There are two distinct InfoPath modes in which you can work, depending on whether you are designing a form or filling it out.

• Filling out a form   When you fill out a form, the data from that form is saved in XML format. Depending on the form's design, you may be able to format the text in certain fields, work with the form offline, submit the form to a database or other data source, or work with different views of the form.
• Designing a form   If you want to design forms for other people to use, you can design form templates in design mode. In design mode, you can view and work with a form's underlying XML Schema, insert and format the controls that users will interact with, specify data validation, conditional formatting, rules, filters, and other settings, and even preview your form to test its appearance and behavior. InfoPath also provides a Publishing Wizard, which allows you to quickly make your forms available for others to fill out.

As you start working with InfoPath, you'll see many of the same toolbars, menus, and features found in other Microsoft Office System programs. For example, if you misspell a word in your form, InfoPath will mark the error with the familiar wavy red underline. Similarly, in certain fields, you can make text bold or underlined, change the color of the text, or even insert pictures and tables into the field. Traditional on-screen forms don't always allow this kind of customization.

Moreover, with traditional on-screen forms, people are often required to fill out and submit the form in one session. In InfoPath, however, you can save your form on your computer and complete it later, just as you would with any other file. For example, if you travel frequently as part of your job, you might use the time spent in an airport or on an airplane to fill out expense reports using your laptop. Later, when you're back at your desk and connected to your company's network, you can open the forms and submit them to your accounting department for processing.

InfoPath provides 25 sample forms that are designed to address common business scenarios, such as creating change orders or tracking project status. Sample forms can be filled out as is, customized to meet your specific needs, or used as examples to illustrate key features and design techniques. In addition, InfoPath includes four developer sample forms. Developer sample forms are an advanced set of forms that introduce development techniques for customizing and implementing InfoPath features, such as data validation.

InfoPath comes with tools for developers and other advanced users, including a script editor and an object model. These tools give developers the ability to design views, add custom code, control the run-time behavior of a form, and integrate custom forms directly with a server or Web service. Additionally, with the Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site, you can use Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 to create, debug, and build InfoPath projects that use Microsoft Visual C# or Microsoft Visual Basic .NET managed code. By using a combination of InfoPath to design forms and Visual Studio .NET to write code, you can build your project in debug or release mode. You can create new forms or add managed code to existing ones.

InfoPath can be used with a number of other Microsoft Office System programs. For example, users can export data from completed InfoPath forms to a Microsoft Office Excel 2003 spreadsheet. Form designers can distribute their forms using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, or use data from a Microsoft Office Access 2003 database to populate list boxes and other controls on a form.

You can publish InfoPath forms directly to a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services form library or create a data connection that allows forms to be submitted to a form library. This helps teams work more efficiently by providing a single location for storing and sharing InfoPath forms. InfoPath can also receive data from a form library or list. For example, the entries in a list box can come directly from, and reflect updates to, items in a Windows SharePoint Services list.