3 reasons why you need to replace your InfoPath forms better now than later

InfoPath forms have been a popular way of collecting and managing data for over a decade, with organizations all over the world relying on them for their business processes. However, with Microsoft's announcement that support for InfoPath forms will be ending soon, it's become increasingly important for users to migrate to alternative solutions. In this blog post you'll learn all about why it makes sense to migrate now and how to save countless hours through an automated process.

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InfoPath: An era is going to end – sooner than you think

InfoPath is a popular form creation tool that has been used by businesses for over a decade to build forms for SharePoint. The pre-built form templates that can be customized to fit specific business requirements, helped saving time and effort in designing and formatting forms. InfoPath was a great tool for form creation, but this era is going to end soon.

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The tool hasn't quite reached retirement age yet, but there isn't much time left until the end of the Microsoft support for Info Path. This means that the software will no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, or technical support. For businesses that rely on InfoPath, this could pose a significant risk, as any vulnerabilities or issues that arise will not be addressed by Microsoft. This will already be the case in 2026.

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You may think that you will have enough time to find a good replacement tool and that the problem is not that acute at the moment. Admittedly, besides your daily work, it is probably not that easy to take care of the migration of InfoPath forms.

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Nevertheless, you should definitely go on reading. Because besides the end of support for InfoPath, there are many other reasons to consider alternatives. In addition, I'll introduce you to a method that allows you to replace the forms automatically. That sounds good? Let's go!

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InfoPath retirement: Time for a change

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Support will end soon

One of the primary reasons is that the software has become outdated. The last update for Microsoft InfoPath 2013 was released on December 4, 2018, and since then, Microsoft has shifted its focus towards newer, more modern tools. This means if you continue to use InfoPath your business may be missing out new features and capabilities. As a result, your business is far from being able to exploit its full potential with its forms. There are no new functions that can make work easier or map intelligent workflows.

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Complicated customization

Another issue with InfoPath forms is that they are difficult to customize. While the software allows for some degree of customization, it requires significant technical knowledge to make changes to the forms. This can be frustrating for businesses that want to make quick changes or updates to their forms. Especially since there are alternatives that can be used to make super simple and quick adjustments to forms. With these tools, it is also possible to perfectly adapt the forms to your own requirements.

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Hard to integrate

Finally, InfoPath forms are limited in terms of integration with other software. Many businesses today use a wide range of tools, from CRMs to project management software, and it is challenging to get InfoPath forms to work seamlessly with these other tools. This can lead to inefficiencies and unnecessary duplication of work.

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In conclusion, there are several reasons why your InfoPath forms need to be replaced. From outdated software to limited customization options and integration capabilities, there are many issues that make InfoPath forms less than ideal for your businesses.

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Replace InfoPath without spending a horrendous amount of hours

Instead of spending 100s of hours manually converting InfoPath forms, there is also the possibility to automatically migrate your InfoPath forms to SharePoint. This can save you a lot of time, money and most importantly, nerves. For this exact use case we use an automated InfoPath migration tool.

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Migrate your forms in 3 easy steps:

1. Search for all the InfoPath forms in your company. Often you don't even know where such forms are in use. The tool finds them all within just a few minutes.
2. Choose only forms, that are really used. The software shows you which forms are actively used so that you can focus your migration efforts only on the forms that are still needed.
3. Migrate your forms. You have the possibility to migrate your InfoPath forms automatically to SharePoint.

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Use the power of your new forms

With our Modern Forms Designer, our own form builder tool, your forms are seamlessly integrated with SharePoint and Microsoft 365. With the Modern Forms Designer, you can easily create custom forms with a drag-and-drop interface, and there are plenty of customization options available. Great features you once had in InfoPath are now available in our tool, such as conditional logic and formatting. The InfoPath feature "Repeatable Sections", which was loved by a lot of users, is also supported by the Modern Forms Designer. This means that you have the possibility of placing several lists on the same form.

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Another advantage of the Modern Forms Designer are the responsive design options. This means that forms created with the Modern Forms Designer will look great on any device, from desktop computers to mobile phones. Additionally, skybow offers integration with SharePoint in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, making it a great all-in-one solution for you if you want to streamline your form creation process.

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Do you want to know how you can automatically migrate all your dying InfoPath forms?

Book a call and get a free demo!