Published Message Forms in Public Folders Don't Retain Data

[aberdahl]

We run Outlook 2003 SP2 as a client to Exchange 2003. I've set up a Public
Folder and published a message to this folder that includes a P.2 page that
contains text boxes for data entry. After someone opens and sends the
message form including data in the P.2 page, the data is not retained when
the recipient opens the message. The text boxes are still there, but they're
empty. I've given "Owner" permissions to the Public Folder and the published
message in Plain Text format.

How do you get this to work?

Andy

 

[Hollis Paul [MVP - Outlook]]

We run Outlook 2003 SP2 as a client to Exchange 2003. I've set up a Public
Folder and published a message to this folder that includes a P.2 page that
contains text boxes for data entry. After someone opens and sends the
message form including data in the P.2 page, the data is not retained when
the recipient opens the message. The text boxes are still there, but they're
empty. I've given "Owner" permissions to the Public Folder and the published
message in Plain Text format.

How do you get this to work?

Have you bound the checkboxes to fields. Every checkbox control has to be bound
to a separate field. And it may be that you have to have code in the item open
event to set the value of the control to the value of the field.

 

[aberdahl]

Hi Paul,

I had one checkbox control in the form so I removed that, saved the form and
tried to Publish it again. Because this is a message form, not a post form,
I'm told I need to publish this into the Organizational Forms folder. I
created an organizational forms folder on our Exch2K3 server and gave myself
as many permissions and rights as possible to that. Now, when I try again to
publish the form, I get the following message: "Unable to successfully
publish the form due to a MAPI error. The form cannot be installed because
you do not have owner permissions." I can publish to the Outlook Forms
folder and then pull the form up from the Actions menu in Outlook, but I
still have the data retention problem, even with the checkbox control removed.

Andy

 

[Hollis Paul [MVP - Outlook]]

I can publish to the Outlook Forms
folder and then pull the form up from the Actions menu in Outlook, but I
still have the data retention problem, even with the checkbox control removed.

You may have to start from scratch and publish it for the first time to the Org
Forms Library. But first, before you do that, right-click your Inbox folder,
choose Properties, and the Forms tab when the Property panel comes up. Click
the manage button and see if you can successfully move the form from your
Outlook personal folders library to the Organizational Forms Library.

Forms are only supposed to be published in one place. If you publish it in your
Personal Forms Library, and the Organizational forms library, then very strange
things can happen. In the past, when I was doing a lot of forms, there was no
check to prevent that from happening. Perhaps there are checks now. Who knows
what the design team will spring on the unsuspecting public.

 

[aberdahl]

Hollis, I found out how to use the "User-Defined Fields". That works for
what I want to do. When I use those fields, the data in the text boxes is
retained. Thanks for your help. -Andy