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MS Office Forum / Outlook / Programming Forms / May 2008Changing the default form for a contact folder
Hello- Platform: Outlook/ Exchange 2K3. I've created a public "contacts" folder that I'm looking to import demographics from another CRM program into. The contacts from the other program had some custom fields such as "policy number", "group number" etc. and were exported as a .csv file. I have created a custom form with the needed fields and published it to my public contacts folder. I can access my form the "actions" menu but is there a way to make my new form the default form for that folder so that when I import my data I can map to the corresponding fields and when a new contact is created in that folder my custom form will run, not the default Outlook contacts form. I.e. - Can the default Outlook forms be replaced with custom forms and will my data import idea work? Hope this is somewhat clear. Thanks in advance. Chris Look at the PRoperties dialog for the folder and you'll see where you can specify the folder's default form, which will be used for all new items. However, Outlook doesn't support importing to a custom form or to custom fields. You'd have to write custom code or use a third-party application. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm.  SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Hello- > Platform: Outlook/ Exchange 2K3. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Thanks in advance. > Chris I have tried this solution and although the custom form is in the "associate this form with this folder"tab, the default contact form still comes up when I press the "new" button. I have tried going into the properties, but it will not let me click on the "only allow this form" option, it is greyed out. Help! I am trying to make this work for a small company with some people with very limited computer skills, and they WILL NOT be able to navigate to a custom form when they need to enter a contact > Look at the PRoperties dialog for the folder and you'll see where you can > specify the folder's default form, which will be used for all new items. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Thanks in advance. > > Chris Did you also change the setting for "When posting to this folder, use"? SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx >I have tried this solution and although the custom form is in the "associate > this form with this folder"tab, the default contact form still comes up when [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >> fields. You'd have to write custom code or use a third-party application. >> See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm. >> > Hello- >> > Platform: Outlook/ Exchange 2K3. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >> > Thanks in advance. >> > Chris Thanks a million! I don't know how I missed that. Can I take this form and copy it to my coworkers computer for her to use. I cannot find it on the hard drive. If I move it, where should I put it so that I can navigate to it to let it be her default form. We are going to have a new Outlook guru here soon, hopefully she can put this on the server for us, but in the meantime, this would be very helpful! > Did you also change the setting for "When posting to this folder, use"? > [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > >> > Thanks in advance. > >> > Chris If you want to save a form for use on another machine, open it in design mode, then use the File | Save As command to save it as an .oft file. You can copy that file to the other person's machine, publish it there, and go through the same steps to set the default form as you already performed on your machine. SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Thanks a million! I don't know how I missed that. Can I take this form and > copy it to my coworkers computer for her to use. I cannot find it on the [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] >> >> > Thanks in advance. >> >> > Chris Sue, I tried everything you talked about, and if I create a new contact I get my new form. If I open an existing contact, it opens in the ol form. The "allow these forms" is greyed out. BC What's the value of the Message Class property for the existing item? SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Sue, I tried everything you talked about, and if I create a new contact, > I get my new form. If I open an existing contact, it opens in the old > form. The "allow these forms" is greyed out. > > BCG Sue, I've created my new form, published it in the respective folder, set the form up to post to this new folder, but cannot open the form when I click in "new". I get the following error message "an error occurred registering the form in the OLE registry". What's wrong? JK > What's the value of the Message Class property for the existing item? > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > > > BCG Do you get the same result when you run the form from the Actions menu? What kind of form and folder? SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Sue, > I've created my new form, published it in the respective folder, set the form [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >> > >> > BCG Yes. I get the same result from the Actions menu. I created a new Contacts folder to utilize, and I published the new form I created to the folder. Should there be some kind of confirmation that the process was complete when I publish the form? There seems to be a problem either with the publishing process or the linking of the form to the folder. > Do you get the same result when you run the form from the Actions menu? What kind of form and folder? > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >> > > >> > BCG There is no confirmation message. Once the form is published, you'll see it in the Manage Forms dialog for the folder and on the folder's Actions menu. I would try clearing the forms cache and, if that doesn't work, deleting the published form and republishing. You did make a backup copy as an .oft file, right? SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Yes. I get the same result from the Actions menu. > I created a new Contacts folder to utilize, and I published [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >> > I get the following error message "an error occurred registering the form in >> > the OLE registry". Sue.. yes I have the oft template saved. I deleted the published form and cleared the cache... started over from scratch with same results. Now what? > There is no confirmation message. Once the form is published, you'll see it in the Manage Forms dialog for the folder and on the folder's Actions menu. > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > >> > I get the following error message "an error occurred registering the form in > >> > the OLE registry". I figured it out.. it wasn't properly saving the oft file before publishing it. Now I need to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet to my new contacts form. Thanks > Sue.. yes I have the oft template saved. I deleted the published form and > cleared [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > >> > I get the following error message "an error occurred registering the form in > > >> > the OLE registry". Outlook doesn't support importing to a custom form. You'd have to write custom code or use a third-party application. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm. SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Now I need to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet to my new > contacts form. I was able to successfully write a code to get the imported forms to open in my new form. Thanks. > Outlook doesn't support importing to a custom form. You'd have to write custom code or use a third-party application. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm. > > > Now I need to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet to my new > > contacts form. Sue, this sounds totally insane to me... You write: "However, Outlook doesn't support importing to a custom form or to custom fields. You'd have to write custom code or use a third-party application. " If this really is true, I will consider going back to good ole DOS, in my Open Access DB I never had any problems with forms/masks etc. - and you tell us that Bill Gates has not been able to offer us a possibility to import data to a contact file, let's say from Access .mdb if the form has been redesigned? I have been waisting ONE day with this totally stupid problem, it simply HAS TO BE POSSIBLE... And MS beeing totally without the will to perform what I would call normal service. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE????????? People are walking on the moon, and here we are not able to import contacts to a contacts database; mapping our new fields???????????? ... I'm sorry Sue, but this - to me - sounds totally mentally retarded from Microsoft!! BR Jonna Basberg, Oslo, Norway ... ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, > I was able to successfully write a code to get the imported forms to open > in my new form. Thanks. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > > Now I need to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet to my new > > > contacts form. Nobody said it was impossible, only that it would take a little extra effort or expense. People have been importing data into Outlook from a variety of sources for some 10 years, so there are plenty of code samples available. Whether it's worth the effort is, of course, up to you to decide. SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Sue, this sounds totally insane to me... > [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] >> > > Now I need to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet to my new >> > > contacts form. ;)) hmm... Sue - I think I got a lil excited yesterday (night) - hope you excuse me - when having finished my new form and it looked soooo well - and then, as you says: "It comes as a big shock to many people that you cannot use Outlook's built-in Import and Export wizard to handle data in custom forms." So I have to do this the hard way and try to it in VBA (which I never did before *sigh*).. Without beeing rude, I think it's like this; Microsoft offers us a way to add a room or two to our condo, but we cannot use them (without totally rebuilding the condo once more)... I understand perfectly well how they can earn so much money, as they - in fact - don't give any support to normal people at all... "I hope your new car will work well, Sir - as we don't support it" .... BR Jonna > Nobody said it was impossible, only that it would take a little extra effort or expense. People have been importing data into Outlook from a variety of sources for some 10 years, so there are plenty of code samples available. Whether it's worth the effort is, of course, up to you to decide. > > Sue, this sounds totally insane to me... [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > >> > > Now I need to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet to my new > >> > > contacts form. Sue...my question is similar to the very first question on this thread. Maybe you can help me. I've created a custom Contact form with some special fields. I have associated it with the proper shared Contact folder we have in the Public folders area. When my users create a new contact in this folder the correct special form pops up. However when a user opens a Contact in this folder, the correct special form opens properly, but if the user selects "New Contact from the Same Company" in the contact only the default contact form appears, NOT the special custom contact form I created. How can I get my special contact form to be used when a user selects "New Contact from the Same Company". Thank you for any help you might provide. Rich > Nobody said it was impossible, only that it would take a little extra effort or expense. People have been importing data into Outlook from a variety of sources for some 10 years, so there are plenty of code samples available. Whether it's worth the effort is, of course, up to you to decide. > > Sue, this sounds totally insane to me... [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > >> > > Now I need to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet to my new > >> > > contacts form. You can't. That command uses only the default contact form, the global default, not the folder-level default. SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming: Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54 > I've created a custom Contact form with some special fields. I have > associated it with the proper shared Contact folder we have in the Public [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > How can I get my special contact form to be used when a user selects "New > Contact from the Same Company". Then can I change the global default to use my special contact form? That would actually work better because that way if a user added a contact even to his own contacts folder he would use my special contact form. > You can't. That command uses only the default contact form, the global default, not the folder-level default. > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > How can I get my special contact form to be used when a user selects "New > > Contact from the Same Company". Yes, you can change the global default by modifying the Windows registry. See http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=39 SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming: Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54 > Then can I change the global default to use my special contact form? That > would actually work better because that way if a user added a contact even to [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >> > How can I get my special contact form to be used when a user selects "New >> > Contact from the Same Company".
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