How to send form questions in email & have them reply answer back

[robbietwilson]

How can I have a form in an email that people fill out and then reply back to
me with their answers. I would like to have checkboxes and boxes for them to
fill out. General questions with checkboxes like how do you like to be
contacted:

email, phone, etc but with a box for them to check. I then want them to
click a link and it will auto send the message with their selections back to
my address.

I appreciate any help on this one. Using Microsoft Outlook. Thanks. Robbie

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

If you're working in an Exchange environment and all recipients use Outlook to access Exchange mailboxes, ask the system administrator if you can publish forms to the Organizational Forms library. If not, forget about using Outlook custom forms for this.

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

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

 

[eldanes]

Hello Sue,

Retaking the question bellow…. What about if I do have access to the
Organizational Forms library (OFL), what are the steps to follow?

I created a form (before publishing it in the OFL) and send it to a
coworker, who couldn’t activate the Checkboxes that I entered (they where
frozen).
Was it because the form was not in the right library or was there any other
checkbox property that needed to be set to TRUE?

Can you help me with that?

BR/ eldanes

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I'm not sure what you mean by "frozen." To function as a survey, a form needs to be published to the Organizational Forms library. Also each control needs to be bound to an Outlook property or, alternatively, the form needs to have a script behind it to collect the answers and return them (as the sample form at http://www.outlookcode.com/d/forms/survey.htm does). Neither of those can be accomplished in recent versions of Outlook with an unpublished ..oft file form.

Bottom line is that an Outlook form is rarely a good solution for a survey. Looking forward, InfoPath 2007 is the right tool for the job.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

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

 

[eldanes]

Hi Sue,

I’m actually not expecting a survey type result (if what you mean is: with
scale or statistics of the answers, etc.)

It would be easier if I could send you the template that I made (let me know
if it is possible)

But let me explain it for you.
I created a sheet (P.2) with some pictures (screw types). Each picture has a
checkbox so the user can mark which pictures/screws they like the best.
There are some other features, but they accomplish the same function of the
above mentioned.

What I want is: when the attendees reply the email to me, it will be enough
if I receive the same sheet but with the checkboxes “checkedâ€.
The e-mail is only for 20 persons and therefore easier to create statistics
manually.

It might be easier to do it in another program or method, but I just so this
feature in outlook and I liked it!

By the way, I got an e-mail from a co-worker and he send me a form with an
“Approved and Denied†feature and I answered it without having the form saved
in the “Organizational form Libraryâ€.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I still don't know what you mean by frozen and if you actually bound each check box to a custom proeprty.

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

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

 

[eldanes]

Thanks Sue,

Forget about the frozen issue. It was my mistake that I set some checkbox
property (perhaps lock) to “true†and therefore couldn’t use it afterwards.
But it is fixed now.

I did manage to send the form out, but the attendees experience the following:

When they just view the mail I send (without double click), they don’t see
the extra sheet (P.2) with the form.
When they double click it to open, they see this extra sheet and can check
the checkboxes, but they can only view Reply, Reply All and Forward buttons
(no “send buttonsâ€)
If they press reply (they don’t see the P.2 sheet).
If they press forward they can see the sheet, can check the boxes and can
send it, but what I receive is with the checkboxes unchecked. (It doesn’t
retain the answer).

If you focus on this and my previews message, can you then understand what
the problem could be?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I did manage to send the form out, but the attendees experience the following:

When they just view the mail I send (without double click), they don’t see
the extra sheet (P.2) with the form.

This is perfectly normal. The reading pane doesn't show custom form pages.

When they double click it to open, they see this extra sheet and can check
the checkboxes, but they can only view Reply, Reply All and Forward buttons
(no “send buttonsâ€)

Also perfectly normal. They're looking at a received message. A received message has no Send button on the toolbar. Only new messages have that. If you want a Send button, you'd need to put it on the custom form surface and write code behind it.

If they press reply (they don’t see the P.2 sheet).

The form that the user sees when they click reply depends on the settings for the Reply action on your custom form's (Actions) page. THe default is to show the standard IPM.Note form.

If they press forward they can see the sheet, can check the boxes and can
send it, but what I receive is with the checkboxes unchecked. (It doesn’t
retain the answer).

Asking the same question for I think the third time: Did you bind the check boxes to Outlook properties? Unless you do this, Outlook does not know that you want to store data, much less where to store it. Look on the Properties dialog for each check box control, at the top of the Value tab.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

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