General

Re: 255 character limit

srudenko — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 23:31:01 GMT

Sorry to bring up this old thread but I am having the same "issue" It's not really my issue, I am not doing anything wrong. Its more of a Microsoft bug/limitation

When you create an InfoPath form, use a text control and set it to multiline, then publish it to a form library, even though its multiline and you can put as much text as you want in it once you submit it to SharePoint it only sees 255 characters. The datatype for this on SharePoint seems to be WSTR (255)

However, if you create a SharePoint list and then create a multi-line column (plaintext) it has no limit, even if you then edit this list with InfoPath. The datatype for this on SharePoint is NTEXT (no limit)

Why? It does not make sense.

Is there any way to have a plain text box in InfoPath form (library) and not have a limit when it comes to SharePoint. If you open the form, all the text is still there but SP only shows 255 characters and consequently if you export the entry only 255 char show up.

I know you suggest to use a Rich Textbox but recently it has become my most hated control in InfoPath. There has been many many intermittent issues with forms because of Rich Text fields. Sometimes they seem to clear themselves when you tab from one to another. Sometimes they clear themselves when you try to submit. Sometimes they cause weird Javascript errors in IE. I am not doing anything special either, no code, no rules.

Re: 255 character limit

Anson Hidajat — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:23:15 GMT

I would suggest using a multi line text box or rich text controls but seems you have already tried both options. You mention that you are experiencing issues with the rich text box. May I ask what specific issues those are? I would think if you want to capture alot of text then the rich text control would be the go to control for that purpose.

255 character limit

Packman — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:33:06 GMT

I'm current working on a published InfoPath form which submits to a SharePoint Form Library. I'm having issues with a multiline text box which when completed usually contains quite alot of text. Once the form is submitted the form can be viewed in the library. However if the text box contains more than 255 characters the form library will only show up to 255 characters. I also have workflows triggering when a new form is made which send an email to me contain the contents of the text box, but this too is cut short at the 255 limit.

I've changed the text box to a rich text field to get round this problem in the shorterm. But the people using the form are having issues with the rich text box

I don't really understand why this is happening as I currently have a another form used for a different purpose which also has a multiline text box and this problem doesn't occur.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Tom