Help migrating custom form to Oulook 2007 from OL02

[Eddie]

I have been succesfully using a custom form in OL02 (based on Contacts) for
two years and have just upgraded to OL07. Everytime I opened a contact in
OL02 it always used my custom form but this isn't happening in OL07.

1. From Contacts folder when I click New my custom form appears - correctly.
2. From Contacts folder when I click on any Contact listed my custom form
appears - correctly. However, when I "Search" for the contact and open it my
custom form is not the one used (but I would like it to be the one used).
3. Also, when I have a reminder flag for a contact and it appears in the
To-Do-Bar and I open it again my custom form is not the one used (but I would
like it to be the one used).

I'm not a programmer and keep reading about Region's and XML manifest and am
daunted by the whole thing. Is there a quick fix for my problem or am I going
to have to spend hours learning new stuff to get this simple task done.

Any help is really appreciated.
Regards
Eddie

 

[Eric Legault [MVP - Outlook]]

Hi Eddie. For the search results, if you take one of those Contacts that
doesn't open in your custom form and manually locate that Contact in its
source folder and open it there, does it open using your custom form?

BTW, one way to see what custom form an item is bound to is to add the
Message Class field to the folder view. Then the column will show
IPM.Contact for default Contact forms, or IPM.Contact.Whatever for your
custom ones. If some of your items have reverted back to the default
message class, there are ways to change it to use your custom form. See Q1
in this article:

Frequently asked questions about custom forms and Outlook solutions:
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=287530


--
Eric Legault [MVP - Outlook]
MCDBA, MCTS (Messaging & Collaboration, SharePoint Infrastructure, MOSS 2007
& WSS 3.0 Application Development)
President, Collaborative Innovations
Proud new owner of OutlookCode.com
NEW! -> Try Picture Attachments Wizard 2.0 For Microsoft Outlook <-
Web: http://www.collaborativeinnovations.ca
Blog: http://blogs.officezealot.com/legault
....Take your SharePoint content offline...

 

[Eddie]

Hi Eric

Thanks for your response, sorry about the delay, I have spent the last few
days trying to get Visual Basic Editor to work so that I can run the change
message class field to see if that is successful. However, my Visual Basic
Editor (and Macros) are greyed out in Outlook 2007. When I go to Trust Centre
and look at my add ins my My Microsoft VBA for Outlook Add In says Load
Behaviour: Load on Demand, (not currently loaded). I cannot find a way to get
it to work. So I can't run the change message class Outlooksession program
that I got from Sue Mosher's website a few years ago that
I used for my Outllook 2002 amendements.

In answer to your first question - yes, my form is used if I manually find
contact. However, it seems to be more crazy than ever in the last few days. I
will comment further once I have tried your original solution of running the
change message class field code.

Can you advise how to get Visual Basis Editor working so I can try this
solution please.

Thanks
Eddie

Hi Eddie. For the search results, if you take one of those Contacts that
doesn't open in your custom form and manually locate that Contact in its
source folder and open it there, does it open using your custom form?

BTW, one way to see what custom form an item is bound to is to add the
Message Class field to the folder view. Then the column will show
IPM.Contact for default Contact forms, or IPM.Contact.Whatever for your
custom ones. If some of your items have reverted back to the default
message class, there are ways to change it to use your custom form. See Q1
in this article:

Frequently asked questions about custom forms and Outlook solutions:
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=287530


--
Eric Legault [MVP - Outlook]
MCDBA, MCTS (Messaging & Collaboration, SharePoint Infrastructure, MOSS 2007
& WSS 3.0 Application Development)
President, Collaborative Innovations
Proud new owner of OutlookCode.com
NEW! -> Try Picture Attachments Wizard 2.0 For Microsoft Outlook <-
Web: http://www.collaborativeinnovations.ca
Blog: http://blogs.officezealot.com/legault
...Take your SharePoint content offline...

I have been succesfully using a custom form in OL02 (based on Contacts)
for
two years and have just upgraded to OL07. Everytime I opened a contact in
OL02 it always used my custom form but this isn't happening in OL07.

1. From Contacts folder when I click New my custom form appears -
correctly.
2. From Contacts folder when I click on any Contact listed my custom form
appears - correctly. However, when I "Search" for the contact and open it
my
custom form is not the one used (but I would like it to be the one used).
3. Also, when I have a reminder flag for a contact and it appears in the
To-Do-Bar and I open it again my custom form is not the one used (but I
would
like it to be the one used).

I'm not a programmer and keep reading about Region's and XML manifest and
am
daunted by the whole thing. Is there a quick fix for my problem or am I
going
to have to spend hours learning new stuff to get this simple task done.

Any help is really appreciated.
Regards
Eddie

 

[Eddie]

Some more feedback - every single contact is using my custom form when I show
the column in folder view.

However, when I manually search for a contact and I open it, it uses my
custom form, but sometimes it doesn't find my contact, so it says "Try
searching again in All Contact Items". If I click this and it finds it so I
open the contact, it is never with my custom form.

Thanks
Eddie

Hi Eric

Thanks for your response, sorry about the delay, I have spent the last few
days trying to get Visual Basic Editor to work so that I can run the change
message class field to see if that is successful. However, my Visual Basic
Editor (and Macros) are greyed out in Outlook 2007. When I go to Trust Centre
and look at my add ins my My Microsoft VBA for Outlook Add In says Load
Behaviour: Load on Demand, (not currently loaded). I cannot find a way to get
it to work. So I can't run the change message class Outlooksession program
that I got from Sue Mosher's website a few years ago that
I used for my Outllook 2002 amendements.

In answer to your first question - yes, my form is used if I manually find
contact. However, it seems to be more crazy than ever in the last few days. I
will comment further once I have tried your original solution of running the
change message class field code.

Can you advise how to get Visual Basis Editor working so I can try this
solution please.

Thanks
Eddie

Hi Eddie. For the search results, if you take one of those Contacts that
doesn't open in your custom form and manually locate that Contact in its
source folder and open it there, does it open using your custom form?

BTW, one way to see what custom form an item is bound to is to add the
Message Class field to the folder view. Then the column will show
IPM.Contact for default Contact forms, or IPM.Contact.Whatever for your
custom ones. If some of your items have reverted back to the default
message class, there are ways to change it to use your custom form. See Q1
in this article:

Frequently asked questions about custom forms and Outlook solutions:
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=287530


--
Eric Legault [MVP - Outlook]
MCDBA, MCTS (Messaging & Collaboration, SharePoint Infrastructure, MOSS 2007
& WSS 3.0 Application Development)
President, Collaborative Innovations
Proud new owner of OutlookCode.com
NEW! -> Try Picture Attachments Wizard 2.0 For Microsoft Outlook <-
Web: http://www.collaborativeinnovations.ca
Blog: http://blogs.officezealot.com/legault
...Take your SharePoint content offline...

I have been succesfully using a custom form in OL02 (based on Contacts)
for
two years and have just upgraded to OL07. Everytime I opened a contact in
OL02 it always used my custom form but this isn't happening in OL07.

1. From Contacts folder when I click New my custom form appears -
correctly.
2. From Contacts folder when I click on any Contact listed my custom form
appears - correctly. However, when I "Search" for the contact and open it
my
custom form is not the one used (but I would like it to be the one used).
3. Also, when I have a reminder flag for a contact and it appears in the
To-Do-Bar and I open it again my custom form is not the one used (but I
would
like it to be the one used).

I'm not a programmer and keep reading about Region's and XML manifest and
am
daunted by the whole thing. Is there a quick fix for my problem or am I
going
to have to spend hours learning new stuff to get this simple task done.

Any help is really appreciated.
Regards
Eddie

 

[Eddie]

Back again - I've fixed it!

In outlook 2002 I published my custom contacts form in Outlook Folders
(never knew if this was right but it worked so I left it alone). In outlook
2007 I have re-published my custom contacts form in Personal Forms Folder,
and that has fixed it. Now at every opportunity that I open a contact my
custom contacts form is used.

Thanks
Eddie

Some more feedback - every single contact is using my custom form when I show
the column in folder view.

However, when I manually search for a contact and I open it, it uses my
custom form, but sometimes it doesn't find my contact, so it says "Try
searching again in All Contact Items". If I click this and it finds it so I
open the contact, it is never with my custom form.

Thanks
Eddie

Hi Eric

Thanks for your response, sorry about the delay, I have spent the last few
days trying to get Visual Basic Editor to work so that I can run the change
message class field to see if that is successful. However, my Visual Basic
Editor (and Macros) are greyed out in Outlook 2007. When I go to Trust Centre
and look at my add ins my My Microsoft VBA for Outlook Add In says Load
Behaviour: Load on Demand, (not currently loaded). I cannot find a way to get
it to work. So I can't run the change message class Outlooksession program
that I got from Sue Mosher's website a few years ago that
I used for my Outllook 2002 amendements.

In answer to your first question - yes, my form is used if I manually find
contact. However, it seems to be more crazy than ever in the last few days. I
will comment further once I have tried your original solution of running the
change message class field code.

Can you advise how to get Visual Basis Editor working so I can try this
solution please.

Thanks
Eddie

Hi Eddie. For the search results, if you take one of those Contacts that
doesn't open in your custom form and manually locate that Contact in its
source folder and open it there, does it open using your custom form?

BTW, one way to see what custom form an item is bound to is to add the
Message Class field to the folder view. Then the column will show
IPM.Contact for default Contact forms, or IPM.Contact.Whatever for your
custom ones. If some of your items have reverted back to the default
message class, there are ways to change it to use your custom form. See Q1
in this article:

Frequently asked questions about custom forms and Outlook solutions:
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=287530


--
Eric Legault [MVP - Outlook]
MCDBA, MCTS (Messaging & Collaboration, SharePoint Infrastructure, MOSS 2007
& WSS 3.0 Application Development)
President, Collaborative Innovations
Proud new owner of OutlookCode.com
NEW! -> Try Picture Attachments Wizard 2.0 For Microsoft Outlook <-
Web: http://www.collaborativeinnovations.ca
Blog: http://blogs.officezealot.com/legault
...Take your SharePoint content offline...

I have been succesfully using a custom form in OL02 (based on Contacts)
for
two years and have just upgraded to OL07. Everytime I opened a contact in
OL02 it always used my custom form but this isn't happening in OL07.

1. From Contacts folder when I click New my custom form appears -
correctly.
2. From Contacts folder when I click on any Contact listed my custom form
appears - correctly. However, when I "Search" for the contact and open it
my
custom form is not the one used (but I would like it to be the one used).
3. Also, when I have a reminder flag for a contact and it appears in the
To-Do-Bar and I open it again my custom form is not the one used (but I
would
like it to be the one used).

I'm not a programmer and keep reading about Region's and XML manifest and
am
daunted by the whole thing. Is there a quick fix for my problem or am I
going
to have to spend hours learning new stuff to get this simple task done.

Any help is really appreciated.
Regards
Eddie