Before you start
Why every form needs a decision
InfoPath is being retired. There is no tool that converts an InfoPath form into a modern one. Every form is either rebuilt by hand on a new platform or deliberately retired. Doing nothing is also a decision: when the service is removed, those forms stop opening. Inventory every form, then run each one through the five questions in this guide.
| Date | What it means |
|---|---|
| Dec 20, 2024 | Publishing was already blocked for tenants with no recent InfoPath use. If that is you, you cannot publish a new form today. |
| May 18, 2026 | Publishing new or updated InfoPath forms is blocked for all tenants. You can no longer change a form to buy time. |
| July 14, 2026 | InfoPath Forms Services is removed from SharePoint Online. Forms stop opening and submitting. The InfoPath 2013 client also ends support the same day. |
| On-premises | On SharePoint Server, forms are not force-removed, but InfoPath becomes unsupported. That is a security and compliance liability, not a safe place to stay. |
How this guide works
- 1Inventoryfind every form and record what it does
- 2Routerun each form through five ordered questions
- 3Rebuild or retireact on the destination, with a fallback for what can’t make the date
Step one
Find every form
You cannot decide what you cannot see. Central Administration lists only administrator-approved templates. The bulk of real forms hide inside list and library customizations. Sweep all three layers:
- Central Admin → Manage Form Templates: every admin-approved (full-trust) .xsn template in the farm.
- PowerShell across every site: find form libraries and InfoPath-customized list forms; Central Admin does not show these.
- Open the .xsn as a .cab archive: read the manifest to see data connections, managed code, and views inside each form.
For each form
Capture this before you decide
| Record | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Location & owner | Who decides this form’s future, and who to talk to. |
| Last submission date | No use in 12+ months means it skips straight to retire. |
| Audience | External or anonymous respondents rule out Power Apps. |
| Repeating tables / sections | Rule out Microsoft Forms. It cannot hold line items. |
| Secondary data connections | Each lookup or feed is a separate rebuild to scope. |
| Code-behind (managed code) | Routes the form to an SPFx rebuild, not Power Apps. |
| Digital signatures | No native modern equivalent. Needs an e-signature service. |
| Attached workflow | A separate object. It must be rebuilt in Power Automate. |
Step two
Route every form
5 questions
Run each form through these questions in order. The first answer that matches decides the destination; stop there. Question five is different: check it for every form that survives.
Is anyone still using this form?
- No submissions in 12+ months, and no owner will defend it. Retire and archive the data
- Still in active use. Continue to Q2
Who fills it in?
- External, anonymous, or unlicensed people. Power Apps cannot serve them. Microsoft Forms, or a third-party form
- Internal, licensed staff only. Continue to Q3
Does it depend on managed code, or integrations Power Apps cannot reach?
- Yes. First confirm the code is still needed; much of it only patched old InfoPath limits. SPFx Form Customizer
- No custom code. Continue to Q4
How complex is the form?
- Repeating tables, lookups, or real conditional logic. Power Apps
- A flat set of fields backing a single SharePoint list. Native list form
- Simple intake or survey with no structured data behind it. Microsoft Forms
Does it carry approval routing or notifications?Check this for every form
- Yes. The form triggers approvals, emails, or post-submit logic. Pair it with Power Automate
- No. It only collects data. The form alone is enough
Reference
The destinations at a glance
7 destinations
Where the decision tree sends each form, and what it costs to get there. Effort assumes one experienced maker rebuilding by hand.
| Destination | Best for | Licence & effort |
|---|---|---|
| Retire & archive | Forms nobody has used in a year or more. | No licence. Hours of work to export and store the submitted data. |
| Microsoft Forms | Simple surveys and intake; external or anonymous respondents. | Included with Microsoft 365. Hours to one day. |
| Native SharePoint list form | A flat set of fields on one list, with show/hide rules. | Included with Microsoft 365. Hours to one day. |
| Power Apps, customized list form | Moderate forms that back a single SharePoint list. | Included with Microsoft 365 for SharePoint data. 2–5 days. |
| Power Apps, canvas app | Complex, multi-screen forms; repeating data; several sources. | Premium connectors (Dataverse, SQL) need a paid Power Apps licence. 1–3+ weeks. |
| SPFx Form Customizer | Code-heavy forms; full control with no per-user licence. | Included with Microsoft 365, but needs a developer. 1–3+ weeks. |
| Third-party form product | External or anonymous forms; digital-signature requirements. | Separate vendor licence. Effort varies by product. |
Power Automate is not a destination. It is the companion for the logic that lived inside the form: approvals, routing, notifications. Whenever Q5 says yes, pair Power Automate with whichever form destination you chose.
Scope the rebuild
What does not carry over
There is no automated converter. These InfoPath features have no clean modern equivalent. Budget for each one when you scope a rebuild.
- Repeating tables Rebuilt as Power Apps galleries and collections, or as a separate child list with a lookup. Microsoft Forms cannot do them at all.
- Secondary data connections Each lookup or web-service feed is re-authored by hand. Old SOAP connections often have no modern equivalent.
- Code-behind Managed code is re-engineered (not ported) usually into Power Automate. Re-check whether the logic is still needed first.
- Digital signatures InfoPath’s cryptographic signing has no native replacement. A drawn signature is not the same thing. Use a real e-signature service.
- Unpromoted form data Fields never promoted to columns live only inside the form XML. Export them before you delete anything; otherwise the data is gone.
If a form cannot be rebuilt before July 14
- Stop new submissions and set the form library to read-only.
- Export every submitted form’s XML (including unpromoted fields) into a SharePoint list or Excel so the data survives.
- Archive completed forms to PDF for any retention or audit requirement.
- On SharePoint Server the form keeps rendering after July 14, but unsupported. Treat that as temporary, not a plan.
If you get stuck
Hands-on SharePoint help from Ontario, no enterprise overhead.
This guide gets every form to a decision. If the inventory turns up coded forms, digital signatures, or fifty forms and only eight weeks, that rebuild work is what TenantCraft does for a living. A discovery call is free, 25 minutes, and ends with a written scope, not a sales pitch.
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- hello@tenantcraft.ca
- Discovery call
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Guide last reviewed May 15, 2026. Publishing of new or updated InfoPath forms is blocked for all tenants after May 18, 2026; InfoPath Forms Services is removed from SharePoint Online on July 14, 2026. Every form should have a decision (even if that decision is to retire it) well before those dates.