Create contact and appointment, then print templates

  • Thread starter Thread starter Connie
  • Start date Start date
C

Connie

I would like to create a form that will create or update
a contact, create a new appointment, print a couple of
word templates along with envelopes and send an email
just before the appointment is scheduled. I know it has
to be possible, somehow, but I'm at a loss where to
start. Do I want to go through word and then send the new
field to Outlook or incorporate the Word template into
Outlook? Should I use, or will I have to use VBA? I'm
assuming to print I'm going to being doing some code. Can
I do most of this with a form?
Thanks,
Connie
 
Any of those approaches would be valid. Factors to consider would be:

-- Is this for your own personal use or will other people in your
organization be using the application?

-- If the latter, are you working in an Exchange Server environment?

-- Do you want to automate as much of the functionality as possible?

A good place to start learning some basic Outlook automation is
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/vb.htm . You'll probably find the printing
routines at http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customprint.htm useful, too.
 
I also have the book "Using Microsoft Outlook 2003" by
Patricia Cardoza. I haven't been able to get a good
direction from it though. Maybe someone could direct me
where to go in the book to get a good start.
Thanks again,
Connie
 
I am working in an Exchange environment, but
unfortunately the majority of users here aren't even
aware that Outlook can do more than send emails. So...
for the time being I will be able to keep everything
local.
I definitely would like to automate as much as possible.
I am scheduling meetings between students, their
parents/guardians, administrators, nurses, teachers, etc.
The issues I have now are that there are multiple contact
methods and of course none of the employees are even
aware that Outlook can do scheduling. So snail and
electronic mail gets extensive. Along with a lot of paper
trails that must be kept in order survive any government
audit.
Connie
 
Since you're working in an Exchange environment, you might want to talk to
the Exchange administrator about getting access to publish custom forms to
the Organizational Forms library, which will make them available to
everyone.

Also, since it sounds like you're just starting out, I'd suggest that you
walk through Patricia's chapter on forms design and create a very simple
contact form for your personal use, so that you start to get a sense of
what's possible.

Then you can start sketching out the business logic for what you might want
to accomplish with your first custom form for everyone to use. To improve
the chances of adoption, you might want to pick a task that people find
difficult or troublesome now. It definitely sounds like you will need to
include some user education in the project, to get people to think beyond
email.

When you're ready for more advanced coding, you might want to pick up my
book or browse the articles on my web site, which cover a lot of the basics.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
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