Using forms across multiple versions of Outlook

[Lancaster John]

I am creating a form that will help us collect information to set up new
items. Different sections of the form will be filled out by different
departments. I have been able to create the form in Outlook 2002 and it
works fine. My problem is that we are slowly migrating to an exchange server
and users will be converted over to Outlook 2007 over the next few months.
What do I need to do to make my form work on both versions of outloook? I am
losing the entire form when sending it between the two versions and am
getting a blank email. Also, I have a few users who are still on Outlook
Express......Is there any type of add in available that can allow them to use
forms?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You shouldn't need to do anything, although sometimes problems do crop up for unknown reasons, most of them fixable simply by republishing the form with the latest version of Outlook.

The problem you describe is not new. Beginning with Outlook 2003 SP2, one-off form items cannot display custom fields, for security reasons. The article at http://support.microsoft.com/?id=907985 explains this change in more detail and suggests best practices -- primarily proper publishing of the form. For message forms, that means publishing to the Organizational Forms library on the Exchange server, with the "send form definition with item" box on the form unchecked.

Outlook Express has no custom forms capability at all. If you must support OE users for your information collection, you might consider putting up a web page where they can enter their information.