Opening InfoPath form from email opens read-only version?

Question

A similar question was asked on Opening Infopath form via OOTB Notification but never answered.

I'm working on a rewrite of 5 step approval process workflow on a new SharePoint 2010 server.

The link from the out of the box email that is sent out when an approval task is assigned to a user seems to open the form in read-only mode.

If the same user accesses the InfoPath form from SharePoint directly, the form opens up without the read-only restriction.

At first I thought this was some compatibility issues with older versions of Office but this does not seem to be the case.

The link from the email looks like this:http://sp/HR/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XmlLocation=http://sp/HR/eForms/ePA-2012-03-05T11_01_04_10001_Other_%20Provide%20through%20explanation.xml

From the server the link is just http://sp/HR/eForms/ePA-2012-03-05T11_01_04_10001_Other_%20Provide%20through%20explanation.xml

Users have modified contribute permissions to the file. The ability to create views has been removed...

How can I resolve this issue?

Answer 1

Hi SharePoint,

I can't reproduce this issue. And on my side, the related form URL in email is http://server/form library/formname.xml. Have you modified the OOB approval workflow?

Please check it by opening its top site in SharePoint Designer > Workflows > Approval - SharePoint 2010 > Edit workflow > Click Approval > Change the behavior of a single task > under When a Task is Pending section > open the first Email task notification action > In email body, it is the following valiables under To complete this task:

1. Review [%Task Process:Item Title%]. [%Variable:internetLink%]

Here [%Task Process:Item Title%] is used to display the Name field of current form item. And browser to the form library, we can see the Name field stores the link like this: http://server/form library/formname.xml

If the problem persists, I would like suggest you to create a reusable workflow or create a list workflow for that form library with only Start Approval Process action in it instead.

Best regards,
Emir

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Emir Liu

TechNet Community Support

Answer 2

I've not been able to reproduce the issue either.

Perhaps it was a glitch as on a second round it worked.

It was just odd that closing the form and reopening it from the email link wouldn't work but direct access from the library had no issues.

The notification wasn't modified but it's good to know that I can.

Thanks for posting!