF/A2b, MS-Word, Excel and HTML.

Download the white paper or Contact Us.

Muhimbi is a market leader in server based PDF Conversion software. The PDF Converter for SharePoint and generic PDF Converter Services are used on thousands of servers all over the world by organisations such as NASA, BBC, HP, CISCO, Disney, Nokia, AT&T, Nationwide, ING, Kodak, US Army, SONY, Warner Music, Logica, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Revlon, Getronics, Toyota, U.S Department of Energy, NHS, NSPCC, Fidelity investments, ANSI, Oxford University, Berkeley University, United Nations, International Criminal Court, The European Investment Bank, Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Total Oil, Agilent and General Dynamics

For more details see our extensive knowledge base .