This note is a collection of links/solutions found while working through problems with Microsoft InfoPath.
What is InfoPath?
InfoPath is a tool that integrates with Microsoft Sharepoint. InfoPath is used to create forms and gather data from users. Support for InfoPath is continued through 2023, however in early 2014 Microsoft announced that the product would be retired. No formal migration or replacement has been named. Though, presumably Microsoft Flow (aka Power Automate) will be the successor to InfoPath — but, Flow seems to be more about automation, similar to the workflow editor in SharePoint Designer.
Common Problems & Solutions for InfoPath Problems
Submit button requires multiple clicks for a submission to work
Symptoms include clicking on a form submission button, and nothing happening, submitting after multiple clicks, or displaying the error “The form cannot be submitted. Save Conflict”. This seems to happen when a form has been embedded in SharePoint using the Form Web Part vs. linking directly to the add/edit form
Workarounds
- Edit the Web Part embedded in SharePoint and set the InfoPath Form submit behavior to match the behavior you’ve set within Infopath (e.g., Close, Open a New Form, Leave the Form Open after the submit button is pressed.
- Within InfoPath, select your submit button then choose Control Tools > Properties > Control Properties
- From the Button Properties window, choose the General tab, then press the Submit Options… button
- From the Submit Options window, expand the Advanced button
- Enable the option to ‘Show this message if the form is submitted successfully:’ (this step seemed to make a difference too, but is kind of annoying because the user must always click the ‘ok’ button on a warning/notice box after each form submission — which interrupts the user flow for fast repetitions of data entry)
- In some cases, disabling the postback feature on form elements resolved the problem — select a form element (e.g., an input field), right click and chose properties, go to the Browser forms tab, change postback settings to Never.
Sources
- SharePoint InfoPath 2013 Errors and Fixes by Bijay Kumar
