One form: open it as text
Right-click the .xml file, choose Open with, and pick a browser or Notepad. You'll see the raw XML: every field name in angle brackets with the answer between them. Fine for checking one value, hard going for a long form.
One form: open it in Excel
In Excel, File, Open, choose the .xml file and pick "As an XML table". Excel builds a table from the fields. Repeating sections, like expense lines, become extra rows, so one form can turn into several rows.
Many forms: one spreadsheet
For a folder or a library of them, drop the files (or a .zip) into the InfoPath to Excel converter. It reads every form in your browser and gives you a CSV with one row per form and one column per field, which opens in Excel. Nothing is uploaded: the forms never leave your computer.
What you can't do without InfoPath
- See the form's layout: the look of the form lives in the template (.xsn), not in the filled-in .xml. Without InfoPath you get the answers, not the form design.
- Edit and resubmit: editing the XML by hand is possible but easy to break. Rebuild the form in Power Apps or Microsoft Forms for new submissions.
Which .xml files are InfoPath forms?
Open one in Notepad: an InfoPath form starts with a line containing mso-infoPathSolution. Files without it are some other kind of XML.