B
boarders paradise
Hi. I'm wondering whether I'm not using Outlook correctly, or if the
workflow of editing vcf files with Outlook is really that
cumbersome ...
Let's see, to edit a vcf file, I'm doing the following:
1) double-click on vcf file
2) editing some contact fields
3) ok, so far so good, but now comes the trouble:
4) the command "save" does not do what it is supposed to do, i.e.
"save the file that was opened." That is the definition of the "save"
command in millions of other programs. That does not prevent Outlook
from doing something completely different, namely NOT saving the
opened file, but instead IMPORTING the file to the users' contacts
collection.
5) not only is the command "save" mislabeled (it should read
"import"), but in addition to that, there is no command available to
actually SAVE the opened file. (compare that to opening a doc file in
MS Word and saving that).
6) Looking for workarounds. Clicking on [office button >> save as >>
export to vcard file]. Fine, the correct file extension (namely the
same as the opened file, i.e. VCF), is already selected. Good.
But ...
7) ... but the correct directory (location of opened document) is NOT.
So the user has to look for the directory of the opened file in a
cumbersome fashion.
8) OK, directory found. Clicking on the SAVE button.
9) Result: The users' changes are NOT saved !
10) Instead Outlook saves a different version (differently structured,
including the default jpeg "cardpicture", but - as already mentioned -
without saving the users' changes).
11) Still lucky that I figured that out by myself ... imagine I would
have relied on Outlook to really save all my edits for a considerable
amount of vcf files ... only to find out that all my work disappeared
into air ... (it's like editing 50 word documents and realizing that
none of the changes were saved).
12) Looking for other workarounds. Clicking on [office button >> save
as >> save as].
13) Unfortunately the correct file extension (namely the same as the
opened file, i.e. VCF), is NOT already selected. So every time, the
extension must be changed to vcf in the drop-down-list.
14) The correct directory (location of opened document) is NOT
selected. So the user has to look for the directory of the opened file
in a cumbersome fashion.
15) Annoyingly, the user is always confronted with the additional task
of confirming the overwriting of the existing file (another thing that
would have been avoided with a correct "save" command).
16) Okay, the file is saved now. Compare the long list here with MS
Word's CTRL+S, which does the same thing in a millisecond !
I'm not saying that this is really a problem for a single edit of a
single file. But, if you have to edit a non-negligible number of files
(plus maybe want to not only save the file when it's final, but do
intermediate savings, too), then you really have a problem ...
I'm hoping that I'm doing it all wrong, and that there is a much
better way to use Outlook for editing (and not to forget: saving) VCF
files ... ?
workflow of editing vcf files with Outlook is really that
cumbersome ...
Let's see, to edit a vcf file, I'm doing the following:
1) double-click on vcf file
2) editing some contact fields
3) ok, so far so good, but now comes the trouble:
4) the command "save" does not do what it is supposed to do, i.e.
"save the file that was opened." That is the definition of the "save"
command in millions of other programs. That does not prevent Outlook
from doing something completely different, namely NOT saving the
opened file, but instead IMPORTING the file to the users' contacts
collection.
5) not only is the command "save" mislabeled (it should read
"import"), but in addition to that, there is no command available to
actually SAVE the opened file. (compare that to opening a doc file in
MS Word and saving that).
6) Looking for workarounds. Clicking on [office button >> save as >>
export to vcard file]. Fine, the correct file extension (namely the
same as the opened file, i.e. VCF), is already selected. Good.
But ...
7) ... but the correct directory (location of opened document) is NOT.
So the user has to look for the directory of the opened file in a
cumbersome fashion.
8) OK, directory found. Clicking on the SAVE button.
9) Result: The users' changes are NOT saved !
10) Instead Outlook saves a different version (differently structured,
including the default jpeg "cardpicture", but - as already mentioned -
without saving the users' changes).
11) Still lucky that I figured that out by myself ... imagine I would
have relied on Outlook to really save all my edits for a considerable
amount of vcf files ... only to find out that all my work disappeared
into air ... (it's like editing 50 word documents and realizing that
none of the changes were saved).
12) Looking for other workarounds. Clicking on [office button >> save
as >> save as].
13) Unfortunately the correct file extension (namely the same as the
opened file, i.e. VCF), is NOT already selected. So every time, the
extension must be changed to vcf in the drop-down-list.
14) The correct directory (location of opened document) is NOT
selected. So the user has to look for the directory of the opened file
in a cumbersome fashion.
15) Annoyingly, the user is always confronted with the additional task
of confirming the overwriting of the existing file (another thing that
would have been avoided with a correct "save" command).
16) Okay, the file is saved now. Compare the long list here with MS
Word's CTRL+S, which does the same thing in a millisecond !
I'm not saying that this is really a problem for a single edit of a
single file. But, if you have to edit a non-negligible number of files
(plus maybe want to not only save the file when it's final, but do
intermediate savings, too), then you really have a problem ...
I'm hoping that I'm doing it all wrong, and that there is a much
better way to use Outlook for editing (and not to forget: saving) VCF
files ... ?