Blank lists when adding contact or account

[Adrian]

If I am in an account and I want to define the primary contact, I click on
the button to the left of the primary contact field. This gives me a dialog
which invites me to type aname or select one from the list. The list appears
blank - not even any writing in the header boxes. If I start to type a name
the blue marker in the list jumps down to a position in the list, so the list
is there, but it is as if the display colour is white. How do I get to see
what is in the list?

I get the same problem if I'm in an Business Contact record an want to add
an Account.

 

[Julie NZ]

I have exactly the same problems, and it's driving me nutz! I am supposed to
launch my business on July 1st and I have spend hours setting up both
Accounts and Contacts, to find that the interface appears decidedly dodgy.
When I first started using BCM I was able to add both Primary and Business
Contacts, by typing them in. Now, some couple of months down the track, only
some of them show up.
I have tried the 'Help' Section and that tells me how to add Contacts to
Accounts, but it does not work.
I have absolutely NO no list appearing, (see only a blank white field - one
line), even though I have numerous contacts listed in my 'Business Contacts
File', from when I entered them via Accounts when I was setting them up. You
may also find that you can not add or change an Account Name for a Contact
if, for some reason, you did not enter it the first time.
I have reinstalled BCM but it has not changed anything.

 

[Adrian]

Hi Julie,

I think your problem is slightly different. I have two machines and I have
tried BCM on both. On machine 2, if I try to add a primary contact to an
account I get a blank list, but the headins are there. If I type in a name
notyhing happens in the blank list and when I press OK I see nothing in the
primary contact filed. However, if I then click on the extend arrow at the
right of the primary contact field the contact name appears. I can then
click on it and it then appears in the field. Bizarre or what?

The other way round, adding an account to a contact works OK. Unfortunatley
it is machine 1 that I need BCM to work - machine 2 was just for play.

Hope this helps you

Adrian

 

[Julie NZ]

Ummmmmm, thanks for trying Adrian, but no, it doesn't help .
I have not a thing showing when I try to access the list of
contacts.....there is not even an invisible list there. I note that no-one
has offered either of us any practical help....is this the norm here?

I wrote to the Business Contact Manager Team and received this response......
'Please try out these steps to solve your problem
Verify that there exists at least 1 Business Contact which is yet to be
linked to an Account. Note that one Business Contact can be linked to one and
only one Account
2. If the above is true, then probably there is a Forms Cache
corruption issue. Business Contact Manager sometimes has what's known as a
"forms cache" problem. Clearing the cache usually fixes it. Choose Tools à
Options à Other à Advanced Options à Custom Forms, and then click Manage
Forms, then Clear Cache. Note.
If simply clearing the cache doesn't fix the issue, try the other steps
detailed at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;836558
The bulk of the forms cache issues in Outlook 2003 are fixed in Service Pack
1, so you should also install Office 2003 Service Pack 1 as well as BCM SP1.'

Hopes this helps YOU...
Julie

 

[Adrian]

Hi Julie,

Many thanks that looks to have sorted the problem. Oddly I had to do it
twice.

This support system here does seem strange. I think it is Microsoft's way
of looking as if they give support without actually doing so. As far as I
can see this is only a user forum and no one from Microsoft looks at it.
Microsoft apparently allow you two calls for any one product (I bet the whole
of office is one product) and then you have to pay, so they don't have an
interest in helping us here.

I hope you can get to the bottom of your problem. I only have a few
contacts as yet so I wait to see what happens as I fill it up!

Once again thanks for your help.

Best wishes

Adrian

 

[Adrian]

I take back all I said! Today I have the same problem again and no amount of
cache clearing is helping!!!

 

[Adrian]

Julie,

I have found something about the lists that show that might help you.

When you go into an account to add a primary contact the list which shows on
pressing the ... button only shows those who don't have an account set up in
their form. Those that do, and are allocated to this account, are shown by
using the down arrow at the right of the primary contact box. Similarly the
Add... button in the Business Contacts section of the Account form only shows
people who are not allocated to an account.

So if you are trying to allocate someone to an account from the accounts
form and can't find him/her. You have to go to the business contact form for
that person and make sure that they are not allocated to another account.

Does this make sense? Any help?

Adrian

 

[Adrian]

This has aleviated my problem. Now I can get to see the lists by following
the step below, but it is only a work around. The problem still keeps
recurring. :-

Restart the MSSQL$MICROSOFTBCM service
===================================
1. Log on with an administrator account.
2. Click start-> Run
3. Input "services.msc /s" on the blank and then click ¡°OK¡±
4. Find “MSSQL$MICROSOFT BCM†and double click it
5. Choose the General tab
6. Click Stop to run the service
7. Double click “MSSQL$MICROSOFT BCM†again
8. Choose the General tab
9. Click Start to run the service
10. Close the Services window.

Other possible fixes are:-

Start Outlook in safe mode
=======================
1. Make sure Outlook is not running.
2. Click Start -> Run, type "Outlook /Safe" (Quotation marks are not
included and there is a space between Outlook and /safe) and press Enter.
3. Test to see if the problem goes away.

Running database maintenance
=====================
Click File -> Business database -> maintenance to run the Business database
maintenance to see if this resolves the problem.



Clear Cache.
==========
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Other tab.
2. Click Advanced Options.
3. In the Advanced Options box, click Custom Forms.
4. In the Custom Forms box, click Manage Forms.
5. In the Forms Manager box, click Clear Cache.


Hope this helps anyone else who has the same problem.

Best wishes

Adrian