Web browser compatibility in InfoPath Forms Services

Applies To
InfoPath 2010 InfoPath 2013

Important

Support for Microsoft InfoPath 2013 ended on July 14, 2026. We recommend migrating existing InfoPath forms and workflows to supported Microsoft 365 solutions. Learn more about InfoPath retirement.

InfoPath Forms Services is a server technology that allows users to fill out Microsoft Office InfoPath forms by using a Web browser. Users don't need InfoPath installed on their computers to fill out an InfoPath form, nor are they required to download anything extra from the Web. All users need is access to a browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, or Firefox.

This article lists the browsers that are compatible with InfoPath Forms Services. In addition, this article lists the features that are supported in browser-compatible form templates, the features that cannot be used in browser-compatible form templates, and the differences in behavior that may occur when forms that are based on browser-compatible form templates are viewed in different browsers.

In this article

Web browsers that are compatible with InfoPath Forms Services

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

Note

If a specific browser version is not listed in the following table, it is not supported. For example, there is no support for older browsers, including Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 5.5.x, Internet Explorer for Macintosh, and versions of third-party browsers that are earlier than the ones that are listed in the following table. Although it is possible that browser-enabled forms may function correctly in these browsers, browser-enabled forms have been tested only with the browser versions that are listed in the following table.

The following table shows the specific browsers that are compatible with InfoPath Forms Services.

Browser Windows1 Unix/Linux Macintosh
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (32-bit) Full support No support No support
Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 (32-bit) Full support No support No support
Firefox 1.5 Full support Full support Full support
Mozilla 1.7 Full support No support No support
Netscape 7.2 No support Full support No support
Netscape 8.1 Full support No support No support
Safari 2.0 No support No support Full support

1Includes Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows 2000.

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InfoPath features that are supported in InfoPath Forms Services

Most InfoPath controls and features work identically regardless of whether users are filling out a form in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or any other supported browser. However, the same form may appear differently in different browsers. These visual differences can be attributed to the way that the various browsers support Web technologies, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), cascading style sheets (CSS), and JavaScript.

In addition, there are some controls and features that are fully supported only in browsers that support Microsoft ActiveX technologies, such as Internet Explorer 6.0 or Internet Explorer 7.0. In other browsers, these features may behave differently or have limited functionality.

Support for form controls

You can use the following table to determine whether a particular InfoPath control is supported by InfoPath Forms Services.

In some cases, even if the control is supported by InfoPath Forms Services, it may not work the same way in all browsers. For example, you can use rich text boxes in browser-compatible form templates. However, users only see the full range of rich text formatting options when they fill out the form in Internet Explorer.

Similarly, when users view a form in a mobile device browser, some controls appear differently than they do in a desktop browser, and some controls are ignored completely. For example, although you can use a file attachment control in a browser-compatible form template, this control will not appear when the form is viewed in a mobile device browser. For more information about optimizing form templates for use on mobile devices, refer to the See Also links at the top of this article.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 control Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Text box Full support Full support
Check box Full support Full support
Button Full support Full support
Expression box Full support Full support
List box Full support Full support
Drop-down list box Full support Full support
Repeating section Full support Full support
Hyperlink Full support No support
Option button Full support No support
Optional section Full support No support
Repeating table Full support No support
File attachment control Full support No support
Date picker 1 Partial support Partial support
Rich text box 2 Partial support No support
ActiveX control No support No support
Bulleted list control No support No support
Choice group No support No support
Choice section No support No support
Combo box No support No support
Horizontal repeating table No support No support
Horizontal region No support No support
Ink picture control No support No support
Master/detail control No support No support
Multiple-selection list box No support No support
Numbered list control No support No support
Picture control No support No support
Plain list control No support No support
Repeating choice group No support No support
Repeating recursive section No support No support
Scrolling region No support No support
Vertical label No support No support

1Although you can use date pickers in a browser-compatible form template, the calendar icon and pop-up calendar appear only in supported versions of Internet Explorer. In other browsers, the date picker appears as a text box, but the date formatting options are still supported.

2You cannot enable embedded pictures or specify partial rich-text formatting options for rich text box controls in a browser-compatible form template. Also, the full range of rich text formatting options are available only in supported versions of Internet Explorer. It is possible for users to edit text in a rich text box in any supported browser, but formatting options are unavailable, including changing the text color and applying character formatting.

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Support for business logic features

You can use business-logic features in your form template to help prevent data-entry errors and to automate actions in the user's form. When you use InfoPath features like data validation, conditional formatting, and rules, you can define conditions and actions that automatically perform tasks that are based on events, such as the opening or closing of a form, or on values that are entered into your form template.

The following table shows the level to which specific InfoPath business logic features are supported by compatible browsers.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 feature Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Formulas 1 Full support Full support
Data validation Full support Full support
Rules Full support Full support
Conditional formatting 2 Full support Partial support
User roles No support No support

1Except xdXDocument:get-Role, Position, and Last functions.

2In mobile device browsers, some conditional formatting features are supported, such as hiding controls based on conditions that occur in the form. However, it isn't possible to use conditional formatting to alter the appearance of a control based on conditions in the form. For example, you can't use conditional formatting to change the color of text in a control.

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The following table shows the level to which specific InfoPath security features are supported by compatible browsers.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 feature Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Domain security level Full support Full support
Full-trust security level Full support Full support
Restricted security level No support No support
Digital signatures 1 Partial support No support
Form design protection No support No support
Ability to disable Save, Print, and other commands Full support Full support
Information Rights Management (IRM) No support No support

1Digital signatures are not supported in browser-enabled form templates that are rendered in mobile device browsers. In addition, in desktop browsers, it is not possible for users to digitally sign an entire form. However, you can design the form template so that users can digitally sign one or more sections in the form. To do this, you must enable digital signatures for a section control. Also, although users can view digital signatures for a form in any supported browser, they can digitally sign the form sections only in supported versions of Internet Explorer.

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Support for data connections

A data connection is a dynamic link between a form and a data source that stores or provides data for that form.

The following table shows the level to which InfoPath data connections are supported in browser-enabled form templates.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 feature Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Query data from an XML file or a URL that returns XML Full support Full support
Query data from a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services list or library Full support Full support
Query data from a Microsoft SQL Server database Full support Full support
Query data from a Microsoft Office Access database No support No support
Query data from a Web service Full support Full support
Query data by using data connection files in a Data Connection Library Full support Full support

The following table shows how the level to which InfoPath features for submitting forms are supported by compatible browsers.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 feature Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Submit data as an e-mail message Full support Full support
Submit data to a SharePoint library 1 Full support Full support
Submit data to a Microsoft SQL Server database No support No support
Submit data to a Microsoft Access database No support No support
Submit data to a Web service 2 Full support Full support
Submit data to a Web application that accepts HTTP POST submissions Full support Full support
Submit data by using data connection files in a Data Connection Library Full support Full support

1Data can be submitted to a SharePoint library, but data cannot be submitted to a list.

2 You cannot configure the submit data connection in a browser-compatible form template to allow users to submit change information along with their form data to a Web service that accepts a Microsoft ADO.NET DataSet. Change information consists of the modifications that a user makes to the data stored in a database. The database uses a Web service to connect users to the database. ADO.NET can use change information to determine how to update the data in the database.

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Support for form-filling features

The following table shows the level to which InfoPath features that are related to filling out forms are supported by compatible browsers.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 feature Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Submit feature Full support Full support
Save feature 1 Full support No support
Print feature Full support No support
Merge data from multiple forms No support No support
Export data to Microsoft Office Excel No support No support
Export data to Web No support No support
Ink support No support No support
Offline support No support No support
Find and replace text Full support Full support
AutoComplete feature 2 Full support No support
Spell checking No support No support
AutoSave, AutoRecover, or crash detection features No support No support
Custom task panes No support No support
Add-in menus No support No support

1In a browser-enabled form, users can click the Save or Save As buttons to save their forms to a SharePoint library. However, they cannot save their forms to a location on their computers. In addition, users who view forms in a mobile device browser do not see the Save or Save As buttons.

2In browsers other than Internet Explorer, the AutoComplete feature is unavailable, even if the Enable AutoComplete check box is selected for the control.

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The following table shows the level to which InfoPath view-related features are supported by compatible browsers.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 feature Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Multiple views Full support Full support
Read-only views Full support Partial support
Print views Full support No support
Word print views 1 No support No support
Print multiple views at once 2 No support No support
Print page breaks, headers, or footers No support No support

1Microsoft Office Word print views are not supported in browser-enabled form templates. You can publish a form template to InfoPath Forms Services without removing the Word print view. However, when users print the form, the Web browser ignores the Word print view settings.

2The Print Multiple Views functionality is not supported in browser-enabled form templates. You can publish a form template to InfoPath Forms Services without changing any options in the Print Multiple Views dialog box. However, when users print the form, the Web browser uses a read-only view of the current view for printing purposes rather than printing multiple views.

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Support for programming features

Developers can use the InfoPath managed code object model to create custom business logic in browser-compatible form templates. When deployed to a server running InfoPath Forms Services, this business logic runs in both a browser and in InfoPath. The following table shows the level to which InfoPath programming features are supported by compatible browsers.

= Full support  = Partial support   = No support

InfoPath 2007 feature Desktop browsers Mobile device browsers
Managed code 1 Full support Full support
Scripting 2 No support No support
COM add-ins No support No support

1In a browser-compatible form template, managed code must be based on the InfoPath managed code object model that is provided by the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace. A subset of the members of the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace provides features, such as Information Rights Management (IRM), that are not supported on the server. For more information on which object model members are supported and which are not supported, refer to the See Also links at the top of this article.

2Any code that is written in VBScript, JScript, or the InfoPath 2003-compatible object model provided by members of the Microsoft.Office.Interop.InfoPath.SemiTrust namespace is not supported on the server.

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