Restored infopath forms still opening using the new template.xsn?

Question

I did a site restore from an unattached database in order to get back all of my old infopath forms held in a document library. Reason being that I had modified (deleted and replaced with new fields) the template.xsn and published it forgetting that it would cause data loss.

Although I used the .mdf backup file (production backup), attached, exported and imported (to my development env.) the entire site that held the document library, the forms when opened still open up with the new temlate. Now this I understand as it is still pointing to the production library template.

However, in spite of an edit to point to the newly restored backup document library template (which is the old one I am looking for) it continues to open up with the new template.

I have lost a bunch of data and am quite sure I am close to getting it back.

Please advise.

Answer 1

I would have tried, consecutively, one step after another, in the following order:

1) to clear Infopath templates caches on local machines which are in

• on XP
  C:\Documents and Settings\< UserName >\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\InfoPath\
  or %APPDATA%\Microsoft\InfoPath\FormCache3
• on Windows 7/Vista/2008
  C:\Users\< UserName >\AppData\Local\Microsoft\InfoPath\

2) to republish the old template
3) to relink XML data forms to old template
4) to clear "Allow users to fill out this form if data is unavailable" in Infopath Form Options(on ribbon File > Info in Infopath Designer 2010)

5) to tweak default Form Options > Versioning

For example, to change Update template: from default "Automatically update the template recommended)" to "Let form users to decide when to update"