How do I create an e-mail template that is filled out by a form?

[Who8myrice]

I have an Outlook template which I would like to be filled out through a form
also in outlook. The form will ask various information that will fill out
the entire email, including recipents and attachments and compile so that it
is ready to be sent.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Please tell us more about who will be using this form -- senders and recipients -- and what mail account(s) they use. Your Outlook version may also be relevant.

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

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

 

[nilknarf]

I'm having the same problem.. I want to create a form template to be filled
by employees who will send to their supervisor...

I have to have fields that are able to have alpha + numeric values (i.e.
qq-1234-t)

I createda template but only a few fields actually have values when I send
the email... One field is a numeric field only and the date fields all work...

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

So, could you answer the questions I posed to the original poster, please?

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

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

 

[nilknarf]

senders and recipients -- and Outlook 2003 sp2 on exchange server.....

I guess the real question is what book or website describes the formulas and
fields for outlook forms?

thanks

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

senders and recipients -- and Outlook 2003 sp2 on exchange server.....

In that case, ask your Exchange administrator if you can publish your custom form to the Organizational Forms library. If not, you may have to ask each user to publish it to their own Personal Forms library. Going forward, InfoPath is a much better solution for this kind of data gathering than custom Outlook message forms.

See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/sendform.htm for information on the common issues people encounter when working with custom message forms.

To learn about Outlook properties, check the object browser: Press ALt+F11 to open the VBA environment in Outlook, then press F2. Switch from <All Libraries> to Outlook to browse all Outlook objects and their properties, methods, and events. Select any object or member, then press F1 to see its Help topic.

Note that the "field" names shown in various parts of the UI don't always match the actual property names that you'll see in the object browser, but usually you should be able to puzzle out which is which. Feel free to come back here and ask if you're stumped.

Functions are also documented in VBA Help. An easy way to look one up is to type the name of the formula into a VBA window, highlight it, then press F1.

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

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

 

[nilknarf]

Thxs... finally something i've not heard... thxs again... will be back
soon i'm sure..

 

[nilknarf]

that was great info... sorry if i'm an idiot but I would love to be able to
understand the vb a little difficult for me... I just want to make sure I can
create a form on exchange server and the form has various fields that need to
have alpha and numeric values (i.e. 6061-T651, QQ-A-250/11)

I was able to create all fields and seems to be working except one BIG issue
when I enter all data and send it to recipients only a few fields have data
in them usally the quanity and date but those formulas are easy.

any ways your help is greatly appreciated.

ttyl

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Any text field, built-in or user-created, can contain alphanumeric characters.

when I enter all data and send it to recipients only a few fields have data
in them usally the quanity and date but those formulas are easy.

Did you click the Edit Read Layout button and create a read layout with controls bound to the same fields as on the control layout? Unless you do this, Outlook has no way to know that you want to show the user the data from those fields.

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

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

 

[nilknarf]

OK.... I have everything working just fine all my data stays in the fileds
and I can foward w/ changes BUT when I reply the recipient does not get the
P2 tab I called Material List just the main email tab w/response shows up.

How do I get the form to (extra tab P.2) to always show up w/ a reply,
foward??

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Look on the (Actions) page of your custom form, in design mode. This is where you can modify the Reply action to have it use a custom form published in the ORganizational Forms library or each user's Personal Forms library.

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

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

 

[nilknarf]

Awesome!! (o: It works great now... Only one issue and they all happen on
the reply....

I reply and now I get the form but the data that was entered in a few fields
goes blank...

I looked at all the other fields that keep the data when I foward, reply or
reply to all and all looks good.

My 3 fields giving me grief are Rquested Material field just a text value,
Spec field just a text value and the Customer name field is a text value....

The customer Name stays when I foward the message but not if I reply or
reply to all

thanks again

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

For those holdouts, you can put code in the events that fire when the user replies to copy the data from one item to another:

Function Item_ReplyAll(ByVal Response)
Call CopyData(Response)
End Function

Function Item_Reply(ByVal Response)
Call CopyData(Response)
End Function

Sub CopyData(msg)
msg.UserProperties("Requested Material") = _
Item.UserProperties("Requested Material")
msg.UserProperties("Spec") = _
Item.UserProperties("Spec")
msg.UserProperties("Customer Name") = _
Item.UserProperties("Customer Name")
End Sub

I'm not sure why that's sometimes necessary. It could have something to do with whether the properties appear in the User-definied FIelds in Folder or User-defined Fields in Item list.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

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