Letter Wizard Agony

I simply cannot believe the difficulty I am having trying to do something
that is very easy in most other contact management packages I have worked
with (Act, etc)

All I want to do is begin in Outlook (2003) on a contact, click to write a
letter (Actions/new letter to contact) and have it fire up a Word (2003)
template with a standard letter format, filling in the Outlook data for the
salutation, etc...then letting me type the body. I have read numerous posts
in this group related to doing similar things, but none of the solutions are
satisfactory. Not even close. These products are made by the same company
why would they not be able to communicate with each other? I know I know, I
can follow through the letter wizard, clicking on a gazillion different
things BUT I DON'T want to do that every time when I have several different
letters to write. I can EASILY automate this using ACT, which by the way
works better with word than Outlook does! Imagine that!

I know how to create a letter template that will appear in the Document list
(within the letter wizard) but what good is that if I can't tell word what
Outlook fields to use and where to put them? I go seeking Template help
online and guess where Microsoft takes me? To a bunch of 3rd party locations
advertising their wares. I have found at least 20 different articles on or
related to this subject but I cannot belive it is so complicated. Don't
direct me to slipstik either, I love the site but there isn't much there on
outlook 2003.....

Sorry for venting...just frustrated over what should be a 15 minute chore
turning into hours of research and still no solution....

If anyone is kind enough to respond I'll thank you in advance!

Steve V.

The page on slipstick is the most comprehensive list of alternatives there
is. I agree. None is facile. Everything still revolves around their mail
merge function, which is a beast.
You might as well post this where it will do some good and add your voice to
ours. This ain't the place.
You can send Outlook feature requests to
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Steve V." wrote in message
...
I simply cannot believe the difficulty I am having trying to do something
that is very easy in most other contact management packages I have worked
with (Act, etc)

All I want to do is begin in Outlook (2003) on a contact, click to write a
letter (Actions/new letter to contact) and have it fire up a Word (2003)
template with a standard letter format, filling in the Outlook data for
the salutation, etc...then letting me type the body. I have read numerous
posts in this group related to doing similar things, but none of the
solutions are satisfactory. Not even close. These products are made by the
same company why would they not be able to communicate with each other? I
know I know, I can follow through the letter wizard, clicking on a
gazillion different things BUT I DON'T want to do that every time when I
have several different letters to write. I can EASILY automate this using
ACT, which by the way works better with word than Outlook does! Imagine
that!

I know how to create a letter template that will appear in the Document
list (within the letter wizard) but what good is that if I can't tell word
what Outlook fields to use and where to put them? I go seeking Template
help online and guess where Microsoft takes me? To a bunch of 3rd party
locations advertising their wares. I have found at least 20 different
articles on or related to this subject but I cannot belive it is so
complicated. Don't direct me to slipstik either, I love the site but there
isn't much there on outlook 2003.....

Sorry for venting...just frustrated over what should be a 15 minute chore
turning into hours of research and still no solution....

If anyone is kind enough to respond I'll thank you in advance!

Steve V.

Thanks for the response. Just re-posted at the site you suggested. Hope 1
more voice tips the scales...

- SV

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
The page on slipstick is the most comprehensive list of alternatives there
is. I agree. None is facile. Everything still revolves around their mail
merge function, which is a beast.
You might as well post this where it will do some good and add your voice
to ours. This ain't the place.
You can send Outlook feature requests to
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Steve V." wrote in message
...
I simply cannot believe the difficulty I am having trying to do something
that is very easy in most other contact management packages I have worked
with (Act, etc)

All I want to do is begin in Outlook (2003) on a contact, click to write
a letter (Actions/new letter to contact) and have it fire up a Word
(2003) template with a standard letter format, filling in the Outlook
data for the salutation, etc...then letting me type the body. I have read
numerous posts in this group related to doing similar things, but none of
the solutions are satisfactory. Not even close. These products are made
by the same company why would they not be able to communicate with each
other? I know I know, I can follow through the letter wizard, clicking on
a gazillion different things BUT I DON'T want to do that every time when
I have several different letters to write. I can EASILY automate this
using ACT, which by the way works better with word than Outlook does!
Imagine that!

I know how to create a letter template that will appear in the Document
list (within the letter wizard) but what good is that if I can't tell
word what Outlook fields to use and where to put them? I go seeking
Template help online and guess where Microsoft takes me? To a bunch of
3rd party locations advertising their wares. I have found at least 20
different articles on or related to this subject but I cannot belive it
is so complicated. Don't direct me to slipstik either, I love the site
but there isn't much there on outlook 2003.....

Sorry for venting...just frustrated over what should be a 15 minute chore
turning into hours of research and still no solution....

If anyone is kind enough to respond I'll thank you in advance!

Steve V.