Newbie Forms Programming Questions

[wlo023]

All,

I've been doing some preliminary playing with outlooks form programming
and I had a few basic questions that I was hoping I could get
clarified. I am using Outlook 2007 and clicking on the
"Developer" tab to manipulate my e-mails. Thanks in advance for your
help!

1) Is there any way to accidentally corrupt/break my default Outlook
forms that came as part of the installation (i.e. the default e-mail
form whenever I click new message) using the options in the Developer
tab? I am paranoid that as I click around, I'll do something to screw
up my entire installation. Is there a way to back-up the necessary
standard form files so that I can restore if I need to?

2) When I bring up an e-mail message and click "Design this Form", it
brings up that e-mail in a designer window. If I make modifications to
this and save it, will this only modify the form for that existing
e-mail, or will it modify the the forms for all e-mails? (i.e. I have
one e-mail in my Sent Items that I BCC-ed recipients to. If I modify
this e-mail to now show me the BCC list, will this change affect all
e-mails in my Sent box so that I see the BCC list globally on all of
them going?) From what I read, it appears that each form I am modifying
is tied to a single e-mail, so any changes I make in the designer are
only reflected for that individual e-mail? Is this right?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

1) Is there any way to accidentally corrupt/break my default Outlook

forms

No. They can't be modified in any way.

Is there a way to back-up the necessary
standard form files so that I can restore if I need to?

No such files to back up.

From what I read, it appears that each form I am modifying
is tied to a single e-mail, so any changes I make in the designer are
only reflected for that individual e-mail?

Yes, that's correct.

Furthermore, you shouldn't even be thinking about modifying the message form unless you want to create a new form and publish it for use exclisively by other people in your organization to send email messages to each other. The use you're making of a custom form is not appropriate and will potentially cause headaches for people who get your messages but don't use Outlook.

Besides, if you want to see Bcc recipients on the messages you send, you can simply open the item from the Sent Items folder. There's no need to use a special form.

Alternatively, you can design a form region using the new Form Regions feature to overlay the existing message windows -- including reading pane -- with the controls you want to see.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

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