Migrating Attachments from Infopath Form to Document Library

5 years ago
16 October 2018
3 replies
82 views

ssmith-bbt
1 reply

SharePoint/Nintex Environment: O365

Library Type: Forms Library

Form Template Type: InfoPath 2013

I am looking to migrate attachments that are being stored in my InfoPath form that is sitting on a SharePoint O365 Forms Library.

I have seen this question asked over and over and I don't think I have found a straightforward answer.

I have a rather complex form that collects attachments (among other data that is unrelated to this question). We have 'recently' hit the issue of attachment size limits (5MB). My current work around is to have the end user upload the document to a document library in the same site and then copy/paste the link in the form (These attachments are being collected via a repeating table).

The request from my client is to remove the end user responsibility of uploading/copying/pasting the document information and instead make the workflow (or form, whichever) do it for them. I don't find this a strange ask, but I have encountered some issues.

This process cannot change from a Forms Library to List because of the nature of the process and the complexity of the form.
There are not a set number of attachments that will be attached to any given form, so I cannot lock down/restrict the number of attachments allowed (to hard code into the workflow).
I have been able to create a folder in the destination document library and I can isolate some information which appears to be directly related to the attachment(s) in the form, but its just letters & numbers.
- EX: x0lGQRQAAAABAAAAAAAAADxFAQAUAAAASABpAC0AVABlAGsAXwBCAGkAegBfAGwAbwBnAG8ALgBwAG4AZwAAAIlQTkcNChoKAAAADUlIRFIAAAUuAAABkwgGAAAAJs2MagAAIABJREFUeJzs3XmUHOd53
The client does not current have/utilize Azure

Is there a way to make a Nintex O365 workflow do this or possibly a way to embed a control in my InfoPath form that connects directly to the library?

At this point I have the can of gasoline and a handful of matches on deck. Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

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3 replies

S

+11

shaunlub
Scholar
113 replies
5 years ago
25 October 2018

What is the intention for the InfoPath forms when they are migrated - or will this be an on-going process?

I am migrating solutions from on-prem 2013 InfoPath Browser forms to Nintex 365. (By migrating, I mean re-building).

In most cases, the historical data is required by our internal customer, so we have to migrate the closed forms to somewhere on the new site - where they can be referred (opened in InfoPath browser form, read-only).

I am working on a few of these now. I completed one of these last year and it went fine.

I migrated the forms pretty much like I would on-prem - publish the form to the 365 site, creating a form library with the same columns as the original. Then I manually copy the files using the file explorer.

As you can guess, this is fine for a one-off. But not for an on-going process.

S

It's actually for documents attached to the InfoPath form using an attachment field. The form is on a forms library so I don't have the fancy 'Attachments' folder in SPD that I can pull them out of.

Once my end user attaches a document to an InfoPath form, the document (attachment) is encoded and stored as data with the form. The only way to access the 'attachment' after that ends up actually downloading a copy from the InfoPath form. I am looking to DEcode the attachment through the workflow to get to the document (skipping the download step), and then 'upload' it to a separate document library. What's left would be a form with data (minus attachments) in the same form library it started in, and the attachments in a different document library.

This is something I need to do as an on-going process, and even probably run on past (closed) forms as well. I submitted an actual ticket and received this response:

"I'm not sure there will be any easy way to resolve that. It looks like it may require custom coding in order to achieve what you are trying to do. https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/653449d2-7dd2-4a94-862e-32e393ef4cbc/put-an-attached-file-from-an-infopathform-into-a-document-library?forum=sharepointcustomizationlegacy

http://www.bizsupportonline.net/blog/2010/upload-document-sharepoint-infopath-form.htm

I'll see what else I can find, but I'm not sure there will be an out of the box solution."

I'm trying to see if I can use either of these solutions in my client's environment.