Custom Form Versions

[Boyd]

I have a custom form published to the Organizational Forms Library
(OFL). I email this form to a number of individuals, they open the
email, enter a comment in a text box, then send it back. When each
person opens the form for the first time, the custom form is copied to
the forms cache. This process works great for most people, but one
person says the form will not install to their cache when they open it
the first time .. all they see is a blank email message.

First question .. aside from possible network connectivity issues, is
there a reason why the form will not properly install into this
person's forms cache?

Second question .. if I have the person install the form (version 1) to
their Personal Forms Library, and I publish an updated form to the
Organizational Forms Library (version 2), will this person see the
updated form that is sitting in the OFL, or will it revert to the copy
in the Personal Forms Library?

Ideally, I want to resolve the original issue of the person not seeing
the OFL version of the form, but if I need to take another route, will
the process work seemlessly?

Thanks,
Boyd

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

1) The forms cache is known to be flakey. Clearing the cache for the one affected user may solve the problem. You could also implement the ForceFormReload registry value; see article mentioned at the URL in #2.

Terminology note: What you are sending is not the form. You are sending a message created from the form, which is nothing more than a template. The form itself is not sent but called up by Outlook as needed.

2) A copy in the Personal Forms library takes precedence over one in the OFL. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/formscache.htm

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

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

 

[Boyd]

Thanks Sue, I appreciate your response.
I'll definitely try clearing the cache.
So I understand correctly, once Outlook finds a copy of the form in the
Personal Forms Library, it won't even look in the OFL? I was under the
impression that if it finds the form in the Personal Forms Library,
Outlook will then search the OFL for an updated version (based on the
timestamp on each copy of the form).

Thanks,
Boyd

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

That's correct. The forms cache looks in different form locations in a set order and doesn't look further once it finds the form it needs. What you're thinking of is how the cache works.

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

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