InfoPath will not be developed further

Microsoft InfoPath is no longer being further developed - what does that mean and what should you do?

Since its publication with Office 2003, Microsoft InfoPath could position itself as a form standard in many enterprises. With InfoPath, complex forms can be created, provided with business logic (validations, rules, etc.) and linked to workflows. InfoPath, like Adobe LiveCycle, is based on the XML format.

On January 31, 2014, Microsoft announced that InfoPath 2013 would be the latest version of InfoPath and that the technology would no longer be part of future Office versions. This announcement caused many companies to rethink their current forms system. As the announcement progressed, some of the tension was removed as support for InfoPath 2013 was linked to official support for SharePoint 2016 and extended. With this extension, Microsoft wanted to ensure compatibility with SharePoint Server 2016. InfoPath 2013 is therefore still in basic support until 13.07.2021 and in extended support until 14.07.2026.

Is that a reason not to become active as an InfoPath customer after all?

There is a clear answer to this question: No. InfoPath will not be further developed in the coming years. The technology is old and still based on the user behaviour of noughties (2000 – 2009). However, the user experience has changed completely in recent years. In the past, digital forms were often synonymous with PDF forms. PDF forms were usually opened and edited on a desktop PC with Adobe Reader. Today, with so many devices and tools, it can no longer be guaranteed which device (smartphone, tablet, desktop PC) and which viewer (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, PDF Viewer, Mobile, etc.) will open a form. A PDF with the size of a DIN A4 or Letter sheet, is therefore no longer the preferred input format for forms.

Adobe anticipated or even drove this change years ago. For this reason, Adobe has integrated the Adobe LiveCycle Platform into its own Web Content Management System AEM (Adobe Experience Manager) in 2014. Under the name AEM Forms, Adobe now offers a comprehensive forms platform for cross-device and responsive forms, processes, signatures, forms management, output and correspondence. Learn more about AEM Forms technology here.

 We will be happy to assist you with your migration from InfoPath to a modern forms system where user experience is key.