Reading Pane Form - Changing it

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Guest

I've developed a custom form for my contacts (gave on on the archaic BCM
forms and non-solutions) and have that working - how do I change the reading
pane form to be the same as the (revised) default form now in use for my
contacts?

thanks.
 
You can't. Outlook does not display custom forms in the reading pane.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
thanks sue - okay, when I modify a custom form for my contacts, it appears to
me that the change is not reflected in all the contacts that use that form
.... Am I doing something wrong?

And if every contact isn't automatically updated with the same named form it
uses (quite unbelievable to me if true), then how do you automatically update
all existing contacts using the modified custom form? Please, oh please
don't tell me the only solution is to run scripts and modify the registry :-)

thanks.
 
After you modified the form, did you increment the version number and republish the form with the same name/message class?

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
uh oh -- in addition to the questions above, i"ve managed to change the form
in the preview pane after inserting the code above...it's now the old contact
form instead of the email preview form - what happened? I didn't apply any
new forms to the Inbox so it's weird but I'm sure completely explainable in
the outlook method of logic....thanks in advance...
 
got it to work by inserting code into the form - how do i get rid of the
"done" box that now pops up prior to every contact openning? If I eliminate
the code in that form, will the contacts keep using the new form, or does the
code need to run every time prior to openning a contact?

code was found here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=290659
 
Delete the MsgBox "Done" statement.

The code that you cited changes the MessageClass property on existing items so that they will use your custom form. You should run that form only once. You should ****not**** use that code in your own custom form.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
Inserting the code where? You only need to run that code once to change existing items.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
here is a follow up - when i receive a new email into my inbox, it shows as
it always has...however, when I create a contact from that email and my new
custom form shows up, the email in the preview pane now appears in a new form
- not the original form and not the new custom form (who said the preview
pane form couldnt be changed?!) - this doesn't happen in any of my other
folders, only the inbox yet when I check the properties of inbox it matches
the properties of all the subfolders I've created and store email messages
in...

ohhhh crapppp...i just created a contact from my sent folder and it changed
every single sent message over to the new custom form with the same miserable
form in the reading window....how the heck can this be sooo darn
unintuitive??? now what do I do?
 
I don't understand the concepts here - I put that code into my custom form
and left it there...if it's not supposed to go there, where does it go and
how do you run it across a particular folder to have that folders contents
reflect the use of the new form?

I'm pulling my hair out, I'm a frickin computer science major and this stuff
is unbelievably confusing...
 
From the KB article you cited:

Follow the steps below to create and run a VBScript routine that will change all the items in a folder to a specified form. This example assumes that you have published a new form called MyNewForm in the current folder. If you use a different name for your form, modify the form name used in the third line of code in the section "Enter the VBScript Code."

There are four steps you must take:

•Create a new item to store the VBScript code.
•Enter the VBScript code and save the form.
•Publish the form.
•Use the new form.

etc.

The "Use the new form" means "use it just once to change the existing items." In other words, Form #1 is the new contact form you published. Form #2 is the form that you create, using the steps in the KB article, solely for the purpose of running it once to change the MessageClass property on the existing items. You would likely never use Form #2 again. (And, as an aside, you could run the same code from a VBA procedure instead of the Item_Open event handler in Form #2; it's an old article.)

This statement in the code determines which folder it acts on:

Set CurFolder = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder

ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder is the folder that the user is currently viewing.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
The basic problem, I'm afraid to say, is that you're running code without understanding what it does. The code in the article changes the message class of all the items in the folder that the user is currently looking at. It is a separate routine, not something to include in your original form's code. My other post explains in more detail.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
I should also say that I tried creating a new email message to insert that
data into by designing "that" form but it wouldn't let me "design" the form
from the tools menu - not sure why but it's par for the course....in fact
design form isn't even an option on the tools menu (OL 2003)....
 
If you are using Word as your email editor, you must turn it off before you can use the Tools | Forms | Design This Form command on a mail message. You can, however, always use the Tools | Forms | Design a Form command, regardless of the editor you're using.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
thanks - i pulled the code out of the form and now any new messages remain as
they were - I need to figure out the default inbox form and run that through
the messages in the inbox again...here's what's interesting - the data in the
reading window, even though it was ugly, was getting transferred to the new
custom contact form - I'd like to now take data from an email and
automatically link/transfer it to a newly created contact - how do I do that?
the email addy and the name usually get transferred but nothing
else...ideally I'd like to email someone a form and then automatically input
the data from that form into their contact info when the form arrives...is
that doable?

thanks again.
 
Use IPM.Note as the MessageClass for messages.

The code sample at http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=645 shows how to create a task from the information in a mail message and could be adapted to make a contact instead.

You probably won't be able to send someone an Outlook form and have them use it to send back meaningful data unless their in your own Exchange organization.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
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