Move a published form template to a new SharePoint library

Overview

After you publish a form template to a document library for your users to fill out, you may need to move that form template to another document library. For example, you might have to move your form template to a server with more capacity, so that more users can fill out forms at the same time. Some users may have already filled out forms that are based on your form template that was stored in the original document library. When you move your form template to a new document library, you will want to move those existing forms, too. You also want to make sure that those existing forms will work in the new document library before you archive or delete the old document library.

Tip: Before you move published form templates to a new document library, create a plan that includes informing your users that their forms have been moved to a new document library. You want your users to use the new document library to store new forms or to modify existing forms. The plan should also include a process for archiving or deleting the original document library.

To move a form template and its existing forms to a new document library, first you need to publish the working copy of your form template to the new document library. The working copy is the version that is stored on your computer or in a version control program, such as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

Tip: If you do not have a working copy of the form template, you can save a copy of the form template from the original document library to your computer to use as a working copy.

After you publish the working copy to the new document library, you need to copy any forms from the old document library to the new document library, and then relink the forms in the new document library to the newly published form template.

If you need to make any changes as a result of moving the form template, make those changes before you publish the form template. For example, the location of the external data sources that are used by the forms that are based on this form template may also change as a result of moving the form template. In this case, you need to change the data connection in the form template to the new location of the external data sources before you publish the form template. Find links to more information about changing the data connections in the See also section.

Note: Publishing a form template is not the same as saving a form template. When you publish a form template, the Publishing Wizard adds the publish location and processing instructions to the form template so that users can open forms that are based on this form template. When you save a form template, you are saving a copy of the form template, just as you do when you save a file to your computer. You should always use the Publishing Wizard when you want to make your form template available for your users to fill out.

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Before you begin

Before you move the form template and any existing forms that are based on the form template to a new document library, you will need the following:

The working copy of the form template This is a copy of the form template that you will modify and then republish to the new document library. The working copy may be stored on your computer or in a version control program, such as Visual SourceSafe.
The locations of any new external data sources If the forms that are based on the form template use external data sources that have changed, you will need the new locations of the external data sources. Verify with your administrator that you and your users have the appropriate permissions to use the external data sources. If the form template uses settings in a data connection file to connect to an external data source, verify that the data connection file was updated with the new location of the external data source.
The appropriate rights on the server running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 You will need the appropriate rights on the server to publish a form template and to copy any existing forms from the old document library to the new document library. Check with your server administrator to ensure that you have these rights.

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Get a working copy of your form template

If you want to modify a form template that was published to a document library or to a shared network location, and you do not have a working copy of your form template, you can save a working copy of the form template from the publish location to your computer.

Tip: Consider using a version control program, such as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, to manage the working copies of your form templates.

Save a copy of the form template from a document library to your computer

In a Web browser, open the document library where the form template was published.
On the Settings menu, click Settings, and then click Form Library Settings.
Under General Settings, click Advanced settings.
In the Document Template section, click Edit Template.

The form template will open in Microsoft Office InfoPath.
In the Microsoft Office InfoPath dialog box, click Yes.
On the File menu, click Save As.
In the Microsoft Office InfoPath dialog box, click OK.
In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save a copy of the form template, and then click Save.

Save a copy of the form template from the shared network folder to your computer

On the File menu, click Design a form template.
Under Open a form template, click On My Computer.
Browse to the shared network folder of the published form template, click the form template, and then click Open.
On the File menu, click Save As.
In the Microsoft Office InfoPath dialog box, click OK.
In the Save As dialog box, select a location other than the original publish location where you want to save a working copy of the form template, and then click Save.

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Step 1: Publish the form template to the new document library

Open the working copy of the form template in design mode.
On the File menu, click Publish.
In the Publishing Wizard, click To a SharePoint server with or without InfoPath Forms Services, and then click Next.
In the Enter the location of your SharePoint or InfoPath Forms Services site box, type the location of the SharePoint site that contains the new document library that you want to move your form template to, and then click Next.
On the next page of the wizard, click Document Library, and then click Next.
Click Create a new document library, and then click Next.
On the next page of the wizard, type a name and description for the new document library, and then click Next.
Choose the fields in the form template that you want to appear as columns in the default view of the document library.

How?
1. Click Add.
2. Select the field that you want to add as a column in the document library, and then do one of the following:
  - Type a name for the column in the Column name box.
  - Select the site column in the Site column group list, select a name in the Column name list, and then click OK.
    
    Note: If you selected a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field, or whether to merge all of the values together.
3. Click OK.
Find links to more information about displaying data in columns in a document library in the See also section.
Click Next.
On the next page of the wizard, verify that the information shown is correct, and then click Publish.
To open the document library and test the process for filling out a form that is based on this form template, select the Open this document library check box, and then click Close.

The document library will open in a browser. When you click New on the list toolbar, a form based on this form template will open in Microsoft Office InfoPath.

After you publish the form template to a new document library, you can copy the existing forms that are based on the old version of the form template from the old document library to the new document library. After you copy the existing forms, you can relink the existing forms to the new version of the form template. If you do not link the existing forms, users may not be able to open these existing forms.

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Step 2: Copy and relink the existing forms

This procedure assumes that both document libraries are on a server that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Open the old document library in a Web browser.
On the View menu, click Explorer View.
Press and hold down CTRL, select each form that you want to move, and then right-click one of the forms.
In the Internet Explorer dialog box, click Yes, and then click Copy on the shortcut menu.
Open the new document library.
Under Select a View, click Explorer View.
Right-click in the blank area in the folder window.
In the Internet Explorer dialog box, click Yes, and then click Paste on the shortcut menu.
On the View menu, click Relink Documents.
In the Relink column, select the check box for each form that you want to link to the new form template.
On the list toolbar, click Relink Selected Documents.

After you relink the existing forms to the new form template, your users can change the existing forms that you copied to the new document library or fill out new forms that are based on the newly published form template.

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Saturday, April 15, 2017