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MS Office Forum / Outlook / New Users / July 2004Opening file from an item loses Word document properties
Hello, I have just discovered that when you double-click a Word file attached to an appointment item (although I imagine it will be the same for other items too), Outlook does not open the actual file, but takes a copy and puts it in the temp folder and opens that. This is a pain as it mucks up some of the automation coding I have done, but what's worse is that the copy doesn't seem to have the custom properties I have set. Is there any way of forcing Outlook to open the original, instead of a copy? Failing that, any ideas why the custom document property would have been lost in the copy ? TIA  SignatureAlan Silver (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) There is no "original" file. The attachment is a binary blob property on the message. In order to make it usable as a file, Outlook must save it first. Why does this cause a problem for your automation? I don't know of any reason why custom document properties wouldn't be available. Can you provide a test scenario? SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > TIA >There is no "original" file. The attachment is a binary blob property on the >message. In order to make it usable as a file, Outlook must save it first. Oh, that explains it. I've got so used to Windows creating shortcuts to files that I assumed that this was the same. >Why does this cause a problem for your automation? That itself isn't such a problem for the automation, it's the loss of properties that is the real problem. This just means that if someone double-clicks the file from the Outlook item and edits it, when they save it, it will not just save an updated version of the original. That makes life difficult for the users. If I can't get Outlook to open the original file, then the properties issue isn't relevant anyway as the user will have to open the original file anyway. >I don't know of any reason why custom document properties wouldn't be >available. Can you provide a test scenario? I don't know if anything short of the full code I have will demonstrate the problem. I can happily send you the Word template that contains the code if you like. I would post it here, but some people seem to object to binaries posted in these groups (not without reason I might add before anyone jumps on me !!). So my bigger issue is, can I add a shortcut to a Word doc instead of the binary blob ? Thanx SignatureAlan Silver (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) If the user opens the message, double-clicks the file, makes changes, saves the file, then sames the message, the updated file should be stored back in the message. You can certainly add a shortcut to a file. Because of security concerns about attachments, an HTML message body with an <a> link pointing to a file:// hyperlink would be my choice. SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > >There is no "original" file. The attachment is a binary blob property on the > >message. In order to make it usable as a file, Outlook must save it first. [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > Thanx >If the user opens the message, double-clicks the file, makes changes, saves >the file, then sames the message, the updated file should be stored back in >the message. Hmm, not a bad idea, except that the customer will want his Word files stored in his hard disk as files. Still, worth knowing about for other cases. >You can certainly add a shortcut to a file. Because of security concerns >about attachments, an HTML message body with an <a> link pointing to a >file:// hyperlink would be my choice. Now that sounds like a clever solution. How would I set the body of the message in code ? I don't know if it's relevant, but this is an appointment item, not a mail message. I couldn't see any property that would set this. Failing HTML, how would I put a shortcut in the body from code ? I'm using Office 97 if it makes any difference. Thanx very much for all the help SignatureAlan Silver (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) If it's an appointment item, try somethign along the lines of: Item.Body = "<file://\\server\share\filename.doc>" SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > >If the user opens the message, double-clicks the file, makes changes, saves > >the file, then sames the message, the updated file should be stored back in [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Thanx very much for all the help >If it's an appointment item, try somethign along the lines of: > >Item.Body = "<file://\\server\share\filename.doc>" Fantastic !! I never knew you could do that with the Body of an item. Any way I can make it a link, but have it displayed as just the file name ? Using the method above, the user sees the <file:// and > bits. Thanx very much. SignatureAlan Silver (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) Not in an appointment item, which doesn't support HTML. SignatureSue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx > >If it's an appointment item, try somethign along the lines of: > > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Thanx very much. >Not in an appointment item, which doesn't support HTML. OK, what I have is certainly better than what I had before, so I'm not complaining ;-) Thanx again for all the help SignatureAlan Silver (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) |
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