Hello folks,
I have a question in regards to opening InfoPath XML files outside of SharePoint. What I am trying to do is to be able to open a published, client-side form on a personal computer. Basically, I have a form library that has lots of InfoPath forms that currently reference the form template as it was published as a content type to the site. What I would like to be able to do is open the InfoPath XML files stored in the Form Library without having to reference the form template on the actual SharePoint site. The reason I am trying to do this is because I have customers that will never be able to access this SharePoint site, but may need to view the data and any attachments that are stored in these already created InfoPath forms. I have tried the following scenarios:
(1) I have tried exporting the XML files into PDF format but the attachments were lost in the process
(2) I have tried downloading the InfoPath XML form as well as the Form Template to my desktop. Once I downloaded the files, I opened the XML InfoPath form in notepad and modified the XSN template location to point to the now locally stored Form Template. I then tried to open the InfoPath form but it still wanted to reference the Form Template on the SharePoint site.
Basically, I just want to be able to open the InfoPath XML files without ever having to reference the template in SharePoint. This would allow me to send the files to any external customers not with the company and allow them to open and view the data and attachments with their local Microsoft client applications. I know I am going out on a limb with this and if it isn't possible, please let me know as well. Thank you very much for your time.