Open an InfoPath form without InfoPath

A filled InfoPath form is an XML file. The layout it was filled in with lives in a second file, the form template (.xsn). With both, you can see the form again as it looked, in a browser, without installing anything.

Why the form will not open any more

Double-clicking a form .xml used to start InfoPath Filler, which read the template address written at the top of the file and showed the form. Browser forms opened through InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint. Both are gone. Microsoft removed the SharePoint Online service after 14 July 2026 and ended support for InfoPath 2013 the same day, and the InfoPath 2013 download page on Microsoft's site now says the download is no longer available. Without them the .xml opens as code in a browser or a text editor. The dates and where they come from

The data is all still in the file. What is missing is the view: the stylesheet inside the template that turns the data into a laid-out form.

What you need

• The filled forms: .xml files, usually in a SharePoint form library.
• The form template: the .xsn that library uses. Every form names it near the top, in the href of the <?mso-infoPathSolution ...?> line.

The template is optional. Without it Formhaul still lists every field and value, but it cannot draw the layout.

Getting the template out of SharePoint

1. Open the form library, then the gear and Library settings.
2. Under General settings choose Advanced settings. The Template URL shows where the template sits, normally Forms/template.xsn inside the library.
3. Add that to the library's address in the browser, for example https://example.sharepoint.com/sites/records/Leave%20Requests/Forms/template.xsn. The browser downloads the .xsn.

A library that uses content types keeps a template for each one: Library settings, the content type, Advanced settings, Document template. Forms made with the Customize with InfoPath button on a list are different. They keep the data in the list's own columns, so there are no .xml files to export, and the template sits under the list's Item folder.

Getting the forms

Select the forms in the library and choose Download. With more than one selected, SharePoint packs them into a zip, which Formhaul reads as it is. For a big library, see downloading a whole library.

Opening them

1. Open the converter.
2. Drop the .xsn and the forms (or the zip) on the page.
3. Pick a form from the list. It is drawn with its own view and the values saved in it.

Viewing is free for any number of forms. Saving them all as PDFs, and the full field table, is what the licence is for.

Looking inside an .xsn yourself

An .xsn file is a Windows cabinet archive. Copy it, rename the copy to .cab and open it in File Explorer, or run expand template.xsn -F:* folder in a command prompt. Inside are manifest.xsf (the definition), myschema.xsd (the fields), a .xsl file for each view, template.xml (an empty form) and any pictures and lookup lists the form used.