Sorry for the confusion. The form that I am trying to open via the hyperlink is an InfoPath 2010 Filler Form that is deployed to a SharePoint form library. The two options that I have tried and their outcomes are listed below.
(1) Provide a direct hyperlink to the template.xsn file within an emial or Word document. The address in the hyperlink points directly to the form template in the SharePoint library (http://portal.companyname.com/Departments/IT/ITRequestForm/Forms.xsn). The outcome of clicking that link from either email or Word is the "View Downloads" pop up box that forces the user to first choose 'Save' or 'Save As' and then allows them to 'Open' to the form template. Once it is opened everything else works as desired. With this methodology I would like to avoid the "View Downloads" dialog box completely and have the hyperlink open the form directly.
(2) The second option that I mentioned appends the following to the same hyperlink as shown above "&savelocation=http://portal.companyname.com/Departments/IT/ITRequestForm.AllFormsaspx&defaultitemopen=0". What this results in the the actual opening of the form library in a new browser tab into the "All Items" view of the form library" and the opening of the form template in the InfoPath client application. The automatic opening without any prompts is exactly what I want. However, what this does do is leave the form library "All Items" view open so the users become confused as to what that page is and how it got opened. For this particular form I would prefer that the users not even know of the existence of the form library itself.
Let me know if that helps clarify things. Thanks for the help.