Customised forms and data imported from Access

I'm importing a fairly simple address list from a MS Access database into
outlook, and it comes in really well and will save a lot of typing. Only
problem is that I want to customise the general form, adding two new fields
with yes/no answers. I have learned how to do this for a test file in
Outlook using dummy entries and this worked well too. However, when I then
import the Access data it will only use the default general form, not
including my two added fields. I've done the Forms management thing as
described in both the product support articles and on this forum. Is the
problem to do with what I'm doing with the form, or the fact that the data is
imported from Access?
I'd appreciate help in a fairly simple format as I'm only a competent user,
rather than a technical person.

Also, I'm using the application on one stand alone laptop, so no networking
complications
Thanks

I tried to make a work around by designing a new custom form and I was able
to do this with the Access data for the item I opened to get into design
mode, but then couldn't apply this new form to every item in the folder,
again using the forms management option etc.

Outlook does not support importing to a custom form, nor importing custom fields. You would need to write your own import code or use a third-party tool. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"SarahF" wrote in message ...
I'm importing a fairly simple address list from a MS Access database into
outlook, and it comes in really well and will save a lot of typing. Only
problem is that I want to customise the general form, adding two new fields
with yes/no answers. I have learned how to do this for a test file in
Outlook using dummy entries and this worked well too. However, when I then
import the Access data it will only use the default general form, not
including my two added fields. I've done the Forms management thing as
described in both the product support articles and on this forum. Is the
problem to do with what I'm doing with the form, or the fact that the data is
imported from Access?
I'd appreciate help in a fairly simple format as I'm only a competent user,
rather than a technical person.

Also, I'm using the application on one stand alone laptop, so no networking
complications
Thanks

I tried to make a work around by designing a new custom form and I was able
to do this with the Access data for the item I opened to get into design
mode, but then couldn't apply this new form to every item in the folder,
again using the forms management option etc.

Thanks for this.

I figured out a work around - I created the two new fields, which were
Christmas Card? and Filofax? (They are both yes/no fields, with obvious
effect), in a customised form, which I can't use with the imported data.
However, if I use the 'All Fields' tab, and select the custom form to select
fields from it shows them, and I can change them. I can also look at the
data in 'phone list' view and customise the view, again adding the two fields
from the unusable form. This means I can run down the phone list and check
or uncheck as I want, and then use the 'sort' and 'group by' functions to
separate out the entries I want to print off for my filofax, and the entries
I want to print labels for my christmas cards for, which is what I was trying
to achieve.

I'm a big fan of Outlook and it seems a shame that such a good product
should be a bit clunky in this respect.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Outlook does not support importing to a custom form, nor importing custom fields. You would need to write your own import code or use a third-party tool. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"SarahF" wrote in message ...
I'm importing a fairly simple address list from a MS Access database into
outlook, and it comes in really well and will save a lot of typing. Only
problem is that I want to customise the general form, adding two new fields
with yes/no answers. I have learned how to do this for a test file in
Outlook using dummy entries and this worked well too. However, when I then
import the Access data it will only use the default general form, not
including my two added fields. I've done the Forms management thing as
described in both the product support articles and on this forum. Is the
problem to do with what I'm doing with the form, or the fact that the data is
imported from Access?
I'd appreciate help in a fairly simple format as I'm only a competent user,
rather than a technical person.

Also, I'm using the application on one stand alone laptop, so no networking
complications
Thanks

I tried to make a work around by designing a new custom form and I was able
to do this with the Access data for the item I opened to get into design
mode, but then couldn't apply this new form to every item in the folder,
again using the forms management option etc.

Another approach: To change existing items so that they display using a published custom message form, you need to change the value of the MessageClass property on each item so that it points to the published form's class, e.g. IPM.Contact.MyForm. The page at http://www.outlookcode.com/d/newdefaultform.htm has links to scripts and tools to do this.


--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"SarahF" wrote in message news
Thanks for this.

I figured out a work around - I created the two new fields, which were
Christmas Card? and Filofax? (They are both yes/no fields, with obvious
effect), in a customised form, which I can't use with the imported data.
However, if I use the 'All Fields' tab, and select the custom form to select
fields from it shows them, and I can change them. I can also look at the
data in 'phone list' view and customise the view, again adding the two fields
from the unusable form. This means I can run down the phone list and check
or uncheck as I want, and then use the 'sort' and 'group by' functions to
separate out the entries I want to print off for my filofax, and the entries
I want to print labels for my christmas cards for, which is what I was trying
to achieve.

I'm a big fan of Outlook and it seems a shame that such a good product
should be a bit clunky in this respect.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Outlook does not support importing to a custom form, nor importing custom fields. You would need to write your own import code or use a third-party tool. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm


"SarahF" wrote in message ...
I'm importing a fairly simple address list from a MS Access database into
outlook, and it comes in really well and will save a lot of typing. Only
problem is that I want to customise the general form, adding two new fields
with yes/no answers. I have learned how to do this for a test file in
Outlook using dummy entries and this worked well too. However, when I then
import the Access data it will only use the default general form, not
including my two added fields. I've done the Forms management thing as
described in both the product support articles and on this forum. Is the
problem to do with what I'm doing with the form, or the fact that the data is
imported from Access?
I'd appreciate help in a fairly simple format as I'm only a competent user,
rather than a technical person.

Also, I'm using the application on one stand alone laptop, so no networking
complications
Thanks

I tried to make a work around by designing a new custom form and I was able
to do this with the Access data for the item I opened to get into design
mode, but then couldn't apply this new form to every item in the folder,
again using the forms management option etc.