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InfoPath Form Attachments

If you have an InfoPath form in an InfoPath Forms Services library and one of the fields in the form is an attachment field you may get an error when you attempt to attach any files larger than 5MB when viewing the form through the MOSS web interface.  You will get this error even though the Farm is configured to allow much larger file attachments on document libraries and other upload routes? 

The error reads 
"The selected file is too large and is causing the form to exceed the amount of allowable resources.  Select another file."

This error relates to the attachments for the form, not the form itself and it's a forms services configuration problem in Central Admin.

Under SharePoint Central Admin, under Application Management and InfoPath Forms Services Configuration, there is a setting for "Form Session State" and the default size is 4 MB.  Its used to store transient data that exists when a form is being filled in.

That default size impacts the upload capability of any infopath form with attachments - so increase it but don't go silly as on a busy site with lots of attachments, lots of forms and other document libraries being subjected to upload it may impact your SQL and memory resources if you don't have the the session state serfvice or forms viewstate service correctly setup .

If you are going to change this setting - read this Technet article first.
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/3c4e8fb1-c3ce-4d27-8c65-6c4ab140f7051033.mspx?mfr=true

It's also a useful pointer for anyone who's forms data is simply not being accepted or dissapearing on submission.

This is a massively complex topic and one you normally need a lot of experience to attempt to do and expect to have a credible answer.  However, MVP Cornelius van Dyke has put in a  lot of legwork to create an online tool to help with this.

You can find it here:

http://www.cjvandyk.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=100

If you feel like doing it the hard way then the HP sizing guide is what you need.

You can find that here:

http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/cache/70675-0-0-0-121.html

If you have ever wondered how to set restrictions to allow access only for users in a particular organizational unit (OU) to a MOSS site collection without naming all the people in it then this article might just make your day. 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943100

The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (including SP1) Solution Accelerator for System Center Ops Manager 2007 Management (SCOM) has finally come out of Beta.  If your running MOSS and want to get rid of all those annoying errors in the event log created by the Beta SCOM client then this might do the trick.

Get it here:

Sharepoint Monitoring Toolkit