Microsoft discontinues its InfoPath electronic-forms product

As had been rumored for a while, Microsoft is discontinuing its InfoPath electronic forms product.

Company officials confirmed the news in a January 31 post to the Office Blogs site. From that post on the future of electronic forms technology:

"In an effort to streamline our investments and deliver a more integrated Office forms user experience, we’re retiring InfoPath and investing in new forms technology across SharePoint, Access, and Word. This means that InfoPath 2013 is the last release of the desktop client, and InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Server 2013 is the last release of InfoPath Forms Services. The InfoPath Forms Services technology within Office 365 will be maintained and it will function until further notice."

Microsoft is "working on migration guidance" as it is building its "next generation of forms technology," officials added in the post, noting that Microsoft will continue to support InfoPath 2013 and InfoPath Forms Services for SharePoint Server 2013 through April 2023. Execs said Microsoft will provide more specifics on the future of Office forms "later this year" and will provide a sneak peek of what's being built at the company's SharePoint Conference 2014 in March.

Microsoft first introduced InfoPath as part of Office 2003.