Document Templates

[GeorgeB]

This is a subject that I can find has been adddressed but cannot find that it
was ever answered. I have, for years, used a program named ACT! for Contact
Management--the major use being the "Write" function which includes built in
(or I can create my own) Templates for Letters (of which I write many),
Faxes, Memos,
etc.

ACT! uses Word 2003 as its word processor (a selection available to me and
used because of its features vs. the ACT! word processor).
The Templates draw data from the Contact Profile and My Profile and insert
it in Fields in the document. I have created document templates that are
Standard Letter (8.5" X 11"), Executive Letter (Monarch size), and documents
with some of the body of the letter in place and "fill in the blanks" areas
to be completed by typing.

I use this function daily and it is important to me for business.

I am trying to find a way to duplicate this function in Outlook
(2003)----this would allow me to stop entering data in and maintaining 2
Programs and Databases.

Can you please direct me to instruction for creating Templates in Word that
will be available in Outlook and will fill fields when chosen?

 

[Russ Valentine]

Outlook really has no good options for this.
To send a Form Letter or use a Custom Template for a new letter to a
Contact, you can use the Letter wizard invoked with the Actions... New
Letter to Contact.

For your custom letter template to appear in the list of Page Designs in the
Microsoft Word Letter Wizard, the letter templates you create must be saved
in the "Letters & Faxes folder Word 97) or the Templates\1033 folder (Word
2000 or 2002). The word "Letter" must be in the file name. Details here:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q181/2/73.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q197/3/40.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q210884
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q291186


Once you have set up your Custom Template(s) you should see it as a choice
when you use the New Letter to Contact option in Outlook.

You cannot load boilerplate text in the body of the letter template. You
must create AutoText entries for the boilerplate. The easiest
thing to do would be to create one template and load the text for each
letter under its own style -- see KB article Q170342 (WD97) or Q207925
(OL2000).

Take a look here for some other ways to merge Contact data to a new letter
to a Contact:
http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/startletter.htm

 

[Russ Valentine]

Also note that the "New Letter to Contact Wizard" has been eliminated from
all versions of Outlook after 2003, so this is clearly an area Microsoft has
no intention of addressing.