Linking tasks to Contacts

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Guest

Sorry about the post blast - I'm new to BCM and in a hurry!

I know that I can link a task to a contact by clicking the 'Link to Record'
button in a task. But that is pretty laborious!! Surely there is a way to
automatically link the task to a contact record when you click on New ask for
Contact? At the very least I would want to link the task to that contact!!!

Or am I expecting too much because I am used to more comprehensive contact
managers like ACT! and Goldmine?
 
If you have the contact open, you can use the New History Item button on the
ribon to start a new task, etc. and it will be automatically linked and
recorded in the contacts history.

Hope this helps.

Jeff
 
If you're in a list view, you can right click on the contact and choose
Create, New Task for Contact and it links that way too.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com
 
Ah!
Now there you have hit a problem that I was about to post about :)

If you create a new task by 'New Task for Contact', either by right click or
from the toolbar, the contact appears in the 'Conatcts' lne at the bottom of
the task and when you open the task you can open the contact for the task
from that link. I need to do this to get the telephone number and to review
the history!
BUT... the task is not linked to the contact so you cannot see it in the
Business contact history items in the contact. So I have to link the task as
a second action.

If you create the task by clicking on 'New' alongside the Business contact
history it gates linked to the contact so that you see it in the History but
there is no way of caling up the Contact information when the task pops up
for action. Nor does a contact name apear in the task list for the that task.
So, I cannot easily call up the contact and their contact history.

SO...
it appears that to use tasks sensibly (?) I have to both Link the task to a
record AND get the contact into the 'Contacts' link bar. I.E two actions.
Very unsatisfactory. Surely their MUST be a way of crearting a task that is
both linked to the contact AND has that contact in the contacts link bar. It
seems to me that if there is not that this is a major failing in BCM!!

Any ideas anyone? Am I missing something basic?
 
Lon,

I think that what is being described and lamented above is the need to
reverse link a BCM Business Contact Record in order to navigate TO it FROM
the native Outlook Task record. This topic has been discussed here a lot
over past years and the confusion remains due to the configured design nature
of BCM as a separate SQL db add-in to Outlook which has its own separate pst
native data file items. Because the Outlook UI is shared by these 2 apps and
appears seamless to the user, it can be confusing to grasp why the linking is
not automatically created as a 2 way navigatable link vs. an automatic 1 way
link. The assumed workflow usage behind the design of BCM seems to have been
that one will navigate only from the BCM record to the Task. Creating a
navigation link back to the BCM data item from the native Outlook item is
indeed still a required manual process after 4 years of BCM existance.

Perhaps a better job of documenting this required manual reverse 2-way
linking procedure would help users if it can't be changed to an automatic
linking.

-THP



Lon said:
If you're in a list view, you can right click on the contact and choose
Create, New Task for Contact and it links that way too.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com
Got that. Thanks!!
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
Click to expand...
 
Spot On mrtim!!

Tho I cannot understand why MS got this so wrong. One creates a task and
sets a reminder in order not to forget the task. When the task pops up for
action why would you NOT want to review the BCM contact record??

Geoff

mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com said:
Lon,

I think that what is being described and lamented above is the need to
reverse link a BCM Business Contact Record in order to navigate TO it FROM
the native Outlook Task record. This topic has been discussed here a lot
over past years and the confusion remains due to the configured design nature
of BCM as a separate SQL db add-in to Outlook which has its own separate pst
native data file items. Because the Outlook UI is shared by these 2 apps and
appears seamless to the user, it can be confusing to grasp why the linking is
not automatically created as a 2 way navigatable link vs. an automatic 1 way
link. The assumed workflow usage behind the design of BCM seems to have been
that one will navigate only from the BCM record to the Task. Creating a
navigation link back to the BCM data item from the native Outlook item is
indeed still a required manual process after 4 years of BCM existance.

Perhaps a better job of documenting this required manual reverse 2-way
linking procedure would help users if it can't be changed to an automatic
linking.

-THP



Lon said:
If you're in a list view, you can right click on the contact and choose
Create, New Task for Contact and it links that way too.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com
Got that. Thanks!!
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
contact
managers like ACT! and Goldmine?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Geoff,

Conducting a greater level of "real-world" BCM user testing would proactively
detect these kinds of navigation patterns and issues. I am encouraged and
believe that more attention from MS is now being given to this than
previously in the past. The kind of workflow pattern that you describe in
your post is very standard, everyday stuff. I commonly will open a task and
then before acting on the task may need to easily navigate to the particular
BCM Record that the task is linked to. Making the Outlook Task and
Appointment links a 1 time operation that create an automatic 2-way
navigation path vs. having to currently complete this second linking manually
would certainly be welcomed as a positive improvement in a future BCM update.
Hopefully sooner than later.

Best wishes,

-THP

Spot On mrtim!!

Tho I cannot understand why MS got this so wrong. One creates a task and
sets a reminder in order not to forget the task. When the task pops up for
action why would you NOT want to review the BCM contact record??

Geoff
Lon,
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
Click to expand...
 
For what it is worth this is the first of several reasons that I have elected
not to change contact managers from ACT! to BCM in spite of the fact that I
own the Office 2007 and I am very motivated to leave ACT!. After many
hours of evaluation I have decided that Microsoft needs a little more time to
solve issues like this one if they really want convert ACT! users. I would
love to hear about it if this issue is solved.

mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com said:
Geoff,

Conducting a greater level of "real-world" BCM user testing would proactively
detect these kinds of navigation patterns and issues. I am encouraged and
believe that more attention from MS is now being given to this than
previously in the past. The kind of workflow pattern that you describe in
your post is very standard, everyday stuff. I commonly will open a task and
then before acting on the task may need to easily navigate to the particular
BCM Record that the task is linked to. Making the Outlook Task and
Appointment links a 1 time operation that create an automatic 2-way
navigation path vs. having to currently complete this second linking manually
would certainly be welcomed as a positive improvement in a future BCM update.
Hopefully sooner than later.

Best wishes,

-THP

Spot On mrtim!!

Tho I cannot understand why MS got this so wrong. One creates a task and
sets a reminder in order not to forget the task. When the task pops up for
action why would you NOT want to review the BCM contact record??

Geoff
Lon,
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
contact
managers like ACT! and Goldmine?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I've whipped up a little vba that I think solves the majority (see the
caveat below) of the Task and Appointment linking complaints in BCM.
For convenience I'll just call this BCM Nexus (I like to name my bits
of vba for easy reference). When creating a new Task or Appointment
from a BCM Contact or Account record, BCM Nexus will automatically
insert the link back to the Contact or Account in the Contacts field
of the created Task or Apppointment. So when you open the Task or
Appointment from your default Tasks or Calendar folder, you can
navigate back to the BCM record (and associated History) by double-
clicking on the link in the Contacts field.

Here's what to do -- first, if you're running Outlook 2007, you may
need to "re-reveal" the Contacts field on your Task and Appointment
forms. Go to Tools | Options | Preferences Tab | Contact Options
Button | Check "Show Contact Linking on all Forms". Now insert the
following vba code in your ThisOutlookSession:

Option Explicit
Private WithEvents olInspectors As Outlook.Inspectors
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Private Sub Application_Startup()
Dim olApp As New Outlook.Application
Set olInspectors = olApp.Inspectors
End Sub

Private Sub olInspectors_NewInspector(ByVal pInspector As
Outlook.Inspector)
Dim olApp As Outlook.Application
Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace
Dim objItem As Object
Dim strID As String
Dim bcmContact As Outlook.ContactItem

Set olApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set objNS = olApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set objItem = pInspector.CurrentItem

If objItem.Class = olTask Or olAppointment Then
If Not objItem.UserProperties("TemporaryParentEntryId") Is
Nothing Then
strID = objItem.UserProperties("TemporaryParentEntryId")
Set bcmContact = objNS.GetItemFromID(strID)
objItem.Links.Add bcmContact
End If
End If

Set bcmContact = Nothing
Set objItem = Nothing
Set objNS = Nothing
Set olApp = Nothing
End Sub
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Private Sub Application_Quit()
Set olInspectors = Nothing
End Sub

Close and restart Outlook. That's it; you're done. Tasks and
Appointments created from BCM will include a native Outlook link back
to the BCM Contact.

Caveats and Disclaimers: I've only tested this with Outlook 2007.
Hopefully someone else will be so kind as to test it with 2003. This
only creates the link when initiated from the BCM side of things. If
you create a Task or Appointment from the default folders and then
link it to a BCM Contact/Account with the Ribbon button, the code
above doesn't come into play. You will still have to manually link to
the BCM Contact. For my own workflow this isn't a problem at all,
since essentially all of the time I would create the Task or
Appointment from within the BCM interface.

Hope this helps to make BCM a bit more useful.

Regards.....Bill Kratz
 
Bill,

You are officially hired by MS. Please move to Redmond, WA immediately and
show them the solution code you have written because this reverse linking
issue has remained through 4 long years and 2 updates!

Incentives anyone?

-THP
 
Thanks for the compliment. However, I already live within a few miles of
Redmond. Alas, I'm not in the software business; I'd have to qualify myself
as an older-amateur-wannabe-programmer who happens to be okay at ferreting
out workarounds.

Best Regards.....Bill Kratz
 
Hi,

This looks great - but I am getting a Microsoft VB message - compile error:

Expected: line number or label or statement or end of statement.

The first line of dashes are red, and the lines;

Private Sub olInspectors_NewInspector(ByVal pInspector As
Outlook.Inspector)

If Not objItem.UserProperties("TemporaryParentEntryId") Is
Nothing Then

followed by the last dashed line

are red too. I am sorry - but not a VB programmer just someone trying to
get the most of out BCM.

If you can give me a shove in the right direction I would be grateful.

Regds, Adam
 
Hi Adam -- Sorry, sort of my mistake. The dashed lines are not really part
of the code. Just remove them and let the VB Editor automatically insert the
lines separating the sections of code. I should have removed the dashes
before posting the code. Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

Regards.....Bill Kratz
 
Hi,

This looks great - but I am getting a Microsoft VB message - compile error:

Expected: line number or label or statement or end of statement.

The first line of dashes are red, and the lines;

Private Sub olInspectors_NewInspector(ByVal pInspector As
Outlook.Inspector)

If Not objItem.UserProperties("TemporaryParentEntryId") Is
Nothing Then

followed by the last dashed line

are red too. I am sorry - but not a VB programmer just someone trying to
get the most of out BCM.

If you can give me a shove in the right direction I would be grateful.

Regds, Adam
Click to expand...

BASIC is very line oriented. If something is meant to fit on a single
line, then it better fit.

That's the case with this:
If Not objItem.UserProperties("TemporaryParentEntryId") Is
Nothing Then
Click to expand...

The mail program wrapped it.

Format it back to a single line and the problem should be fixed.
 
Thanks for pointing that out Luther. This is my first time posting code on
this particular board. Do you have any experience on how to avoid the
wrapping problem in the future?

Regards.....Bill Kratz
 
Bill:

Thanks much!!! I entered the code and can see the Contacts field at the
bottom of my task form, but after creating the task there are no contacts
showing there. To create the task, I right click on the Business Contact
list and choose Create, New Task for Business Contact, and when I go back to
check, it is indeed linked to the business contact in Link Record.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com
 
Hi Lon -- Well, that's a little strange. The Contact Link should appear in
the Task (or Appointment) as soon as it opens in its Inspector form when you
select Create New Task for Business Contact. Two questions:

What version of Outlook BCM are you running?

When you say "when I go back to check, it is indeed linked to the business
contact in Link Record", do you mean that the Link is displayed in the
Contacts field of the Task form, or do you mean that it shows up if you
display the Contacts field in some list view?

Regards.....Bill Kratz
 
Bill:

I'm on BCM 2007, version 3.00.5828.00... What I mean by "checking" is to
click on Link to Record on the ribbon bar, in the Task dialog, and it shows
the contact I originally right clicked on to create the task. The Contacts
field at the bottom is there but no contacts are in it. Looking on the
view, that column is empty too.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com
 
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