Can I convert birthdays of contacts to calendar items?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Robert Judge - 26 Dec 2004 14:29 GMT

I have Outllook 2002 contacts with birtdays. I would like to set alarm
notifcations for their birthdays. I would like to avoid having to re-type
the birthday information into separte caldendar items. Can I flag the items
in Contacts or copy them somehow into Calendar so that I will be prompted on
the birthday of the contact?

Reply to this Message

Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook] - 26 Dec 2004 16:00 GMT

Were these contacts imported? If yes, just change one item on the birthday
(change the year is an easy one) and the birthday will show up IF they are
in the default calendar.

Signature

--?
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After furious head scratching, Robert Judge asked:

| I have Outllook 2002 contacts with birtdays. I would like to set
| alarm notifcations for their birthdays. I would like to avoid having
| to re-type the birthday information into separte caldendar items.
| Can I flag the items in Contacts or copy them somehow into Calendar
| so that I will be prompted on the birthday of the contact?

Reply to this Message

Robert Judge - 26 Dec 2004 16:23 GMT

Milly:
I don't think I follow you. Yes, they were imported. I changed a date as
you suggested. Then I tried to copy that contact to Calendar, assuming it
must be in the calendar folder in order to appear as a calendar item.
However, when I try to copy the contact to Calendar, I get the error message,
"Error creating new mail..." Is there some difference between the regualr
Calendar and the "default calendar" to which you refer?

> Were these contacts imported? If yes, just change one item on the birthday
> (change the year is an easy one) and the birthday will show up IF they are
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> | Can I flag the items in Contacts or copy them somehow into Calendar
> | so that I will be prompted on the birthday of the contact?

Reply to this Message

Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook] - 26 Dec 2004 16:44 GMT

You misunderstood me completely. If you change one item on an imported
contacts item (Details Tab in the contact form) Birthday details, then save
and close the contact, the birthday will show on the calendar by default.
There is no need to do anything further.

The default calendar is the one that was created under Outlook Today by
Outlook when you installed it. If you are trying to get the birthday into a
calendar you created, you will need to manually create the birthday using
the new event form. You cannot drag a contact into the calendar and have it
create anything.

This is one reason that we advise you to never import items, just copy and
then open the .pst file - importing loses connections between contacts and
the calendar, as well as a myriad of other items. If you copy the .pst file
and use File->Open, everything will be there as it was before, including
connections between contacts and activities, birthdays/anniversaries, etc.

Signature

After furious head scratching, Robert Judge asked:

| Milly:
| I don't think I follow you. Yes, they were imported. I changed a
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
||| Can I flag the items in Contacts or copy them somehow into Calendar
||| so that I will be prompted on the birthday of the contact?

Reply to this Message

Robert Judge - 27 Dec 2004 17:14 GMT

OK, thank you, now I understand, and yes, I have this accomplished now. But
now another question, please. Outlook offers BIRTHDAY and ANNIVERSARY, and I
have entered both dates for some of my contacts. However, I would like to
use Contacts to keep another date field for each of my contacts, besides
their birthday and anniversary. I would want this date field to also trigger
alarm notifications in Calendar.

What would you suggest? I tried using on of the four USER fields and
formatting it as a date field. However, I notice that this field is NOT
creating a calendar entry even after I populate the field.

> You misunderstood me completely. If you change one item on an imported
> contacts item (Details Tab in the contact form) Birthday details, then save
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
> ||| Can I flag the items in Contacts or copy them somehow into Calendar
> ||| so that I will be prompted on the birthday of the contact?

Reply to this Message

Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook] - 28 Dec 2004 02:27 GMT

I don't know whether a user defined field will trigger a calendar event.
You might want to post this question to one of the Outlook programming
groups for a more expert answer.

Signature

After furious head scratching, Robert Judge asked:

| OK, thank you, now I understand, and yes, I have this accomplished
| now. But now another question, please. Outlook offers BIRTHDAY and
[quoted text clipped - 66 lines]
||||| Calendar
||||| so that I will be prompted on the birthday of the contact?

Reply to this Message

Rate this thread: