How to: Create a Custom Document Information Panel from InfoPath in SharePoint Server 2010 (ECM)

  • Article

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

Starting from the Microsoft InfoPath 2010 application, you can browse to the desired site or library and select the content type for which you want to create a custom document information panel. InfoPath 2010 sets the selected content type as your primary data source, as well as the autogenerated form as a starting point. After you are finished customizing the document information panel in InfoPath, you can publish it back to the site or library.

To create a custom document information panel starting from InfoPath

  1. In InfoPath 2010, on the File tab, under Advanced Form Templates, click Document Information Panel, and then click Design Form.

  2. Enter the URL of the site or document library that you want to modify, and then click Next.

    InfoPath 2010 queries the server and displays a list of the content types residing on the specified library or site. If you entered a site URL, InfoPath 2010 displays a list of the site content types on that site. If you enter a document library URL, InfoPath 2010 displays a list of content types available for that document library.

  3. Select the content type for which you want to customize the document information panel, and click Next.

    InfoPath 2010 warns you if a custom document information panel has already been created for this content type. To create another custom form, click OK.

    Note

    The existing form is not altered until you publish your new form to the content type.

  4. Click Finish.

    InfoPath 2010 loads an autogenerated document information panel, based on the content type schema.

  5. Edit and customize the form as you want, and then save the form template locally. Note that if you want to make subsequent changes to this custom document information panel after initially publishing it, you must open this local copy of the form template in InfoPath Designer, and then republish it.

    Note

    Because the custom form is based on the content type schema, you cannot edit the form schema, as you can with typical InfoPath 2010 forms. To change the custom document information form schema, you would first have to change the content type schema itself in Microsoft SharePoint 2010.

  6. Publish the form as described in the following procedure.

To publish the custom document information panel to the content type from InfoPath

  1. In InfoPath 2010, on the File tab, click Publish, and then click Document Information Panel.

    If you did not save the form template previously, you will be prompted to name and save a local copy of the form template.

  2. Verify the content type information displayed in the Publishing Wizard, and then click Publish.

    InfoPath 2010 warns you if a custom document information panel has already been specified for this content type. To replace the existing template, click OK.

    InfoPath 2010 displays a dialog box confirming that the form was published successfully.

  3. Click Close.

    Tip

    After you publish the custom document information panel the first time, you can open the local copy of the form template in InfoPath, make additional changes, and then republish the form by clicking Quick Publish on the File tab.

To create a custom document information panel starting from the SharePoint Site Content Types Gallery

  1. In the SharePoint site that contains the content types you want to work with, click Site Settings on the Site Actions menu.

  2. Under Galleries, click Site content types.

  3. Depending on the location of the site you are work with in the hierarchy of sites in the site collection, perform one of the following steps:

    • If you are accessing the gallery from a child site, click the link for the source name in the Source column.

      This will activate the links for the items in the Site Content Type column.

    • If you are accessing the gallery from the root site, skip to the next step.

  4. In the Site Content Type column, click the name of the content type you want to create a custom document panel for.

  5. Under Settings, click Document Information Panel settings.

  6. In the lower right corner of the Document Information Panel Template section, click Create a new custom template.

    This will open the Data Source Wizard in InfoPath.

  7. In the Data Source Wizard, click Finish.

    InfoPath 2010 loads an autogenerated document information panel, based on the content type schema.

  8. Edit and customize the form as you want, and then save the form template locally. Note that if you want to make subsequent changes to this custom document information panel after initially publishing it, you can open this local copy of the form template in InfoPath Designer 2010, and then republish it. Alternatively, you can navigate back to the Document Information Panel Settings page for the content type on , and then click the Edit this template link to open the custom template in InfoPath.

    Note

    Because the custom form is based on the content type schema, you cannot edit the form schema, as you can with typical InfoPath 2010 forms. To change the custom document information form schema, you would first have to change the content type schema itself in SharePoint 2010.

  9. On the File tab, click Quick Publish to publish the custom document panel for the selected content type back to the site.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Update a Document Information Panel for Content Type Changes in SharePoint Server 2010 (ECM)

Concepts

Document Information Panel Overview in SharePoint Server 2010 (ECM)

Custom Document Information Panels in SharePoint Server 2010 (ECM)