• What are Integrated Electronic Forms?

• Key capabilities

• Microsoft Office Suite-level differentiation

What are Integrated Electronic Forms?

The 2007 Microsoft Office system release makes it easy to use electronic forms to automate business process and streamlines data collection. Office InfoPath 2007 provides the core form creation and completion capabilities and the Forms services provided by Office SharePoint Server 2007 facilitate the distribution and management of your electronic forms.

Electronic forms can be filled out using the Office InfoPath 2007 client or, when published to an Office SharePoint Server, they can be filled out using a browser. Developers can create rich documents solutions by embedding forms in Document Information Panels and Task Panes. Forms can also be distributed as embedded forms in Office Outlook 2007 e-mail messages so colleagues can complete them without leaving the familiar Outlook environment. For a complete description of the forms services available in the 2007 Microsoft Office release, see the InfoPath Forms Services section of the Office SharePoint site.

Key capabilities

E-Mail forms  The ability to embed an electronic InfoPath form within an Office Outlook 2007 e-mail message provides a fast, efficient way to collect information. In addition to making it easier for people to complete the forms, Outlook 2007 can automatically add the information from the form to an Office Access 2007 database or SharePoint list.

Document Information Panel  Support for InfoPath forms within the new document Information Panel enables organizations to define custom document properties and to initiate business processes from within a document based on those document properties. This capability enables organizations to much more easily collect process-specific metadata associated with the document.

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Microsoft Office Suite-level differentiation

To provide customers with flexibility in adopting technologies to meet the specific needs, access to these capabilities differs by suite:

KEY:
= Feature Included

Capability	Office Standard 20071	Office Professional Plus 2007	Office Enterprise 2007	Office Ultimate 2007
Electronic forms
Use the Office InfoPath 2007 application to create electronic forms.
E-mail forms
Complete, collect, and organize Office InfoPath 2007 e-mail forms in Office Outlook 2007.
Document Information Panel
Host embedded, fully customizable InfoPath forms in Office Word 2007, Office Excel 2007, and Office PowerPoint 2007.

¹ Other Microsoft Office suites share the same features as Office Standard. These suites include Office Basic 2007, Office Home and Student 2007, Office Small Business 2007, and Office Professional 2007.

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