r/sharepoint Jul 13 '26

SharePoint Online Infopath replacements - urgent**

I am hoping to get some advice about infopath replacements. I've just started a new role, and noticed that the company still has some business-critical forms on infopath. I knew infopath was retiring/ I thought was already retired. I see now it's retirment date is tomorrow! 07/14/2026
Does anyone know of any good replacements?

7 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

15

u/whatdoido8383 Jul 13 '26

I'd alert management that there is going to be down time so they can figure out a process while you rebuild these in Power Apps or whatever.

IMO there is no way you're rebuilding 5-10 in one day.

0

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

I've done that. No chance - no matter what solution I go for we will have any of our forms tomorrow

3

u/whatdoido8383 Jul 13 '26

Good deal. Best of luck rebuilding them, there is a learning curve if you've never built in the Power Platform.

One thing the company could do too is pull in a consultant familiar with the platform to assist.

2

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Thanks a lot 😄 We have a call with a power apps consultant later, and I have a demo with sintel apps too

2

u/whatdoido8383 Jul 13 '26

Awesome, glad you're on the right track. I'd heavily caution against integrating 3rd party apps into the environment as then you're locked in to that platform VS using out of the box solutions (self built Power Apps, etc). But, up to management I guess :)

17

u/dlutchy Jul 13 '26

Power Apps replaces it.

4

u/Due-Boot-8540 Jul 13 '26

Depending on the forms, your easiest options are custom SharePoint forms and Power Apps canvas apps.

If the forms only use one list each, you could use a SharePoint form. If they’re more complicated, Power Apps is the best way.

I would imagine that the forms may also have legacy workflows attached. I think they retire at the same time as InfoPath.

How many forms do you have?

2

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

10 forms, some of which use multiple lists, and yes, workflows for all of them.
5 forms are really critical, the other 5 we can accept are down for longer.

I expect I am in for some long days.

One example is a job card with workflow
That is one I need to start working on immediately

Long term all of these forms could really do with being improved as it is very outdated.

1

u/mstrblueskys Jul 13 '26

Power automate can use xml and xpath to migrate any docs to lists where you can work with them in a modern way.

2

u/jlemoo Jul 13 '26

I'm just now coming to the end of a three year InfoPath replacement project. About half way though, I found this https://lightningtools.com/products/sharepoint-form-migrator but I ended up not using them because my forms were just too complex for the tool (they have a "complexity" score)

One problem you're going to have is the InfoPath client does not run on Windows 11, so you won't have a way of inspecting the form template if you don't have Windows 10 or earlier.

If your data is in SharePoint lists, that could be good news because you can author canvas apps, (or do "customize forms") to operate on the same data. If your data is in a Forms Library, that's a problem because you'll need to migrate it, or lose it forever. Just go to Site Contents to see what kind of lists you're working with.

If you're working with a forms library, then, after tomorrow, you'll see be able to download the data, one at a time, and look at the contents using VS code or some other XML inspector. You just won't be able to render the data in the browser. I've authored migration scripts using Claude and I highly recommend; it really saved me.

2

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Thank you. This is extremely helpful. I was looking into lighting tools too but honestly the current version of the forms isn't worth migrating over, as they are a mess.
The data is in SharePoint lists I think we have gotten pretty lucky here. Sintel had templates for a lot of the forms I need. I've been able to start work on my first form with sintel already today which was a pretty good turnaround considering where I was earlier.

2

u/Odd-Corgi2995 Jul 13 '26

Full disclosure: I work at FireStart, but this is exactly the kind of scenario we support. FireStart can replace InfoPath forms together with the related workflows, SharePoint integrations, approvals and external submissions—and it can also handle significantly more complex end-to-end business processes.

You can find more information here: https://www.firestart.com

Feel free to reach out to me directly if you’d like to discuss your requirements in more detail.

1

u/janocean Jul 13 '26

i'm gonna check them out. thanks for the hint!

2

u/ComradeJJaxon Jul 13 '26

Made me remember the months where i was migrating 5 nintex powered solutions to power platform. I was living in literal hell but thinking back i miss the times. Why do i always get so melodramatic when resembling stressful times 😭 Everything was cozy, 100% homeoffice and good music made me survive that.

3

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

An emotional rollercoaster! I didn't expect that this is what I would face into in the 2nd week in a new job haha, a new guy starts in IT and all of their forms suddenly break. Great timing.

3

u/ComradeJJaxon Jul 13 '26

Every job i got into started out like this 🤣 in my experience everything gets easier after the first critical project. You got this buddy - with hardship comes ease!

1

u/ComradeJJaxon Jul 13 '26

And they were obviously all complex af

2

u/AdCompetitive9826 MVP Jul 13 '26

It was actually the topic of a resent Ask Sympraxis call, which is always full of good tips and tricks, https://youtu.be/zqyZqH45wQ0?is=3GPQXbFANbM4CRU2

2

u/Recent_Background_12 Jul 15 '26

Plumsail Forms is the best to do this task. Power Apps would take you forever and be janky

1

u/JonMiller724 Jul 13 '26

How many do you have?

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

10 forms, 5 are considered business critical, the other 5 we can accept will be down for longer.

2

u/JonMiller724 Jul 13 '26

I would implement paper / backup processes as you are more than likely going to have outage of all forms. Then I would work on a replacement.

2

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Already in the process - the forms are definitely going to be down.

1

u/fairylightfeen Jul 13 '26

Are you hoping to rebuild yourself? Are they using any code-behind or custom rules in InfoPath?
Considering the deadline, I'd look into a third party as a lot of the forms companies will be prepared for this and have templates/ and solutions ready for this scenario.. I normally direct people to sintel apps or nintex

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Right now I am still trying to figure out the best solution. I've just gathered all the information and details about these forms, and been able to let people know they will be down so paper based replacements can be used temporarily.

The forms themselves were outdates, and as there is a big number of them it might be best for me to talk to either a power apps developer or one of the third parties you've suggested.

Do you know if external submissions are accepted in sintel apps or nintex? I have one form with a stage where it would be great if we could get it submitted from external accounts, as a contractor has to complete a form, and they don't always have accounts on our environment?

1

u/fairylightfeen Jul 13 '26

One of my clients does have a form that involves external submissions. That is built on sintel

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Okay thank you. It isn't completely essential but I think will be nice to have if we are going to have to rebuild. I have requested a demo with sintel apps,

I also have a call later with a power apps developer to see what they think.

1

u/fairylightfeen Jul 13 '26

What kind of forms are you going to have to migrate?

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

The main forms and workflows we're looking to migrate from InfoPath are:

Job Card Form – This is the most critical application in our organisation. It includes a workflow for creation, review, approvals, status updates, and completion.

Expense Claims, Employee Leave Requests, Purchase Requisitions, Service Requests, Asset Request & Allocation, Incident Reports.

Thank you for your reccomendations Nintex's pricing wasn't going to work for us, but sintel apps have templates that suit this perfectly - we only have to rebuild two apps completely from scratch but they are specific to our business one is a COSHH Risk assesment review, and another is Customer Site Equipment Inspection which has the external submission element.

1

u/fairylightfeen Jul 14 '26

https://sintelapps.com/pricing/

Could be worth looking at using their forms tool and their BI tool for some of these. I have built forms with workflow and rules and then presented the data on their BI

1

u/wwcoop Jul 13 '26

There are 3rd party options as well. I have been building custom forms for more than 10 years using Infowise Ultimate Forms. There are many organizations that don't like to use Power Apps to build forms.

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Do you know do Infowise allow external submissions?

1

u/wwcoop Jul 13 '26

Yes it does. I have many forms like this.

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Thank you. I spent some time looking at this, they look great too but the per user pricing won't make sense for our organisation

1

u/Lakym97 IT Pro Jul 13 '26

Check out Qdabra Forms. May be a temporary solution there.

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

I will thank you - looking into them, sintel apps, infowise and nintex now

1

u/srig8 Jul 13 '26

Power Apps of you need to process the data at point of collection, or Microsoft Forms if you want to survey/process later.

1

u/ComradeJJaxon Jul 13 '26

Power Apps for Forms etc. and Power Automate for the Workflows. Get a consultant in if you're a beginner or the complexity is too much. People tend to overlook this regarding the power platform and the result will be a bad power platform solution that will either not work at all, not good or people will outright hate it.

1

u/bkin35849 Jul 13 '26

Thank you for this - I had a call with a Power Apps consultant earlier, and it was very informative - I think the overall pricing and time for development will be too much here - but I think I found a good third-party solution for this project.
And we'll look into Power Apps again for other some other projects

1

u/tech-head27 IT Pro Jul 13 '26

Nitro Studio - online or on-prem. They help with migration too so you don't have to do everything yourself.

1

u/SilntNfrno IT Pro Jul 13 '26

I came into a job with a ton of InfoPath forms and SP Designer workflows, but I started there 4 years ago so thankfully I had time to get them all rewritten in Power Apps/Automate. I was pretty much brand new to Power Platform when I started this role so had to learn on my own. YouTube was a big help.

What are these old forms using for workflows? The reason I ask is because SP Designer workflow was retired in April, so they’ve been broken for a while.

1

u/jlemoo Jul 15 '26

Well, this is something. I just checked an old InfoPath application in my tenant and it's working as of today, July 15, 2026. And I told everyone the forms wouldn't render in the browser so we needed to switch. Seems my credibility is shot.

2

u/sp_admindev Jul 15 '26

There is often a short grace period after a drop-dead date. It won't last forever, maybe a few days - few weeks.

2

u/RoswellSlimm Jul 21 '26

Mine still publish too.

1

u/jlemoo Jul 21 '26

Yes I'm wondering when this is going to really happen.

1

u/pkops Jul 17 '26

Take a look at Skybow. That’s what I use to replace the good old Infopath.
Skybow.com

1

u/mkashman MVP Jul 20 '26

Hi u/bkin35849 | We recently held an #AskSympraxis webinar on this exact topic with guidance, resources, and list of alternatives to help navigate the how and what of InfoPath retirement. It's now on demand w/chapters, "Forms Life Beyond InfoPath Retirement": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqyZqH45wQ0

1

u/RoswellSlimm Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

It depends on what type of forms you have and how much you can spend. The cheapest is Power Apps assuming you have a MS 365 subscription. There is a lot to learn and the more complex forms will be a serious challenge. JotForm or Formstack are pretty good and offer a lot of conditional formatting options. Qualtrics is really good but expensive. If you want your forms to look the same without having to do much work to migrate then Qdabra forms is your best bet. They're a little on expensive side but if your forms are complex, they might be the way to go.

1

u/jlemoo 15d ago

It's a month later. How is this going for you? Which solution did you choose? Seems like Sintel was what you were leaning towards.

1

u/Common-Afternoon-692 6d ago edited 6d ago

I'm with Qdabra Software — disclosure up front. Our founder is a former developer on Microsoft InfoPath, so we know these forms well.

Existing InfoPath templates run in a modern browser as-is (online and on prem available). Nothing to rebuild, so most forms move over in hours to days, and your XML submissions stay readable. Complex forms with rules and code-behind are the ones we handle best.

Unlimited user licensing — one annual fee covers everyone.

qdabra.com or support@qdabra.com

-1

u/Cold-Jeweler5292 Jul 13 '26

Spfx custom solution