Data Connection not storing data for offline use

KevinBirdsall — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:33:50 GMT

I have created an InfoPath email form for offline use and have created several data connections to lists on a SharePoint site. In the data connection wizard I have selected the option to "Store a copy of data in the form template", but when I publish the form to a SharePoint Library and try to open it the drop down fields are blank. I have even tried to import the data as XML data in the form template, but that doesn't work either.

What I need is a form that can be emailed to personnel that do not have access to our SharePoint site, filled out and emailed back, then submitted by personnel that do have access to our SharePoint site. The form would then feed the data to columns in a form library. The issue is that we do not want some of the fields in the form to be basic text fields and would like them to be prepopulated drop down lists that pull data from lists on the SharePoint site. Eliminating issues with data variations (i.e. spelling, abbreviations, etc.). The lists are quite large and I would rather not have to save them in the form as choices for a choice field. I’d like to be able to just update the data in the form periodically before sending it to external users as the connected lists do not change frequently.

Our SP configuration (2007) is not set up to accept email from forms and we would rather not have to maintain access accounts for personnel outside of our Company.

Data Connections

Data Connection not storing data for offline use