outlook 2000 changing msg class using utility? bewildered

[CYBER23HYPER]

Hi-
this message is in 3 parts
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

I work for a small nonprofit group for pastors and outreach organization
leaders who meet once monthly as well as have an annual "love your city"
churches responding to neibourhood needs (free pop/ bbqs/ repair roofs/ clean
up yards) event......so need distribution centers for promo items, ect ...
comprehensive new form
I have permission from our Tech person to change all our contacts to this
form..... we'v backed up the hard-drive to cds, saved existing format of
contacts to excell files

so OBJECTIVES..KEEPING IN MIND I'M USING OUTLOOK 2000/ MICROSOFT OFFICE
98.. and no one here is comfortable to do changes to program code

#1 - to achive a more streamlined approach for recording the subscriptions
to the once monthly email that goes out detailing the upcoming meeting......
and for recruiting and organizing the existing contacts, and new schools who
wish to participate in our once yearly event
#2 - to safely "migrate" all existing contacts/ info (I believe it is on
the default form provided by outlook) to my new form

WHAT I'V LOOKED AT / TRIED so far

http://www.outlookcode.com/d/newdefaultform.htm MVP’s page on various
methods to change the default form used

#1 TRIED MEATHOD
i'v tried using Outlook 2000 Existing Items Converter

http://www.microsoft.com/office/orkarchive/2000ddl.htm#ConvPack
which the above page now says has been taken off the downloads page because
of security issues........
SOMEONE HAD SAID "So, by use of the utility, you can change all existing
data items to be
displayed with your new form. You just have to publish your form to a place
where the utility can find it--like the Exchange Organization Forms Library,
if
you are on an Exchange system, of your personal Forms Library if you are
using a
pst, or your Inbox. "
when I go to choose form in OUTLOOK 2000, then from that screen it gives me
a full drop-down menu with a CONTACTS option….
it’s in Outlook:\\Contacts (no category name, no subcategory name)

so then I was lost.......

#2 MICROSOFT's WINZIP .EXE FILE solution at :
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[ln];q201089
the .doc file doesn’t show up in the folder I publish/ extract files to
after I do the “extract files to….†In winzip


#3 solution
solution http://www.plustech.co.uk/Products/docmsgclass.html
How do I use DocMessageClass?

To enable these older contacts to use the new form, each contact's
MessageClass has to be changed. Select the relevant Outlook-Folder in the
folders list. (Folders which are setup to use a user-defined form, are
displayed with a green tag). Now select one or more Source- MessageClasses
----( is IMP.contact)
and
one Target-MessageClass.
After clicking on the "Convert MessageClass" button, each entry which
belonged to the Source-MessageClass, will have been be re-assigned to the
Target- MessageClass
(which shows when u go to PUBLISH FORM AS….. right at bottom).

My CUSTOM FORM's message class is IPM.Contact.2msgclass


QUESTION/ PROBLEM #2
(also I'V NOW READ ----- In general, you should not publish the same form in
different forms libraries using the same name for the form. Doing so is
likely to cause forms cache corruption. If you want to make a backup, either
save as an .oft file or publish under a different name. -------
I had published my 2msgclass form into my INBOX as well as in my
contacts.....
after I read the above, I republished the form under a new name UNDER the
contacts option, and then opened 2msgclass FORM AND DID DELETE......... but
it still is showing up.........
how can I make sure that all my work isn't corrupted once I do get the
conversion utility program to work?????

H E L P !!! any pointers to articals on the above meathods would be
wonderfull--- or even FAQs that would explain these processes in depth

I am somewhat in over my head...... Thanks for any SUPPORT advice and
explanations you can give

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Comments inline.

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

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

Hi-
this message is in 3 parts
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

I work for a small nonprofit group for pastors and outreach organization
leaders who meet once monthly as well as have an annual "love your city"
churches responding to neibourhood needs (free pop/ bbqs/ repair roofs/ clean
up yards) event......so need distribution centers for promo items, ect ....
comprehensive new form
I have permission from our Tech person to change all our contacts to this
form..... we'v backed up the hard-drive to cds, saved existing format of
contacts to excell files

so OBJECTIVES..KEEPING IN MIND I'M USING OUTLOOK 2000/ MICROSOFT OFFICE
98.. and no one here is comfortable to do changes to program code

#1 - to achive a more streamlined approach for recording the subscriptions
to the once monthly email that goes out detailing the upcoming meeting......
and for recruiting and organizing the existing contacts, and new schools who
wish to participate in our once yearly event
#2 - to safely "migrate" all existing contacts/ info (I believe it is on
the default form provided by outlook) to my new form

WHAT I'V LOOKED AT / TRIED so far

http://www.outlookcode.com/d/newdefaultform.htm MVP’s page on various
methods to change the default form used

#1 TRIED MEATHOD
i'v tried using Outlook 2000 Existing Items Converter

http://www.microsoft.com/office/orkarchive/2000ddl.htm#ConvPack
which the above page now says has been taken off the downloads page because
of security issues........

You're looking at the wrong converter. The tool you want is at http://TESTwww.su.edu/faculty/jcombs/test.doc. (Thanks, I'll fix the link.)

SOMEONE HAD SAID "So, by use of the utility, you can change all existing
data items to be
displayed with your new form. You just have to publish your form to a place
where the utility can find it--like the Exchange Organization Forms Library,
if
you are on an Exchange system, of your personal Forms Library if you are
using a
pst, or your Inbox. "
when I go to choose form in OUTLOOK 2000, then from that screen it gives me
a full drop-down menu with a CONTACTS option….
it’s in Outlook:\\Contacts (no category name, no subcategory name)

That's a reference to your Contacts folder and its forms library. You can use the drop-down list at the top of the dialog to change to a different forms library.

#2 MICROSOFT's WINZIP .EXE FILE solution at :
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[ln];q201089
the .doc file doesn’t show up in the folder I publish/ extract files to
after I do the “extract files to….†In winzip

Look again, extract again or both. Then run the .doc file, enable macros, and follow the prompts and instructions.

#3 solution
solution http://www.plustech.co.uk/Products/docmsgclass.html
How do I use DocMessageClass?

It doesn't come with instruction? Ask the developer?

To enable these older contacts to use the new form, each contact's
MessageClass has to be changed. Select the relevant Outlook-Folder in the
folders list. (Folders which are setup to use a user-defined form, are
displayed with a green tag). Now select one or more Source- MessageClasses
----( is IMP.contact)
and
one Target-MessageClass.
After clicking on the "Convert MessageClass" button, each entry which
belonged to the Source-MessageClass, will have been be re-assigned to the
Target- MessageClass
(which shows when u go to PUBLISH FORM AS….. right at bottom).

My CUSTOM FORM's message class is IPM.Contact.2msgclass


QUESTION/ PROBLEM #2
(also I'V NOW READ ----- In general, you should not publish the same form in
different forms libraries using the same name for the form. Doing so is
likely to cause forms cache corruption. If you want to make a backup, either
save as an .oft file or publish under a different name. -------
I had published my 2msgclass form into my INBOX as well as in my
contacts.....
after I read the above, I republished the form under a new name UNDER the
contacts option, and then opened 2msgclass FORM AND DID DELETE......... but
it still is showing up.........

Opening a form and pressing delete doesn't delete the published form, which is a hidden item. If you're using Outlook 2000 in Corporate/Workgroup mode, you can remove it by bringing up the Properties dialog for the folder, switching to the Forms tab, and clicking Manage.

how can I make sure that all my work isn't corrupted once I do get the
conversion utility program to work?????

Make backups of your data, as you usually would, but also make backups of the form by saving it as an .oft file.

 

[cyber23hyper]

Originally I wasn't going to shout my THANKS for replying till after I
had tried the new link.....( I was hoping it would be you who offered
advice)

two questions......

#1
I'm getting the notion that I should be able to save my file as an
..oft file during the "publish" process? or in design view? tried to
see an option for saving as an .oft extension but couldn't
.............. is it the same thing as when saving in a .pst format???

I noticed from another post that you had mentioned it doesn't really
matter where you save the backup .oft file to ------ so anywhere in
harddrive or even a 3 1/2 floppy? (oh- i published the form to
"personal forms library"

#2 I dragged and dropped "distribution list name" into the
form........ I imagine this will simply make visable whatever list name
I choose to add a person to (when creating/ managing a list) without
having to add any sort of value to the field.........
is there a way, if in the future an email is in error, or moves,
ect..... to simply (simalar process to catagories, sort of) check or
uncheck a person from the DISTRIBUTION LIST within the form view to
unsubscribe them from a list??
any metyhods to do this would be wonderull

THANKYOU ONCE AGAIN

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Comments inline.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

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

#1
I'm getting the notion that I should be able to save my file as an
.oft file during the "publish" process? or in design view? tried to
see an option for saving as an .oft extension but couldn't

If it's a message form, you won't be able to save it as an .oft file unless you've turned off Word as the email editor before opening the form in design mode (Tools | Forms | Mail Format).

Saving as an .oft file is used mostly to make backups, BTW.

............. is it the same thing as when saving in a .pst format???

No, an .oft file is a single item. A .pst file is a group of folders, each containing items.

I noticed from another post that you had mentioned it doesn't really
matter where you save the backup .oft file to ------ so anywhere in
harddrive or even a 3 1/2 floppy? (oh- i published the form to
"personal forms library"

A file is a file. Put it somewhere you'll remember where it is.

#2 I dragged and dropped "distribution list name" into the
form........

Where did you drag "distribution list name" from? What kind of form are you creating (contact, mail, etc.).

I imagine this will simply make visable whatever list name
I choose to add a person to (when creating/ managing a list) without
having to add any sort of value to the field.........
is there a way, if in the future an email is in error, or moves,
ect..... to simply (simalar process to catagories, sort of) check or
uncheck a person from the DISTRIBUTION LIST within the form view to
unsubscribe them from a list??
any metyhods to do this would be wonderull

Nope. What you want to do is not possible with a simple form. And, IMO, distribution lists are dead ends to be avoided except for very small lists that change no more than once or twice a year.

 

[cyber23hyper]

The form I'm trying to save is a contact form......... and if an expert
herself also sees distribution lists as a problem, I'm not going to
take that road then

I will try turning off word as the email editor..... just for the
purposes of saving the form as a contacts form......
thanks once again

 

[cyber23hyper]

saved the CONTACTS new form as an outlooktemplate

tried to use the link you had suggested but only got as far as
http://www.su.edu/faculty/jcombs/
(the rest of the link doesn't work-tried it as TESTwww and tried to
find a reference to a test area on webpage but can't find it)

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Try one of the other links on the page I suggested earlier. There are many solutions that all do the same thing: Change the MessageClass.

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

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

 

[cyber23hyper]

Thanks --- sometimes just a little "divergent" thinking helps
alot...... the form DID transfer over nicely when I enabled the macros
as the WORD document loaded.... (YAAAAA)

now I'm going to try to find some resources for the next problem------
how do I make the "uer defined fields" - the ones unique to the new
form I'v loaded show up in the 'available fields in the field
chooser------
they show up nicely when I click the FIELDS CHOOSER when I'm within the
general CONTACTS folder (the one within where all my other subfolders
are (lovewpg100, possiblelovewinnipeg, uncontacted ect) I have 125
contacts that i hadn't put into the other subfolders and I can very
nicely drag one of my fields (year subscribed) from the field chooser
to the table view and have it show up
when I start up the field chooser in any of my subfolders though, and
click "user defined fields" no fields show up for me to choose

I'v tried HELP and the description of how to make "empty" fields
appear, but I don't get the option to "show empty fields" ---- the help
topic was geared to "within a card view type" vs in a table view

---- Do you have a link to explain this phenomenon? THANKS once again

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You will need to add those fields to each of the subfolders. You can do this by using the Field Chooser for the folder. Or, you can programmatically create a new item in the folder and add to its UserPRoperties collection. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/fields.htm.

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

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

 

[cyber23hyper]

A.

I understand that when someone sends me a new contact, based on the
standard deflt CONTACTS form that comes with outlook----- that is
called a VCARD. There is no way I can send my form of CONTACTS
customized for mto everyone, so is there a way other than

1. opening the vcard, saving contact to ______ folder,
2. 2.and then running CHANGE MESSAGE CLASS for the entire folder

each time I import a new contact I'v been sent--- to get these new
contact entries to have the same FORM as the rest of my contacts??

I'v read some stuff about saving new forms to each specific folder,
but won't that then override the standard form that I read when I'm
simply reading/ sending out a mail message........ vs keeping the
standard MAIL form, and being able tro add another form to the INBOX
folder...... I'm confused...... folders can't have two default
forms, I image


B. I'm revising the form that I had previously done with CUSTOM
CREATED new fields...........

My cutting and pasting the "all contact fields" entry within one of
my contacts into WORD (via table view and excel first) I was able to
see exactly which NEWLY CREATED fields (ie user 1 was in use as my Map
city area - drop down field) were being matched to what stuff.

I'v noticed that there are a lot of fields within the FIELD CHOOSER
(ie that would show up in table view nicely vs custom made fields)
that aren't being used------ for instance...... other phone (number)
could equal a checkbox - output as a TEXT (yes/no) field

Once again, the downloading code option isn't available to me for
CUSTOMIZING the field chooser menu for getting a TABLE VIEW of all my
CUSTOM LABELED items

Maybe you could give you feedback as to my BRAINSTORMING logic for this
chart and idea

(1 COLUME- default fields within field chooser)
2nd colume- label i'll give to field in new form,
3rd -type of output I want in table view..... some of these
will be inputted text fields) (values assigned?)
4th -(type. format?) within form design, it may be a
dropdown menu, or a checkbox---
both of which output as text fields in tableview)

OUTLOOK DEFAULT FIELD LABEL WITHIN NEW FORM TYPE OUTPUT TABLE
VIEW
Organizational ID Number Type of mailout parachurch, youth ministry,
pastors DROP
OTHER PHONE PHONE ERROR Yes/no CHECK - text
PHONE 8 EMAIL ERROR Yes/no CHECK
Private PRIVATE EMAIL
Yes/no CHECK



THANKYOU ( i just hope the charts formatting stays.......good luck
interpeting it)

Ps. Is there a way to narrow down (make a NEW MENU out of the
specific fields from field chooser that will be in my new form---( I
understand that I'd have to use MANAGER vs the level of contact label
for the toolbar) but it would be handy not to have to scroll sooo far
within ALL CONTACT FIELDS

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Comments inline

A.

I understand that when someone sends me a new contact, based on the
standard deflt CONTACTS form that comes with outlook----- that is
called a VCARD. There is no way I can send my form of CONTACTS
customized for mto everyone, so is there a way other than

1. opening the vcard, saving contact to ______ folder,
2. 2.and then running CHANGE MESSAGE CLASS for the entire folder

each time I import a new contact I'v been sent--- to get these new
contact entries to have the same FORM as the rest of my contacts??

If you have Outlook 2000 or later, you can make a registry change to substitute your published custom form for the default form. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/newdefaultform.htm#changedefault

I'v read some stuff about saving new forms to each specific folder,
but won't that then override the standard form that I read when I'm
simply reading/ sending out a mail message........ vs keeping the
standard MAIL form, and being able tro add another form to the INBOX
folder...... I'm confused...... folders can't have two default
forms, I image

B. I'm revising the form that I had previously done with CUSTOM
CREATED new fields...........

My cutting and pasting the "all contact fields" entry within one of
my contacts into WORD (via table view and excel first) I was able to
see exactly which NEWLY CREATED fields (ie user 1 was in use as my Map
city area - drop down field) were being matched to what stuff.

I'v noticed that there are a lot of fields within the FIELD CHOOSER
(ie that would show up in table view nicely vs custom made fields)
that aren't being used------ for instance...... other phone (number)
could equal a checkbox - output as a TEXT (yes/no) field

Once again, the downloading code option isn't available to me for
CUSTOMIZING the field chooser menu for getting a TABLE VIEW of all my
CUSTOM LABELED items

Maybe you could give you feedback as to my BRAINSTORMING logic for this
chart and idea

(1 COLUME- default fields within field chooser)
2nd colume- label i'll give to field in new form,
3rd -type of output I want in table view..... some of these
will be inputted text fields) (values assigned?)
4th -(type. format?) within form design, it may be a
dropdown menu, or a checkbox---
both of which output as text fields in tableview)

OUTLOOK DEFAULT FIELD LABEL WITHIN NEW FORM TYPE OUTPUT TABLE
VIEW
Organizational ID Number Type of mailout parachurch, youth ministry,
pastors DROP
OTHER PHONE PHONE ERROR Yes/no CHECK - text
PHONE 8 EMAIL ERROR Yes/no CHECK
Private PRIVATE EMAIL
Yes/no CHECK

Sorry, you lost me completely. Did you have a particular question about fields?

Ps. Is there a way to narrow down (make a NEW MENU out of the
specific fields from field chooser that will be in my new form---( I
understand that I'd have to use MANAGER vs the level of contact label
for the toolbar) but it would be handy not to have to scroll sooo far
within ALL CONTACT FIELDS

No, you cannot change the way the Field Chooser works.

 

[cyber23hyper]

can I use the OTHER PHONE, PHONE 5,6,7,8 fields (so that all my form
catagories will show up in TABLE VIEW) but then assign a DIFFERENT
label to it---- so that I could put a checkbox value in that
place............

so far as I know there would be no other way (other than
programatically) to get my checkbox items to showup in
tableview.........(phone error, email error, land address error) when
someone sends me info or thier email changes ...... so that I can print
out a list of which contacts need to be followed up on.............
FLAGS (I'v been reading up and found that there is a way to get more
differently colored flags) so far as I know don't show up for printing
in tableview..........

I always cut and paste the tableview into EXCEL so that I can send it
to the secratary upstairs (email link) to print

because this the one public computer and so isn't linked to a printer
or the main "drive" intranet for the offices upstairs.... our space is
quite tight and so already there's often 2-4 part-time paid staff
sharing the offices and computers upstairs....


any help (including a grant to teach esl women basic computers/
internet )) much appreciated

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

can I use the OTHER PHONE, PHONE 5,6,7,8 fields (so that all my form

catagories will show up in TABLE VIEW) but then assign a DIFFERENT
label to it---- so that I could put a checkbox value in that
place............

Those are text fields, not yes/no fields, so they cannot be meaningfully represented by a checkbox on a form and can't be shown as a textbox in a view.

so far as I know there would be no other way (other than
programatically) to get my checkbox items to showup in
tableview.........(phone error, email error, land address error) when
someone sends me info or thier email changes ......

If by "checkbox items," you mean Yes/No fields, as long as they're defined in the folder, you can add them to a folder view with the Field Chooser.

so that I can print
out a list of which contacts need to be followed up on.............
FLAGS (I'v been reading up and found that there is a way to get more
differently colored flags) so far as I know don't show up for printing
in tableview..........

Printing any Outlook view is pretty much WYSIWYG. If it's in the view, it will print.

any help (including a grant to teach esl women basic computers/
internet )) much appreciated

What a challenge! Good for you!