Outlook Forms launcher to open Excel or Word files

[Richard Pieri]

I have set up some Form Launchers in Public folders to
launch my customer forms I would also like to have the
abilty for my people to launch some Excel and Word Doc's
from the same location. Is it possible to use the forms
launcher to open excel and word documents.

We are running
Office Xp
Exchange 2000

Thanks in advance
Rich

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

There's no reason you can't include any kind of script in a form launcher
form, but the details will depend on exactly what you're trying to do and
I'm not clear from your message on what that might be.

 

[Guest]

I am trying to open an Excel and or Word template I have
stored on our network. My goal is to have our Employees
go to one location (a Public folder) to open Outlook
custom forms and my Excel and Word Templates.

Thank You
Rich

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

So the items stored in the public folder are Excel and Word templates? One
interesting issue with that is that you can't just open the item
programmatically and have the template open. The template is actually an
attachment, and to open an attachment, you must save it to the file system
first.

The way you might construct this is to create a new kind of "launcher" that,
when opened, saves the attached file to the file system
(Attachment.SaveAsFile) and then uses Word or Excel methods (as appropriate)
to create a new document from that saved template, then deletes the
template, and closes and discards the launcher form.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Richard Pieri]

That's pretty much what I'm looking to do I guess it
could also just be a shortcut to the template I just need
it to open from that location. Is there any examples out
there or on your website for this. I have your books and
didn't find anything like this in there. I think this is
a little above me to create this one I'm still a
beginner. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Rich

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

If you want to write less code, have you considered putting the templates on
a network drive rather than in a public folder? Or is availability to mobile
users through Public Folders\Favorites a key desireable features?

As I outlined, there are multiple steps involved. Most are covered in the
book or in Outlook and Word Help. (Also see
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/code/copyatts.htm for an example of how to save
attachments and get rid of the saved files.) You just have to assemble all
the pieces together. Start with one step at a time. Let me know if there's a
particular step you don't understand how to do.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers