Unable to enter design mode

[Graham Barclay]

I have just recieved InfoPath from one of my company's software governance
people to test as a potential tool for my team - however I'm having a bizzare
problem.

"Design Mode" seems to be perminantly disabled at a program level. The
"Design a Form" mode buttons do not appear in any menu or on any toolbar, and
the Design task panes do not exist. Perhaps most bizzare, when I try to add
the "Design a Form" button from the Customize Toolbars options, the command
will not "stick" - I can drag it onto the toolbars, but it will not actually
move, vanishing the second I release my mouse button.

A complete reinstall has not helped the situation. Am I dealing with a bad
version of the software, or am I stuck in some kind of "demo" mode?

 

[Adam Harding]

Not heard of this problem, have you got SP1 or SP2 installed as you need SP1
to do all but very rudimentary stuff in Infopath, try that.

When you open Infopath it should present you with a big window with the
Design a Form option on the LHS of the window. failing that it exists in the
file menu normally too.

It is not just that design a form is hidden as it is not a result you have
used before?

Sorry if that is rude but always worth asking

Cheers adam

 

[Senabiya]

Were you ever able to resolve this? Myself and a collegue are having the
same issue - however others within our company have full functionality.
Can't figure it out!

 

[Graham]

Sadly, no, I haven't.

I am thinking, however, that it may have something to do with permissinos on
a closed network. The admins may have to give the users specific permissions
to use the "design" side of Infopath, rather then just being able to enter
information.

Unfortunitly, since I am trying to test-run the program when it hasn't been
used before by any part of the company, none of the admins here have any clue
how to set it up properly, and I - a "lowly technical writer" - am of no help
either. I've been stuck testing out the functionality of the program using
the "Try Online" demo of office found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/trial/default.mspx


If anyone ever manages to find the solution, and post it here, I know my
team would appreciate it. No point in buying Infopath if we can't even get
our demo to work correctly.

 

[Chris]

I normally get into design mode by right-clicking xsn/xsf files in
Explorer and choosing Design. It'll probably be blocked like all the
other methods, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Graham]

Sadly, XP does not even offer me this option.