InfoPath Was Retired a Month Ago—So Why Are Forms Still Working in SharePoint Online?

Microsoft’s retirement date for InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Online was 14 July 2026.

We are now a month beyond that date, but some organisations are finding that their existing InfoPath forms still open, display and submit data in SharePoint Online.

Has Microsoft postponed the retirement? Is removal happening gradually? Or does “retired” simply mean unsupported rather than unavailable?

Microsoft has not announced an extension. Its documentation says support has ended, while its earlier Message Center communications said that InfoPath Forms Services would be removed from existing SharePoint Online tenants after 14 July.

The result is a genuine, and currently unresolved gap between Microsoft’s published position and what customers are seeing in their tenants.

For organisations that still depend on InfoPath, this unexpected period of continued operation is valuable. But it should be treated as an opportunity to discover, assess and migrate remaining forms, not as a reason to postpone the work again.

What Microsoft originally announced

Microsoft announced the retirement of InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Online in June 2023.

The retirement was aligned with the end of extended support for the InfoPath 2013 desktop client. Microsoft’s InfoPath 2013 lifecycle page records the end of extended support in July 2026.

Microsoft subsequently published two important Microsoft 365 Message Center notices:

• MC616550: InfoPath 2013 client and InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Online will reach end of support in July 2026.
• MC1255407: Publishing InfoPath forms in SharePoint Online will not be allowed for all tenants.

The final version of MC616550 described the planned timeline as follows:

• After 18 May 2026, publishing new InfoPath forms or updates to existing forms would be blocked.
• Existing published forms would remain usable until 14 July 2026.
• After 14 July, users would no longer be able to use InfoPath forms in SharePoint Online.
• There would be no option to extend InfoPath Forms Services beyond the retirement date.

MC1255407 also described 14 July as the date on which InfoPath Forms Services would be fully retired.

Microsoft’s original public announcement remains available on the Microsoft SharePoint Blog.

Why the Message Center notices are difficult to find

Administrators searching for MC616550 or MC1255407 may no longer find them in the active Microsoft 365 Message Center.

Both notices have expired:

• MC1255407 expired on 20 July 2026.
• MC616550 expired on 30 July 2026.

Copies remain available through an independent Microsoft 365 Message Center archive:

• Archived MC616550
• Archived MC1255407

These are not Microsoft-hosted pages, but they preserve the text and version history of the original notices.

The disappearance of the messages contributes to the current uncertainty. Administrators can see that their forms are still running, but the detailed communications explaining what was supposed to happen are no longer readily visible in the Microsoft 365 admin centre.

Why are InfoPath forms still working?

In at least some SharePoint Online tenants, existing InfoPath forms continue to operate after 14 July.

What is not clear is why.

One possible explanation is that Microsoft is removing the service progressively rather than switching it off across every tenant simultaneously. The wording referred to removal “from” or “after” 14 July, which could accommodate a staged service change.

However, Microsoft has not publicly documented:

• A deployment window for removal.
• An expected completion date.
• Whether retirement is being applied by tenant, region or Microsoft 365 environment.
• Whether customers will receive tenant-specific notice.
• A revised retirement date or formal grace period.

It is also worth confirming whether a form is genuinely using InfoPath Forms Services.

A browser-rendered InfoPath form will commonly use a URL containing:

/_layouts/15/FormServer.aspx

If opening the form launches InfoPath.exe, it is using the desktop InfoPath client rather than SharePoint Online’s browser-rendering service. The installed client may continue to run, but it is now outside Microsoft support.

Retirement does not always mean an immediate shutdown

End of support means that Microsoft is no longer committed to providing security updates, compatibility work, bug fixes or technical support for the affected product or component.

Removal means that the underlying capability has been taken away and can no longer be used.

These events can happen together, but they do not have to occur at precisely the same moment, especially in a global cloud service where changes may be deployed progressively.

Nevertheless, continued operation should not be interpreted as evidence that support has been extended.

Microsoft’s current InfoPath Forms Services support page states that support for InfoPath 2013 ended on 14 July 2026 and recommends migration to supported Microsoft 365 solutions.

At the time of writing, Microsoft has not published an announcement postponing the SharePoint Online retirement.

“Still working” is not the same as “safe to keep using”

The continued availability of InfoPath may provide organisations with some additional time, but it is borrowed time rather than a change in product strategy.

Organisations that remain dependent on InfoPath face several risks:

• Forms could stop rendering when Microsoft completes the service change.
• There is no published guarantee of additional notice for an individual tenant.
• Publishing new forms or updates may already be blocked.
• A business-critical process could become unavailable before its replacement is ready.
• Microsoft may be unable to provide a product fix because the component has passed its retirement date.

Existing SharePoint list, library and XML data is not automatically deleted by the retirement. But preserving that data is not the same as preserving the InfoPath experience built around it.

An InfoPath solution can contain validation, calculations, conditional formatting, multiple views, repeating sections, attachments, business rules and connections to other systems. Form libraries may also contain years of submitted XML documents.

Replacing the visible form is therefore only one part of the migration.

The first challenge is discovering what you have

Many organisations do not have a reliable inventory of their InfoPath estate.

They may not know:

• How many InfoPath forms remain.
• Which SharePoint sites contain them.
• Which forms are still actively used.
• Which forms support business-critical processes.
• How complex each form will be to replace.
• How much historical XML data exists in form libraries.
• Which forms can be retired rather than migrated.

This is where the Lightning Tools Form Migrator can provide an immediate next step.

The Form Migrator can scan SharePoint Online or SharePoint on-premises to discover InfoPath forms and form libraries. The discovery and assessment capability is available free of charge and can be used without committing to a migration project.

The assessment:

• Identifies InfoPath forms and form libraries across SharePoint.
• Documents the forms that have been discovered.
• Analyses form structure, controls and logic.
• Scores forms for complexity and migration portability.
• Helps distinguish straightforward forms from complex business applications.
• Provides evidence for prioritising and estimating migration work.

Instead of relying on assumptions or an incomplete spreadsheet, organisations can create an evidence-based inventory and migration roadmap.

Choose the right destination for each form

Not every InfoPath form should be migrated to the same platform.

A straightforward SharePoint list form may be well suited to Power Apps or Lightning Forms. A more sophisticated business application might require Dataverse, additional automation or a different enterprise forms platform. A form containing only historical records may not need to remain editable at all.

Depending on the organisation’s requirements and target architecture, Lightning Tools can help migrate InfoPath solutions to platforms including:

• Microsoft Power Apps.
• Lightning Forms.
• Nintex.
• Skybow.
• SharePoint lists.

The discovery and complexity assessment helps determine which destination is appropriate for each form rather than forcing every solution into a single technology.

Migrate the data—not just the form

One of the most commonly overlooked parts of an InfoPath migration is the existing data.

An InfoPath form library may contain hundreds or thousands of XML files. Each file represents a submitted form and may contain field values, repeating information, attachments, metadata and important historical context.

Manually rebuilding a form does not migrate any of that information.

The Lightning Tools Form Migrator can extract and migrate the existing XML submissions from InfoPath form libraries as part of the migration process. Depending on the selected destination, that information can be transformed into usable records in SharePoint lists, Dataverse or the target solution.

This can include:

• Existing form submissions.
• Field values and metadata.
• Attachments and supporting documents.
• Repeating sections and repeating tables.
• Nested information.
• Relationships between migrated records.

The migrated data can then be validated before the new solution is released to users.

This is important because a successful InfoPath migration must preserve three things:

1. The form experience users need.
2. The business data the organisation relies upon.
3. The historical records that may be required for audit, compliance or customer service.

Preserve historical forms as PDF records

Not every completed InfoPath submission needs to become an editable record in a new application.

Some form libraries contain historical submissions that must be retained but are no longer part of an active business process. Rebuilding all of those submissions in Power Apps or another forms platform may add unnecessary cost and complexity.

For these scenarios, the Form Migrator can convert completed InfoPath XML submissions into readable PDF records.

A PDF migration can:

• Preserve completed forms in a human-readable format.
• Remove the dependency on InfoPath for viewing historical records.
• Support audit, compliance and legal-retention requirements.
• Retain the context and presentation of the original submission.
• Separate active data from records that only need to be preserved.
• Provide long-term access after InfoPath is no longer available.

This can be used as a complete archival strategy for inactive forms or alongside a migration where current records move to a new platform and older submissions are retained as PDFs.

What about SharePoint Server?

The on-premises position is slightly different.

SharePoint Server 2016 and SharePoint Server 2019 both reached the end of extended support in July 2026. Existing InfoPath forms may continue to run, but the SharePoint farm and its InfoPath components are now unsupported.

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition remains supported under Microsoft’s Modern Lifecycle Policy. InfoPath Forms Services, however, is listed as a deprecated feature and was only supported in Subscription Edition until 14 July 2026.

Microsoft’s SharePoint Server Subscription Edition deprecated-features documentation confirms that InfoPath Forms Services is no longer supported after that date.

The feature may remain technically present, but Microsoft says deprecated features can be removed in a future Subscription Edition update, normally with advance notice.

On-premises administrators may therefore have more control over the immediate technical environment, but continued use remains an unsupported dependency.

The Form Migrator’s discovery capability can scan both SharePoint Online and on-premises environments, helping organisations assess InfoPath before or during a wider SharePoint migration.

Turn this uncertain period into a migration plan

Organisations should not tell stakeholders that InfoPath has been extended. There is no published evidence of an extension.

Instead, use this unexpected period of continued operation to:

1. Discover the remaining InfoPath estate.
2. Identify active and business-critical forms.
3. Document and score each form for complexity.
4. Determine which forms should be migrated, redesigned, archived or retired.
5. Select the appropriate destination for each solution.
6. Plan how existing XML data and attachments will be migrated.
7. Convert historical submissions to PDF where editable migration is unnecessary.
8. Test and validate the replacement before InfoPath becomes unavailable.

A free assessment with the Lightning Tools Form Migrator provides a low-risk place to begin.

You do not need to know how many forms you have, how complex they are or which platform they should move to before starting. The purpose of the assessment is to give you that information.

Download the Lightning Tools Form Migrator and discover your InfoPath forms free of charge.

The bottom line

InfoPath Forms Services is officially retired in SharePoint Online, even where it remains technically operational.

The fact that forms still work is good news for organisations that need more time. But it is not a support commitment, a guaranteed grace period or evidence that the retirement has been cancelled.

The safest response is not panic, but it is also not further delay.

Use the time to find your forms, understand their complexity, protect the XML data stored behind them and build a practical migration plan.

InfoPath may still be working today. The important question is whether your organisation is ready for the day when it is not.