Duplicating ACT! functionality in Outlook

What I'm trying to do is duplicate some functionality found in a program
called ACT http://www.act.com/
ACT is a contact management tool that has a shared calendar and a list of
contacts.
It uses Outlook as it's MAPI provider.
Basically you can see your list of contacts, and highlight one, then go up
to the menu and choose to send that contact an email, or a letter, a memo
etc. When you make your choice, it opens the appropriate type of form... be
it a Word doc or email etc. You can build templates... so that the name and
address fields get populated based on the contact you had highlighted when
you started. Kinda like a one-shot mail merge. For instance a word doc opens
with a letterhead and it is populated and ready to print after you type your
letter. Client also has a template for fax, memo etc. It maintains a history
of what you have sent to a given contact, for instance if I sent you a Word
doc, I could see it in the history and double click on it to open it and see
what it was I sent you. I see similar functionality in the Activities tab
and journaling functionality in Outlook.

I'm wondering if any of this kind of stuff may be showing up now in Outlook
2003...

ACT is somewhat of a dog program in my opinion. Unstable and still uses a
..dbf database. Ever hear of SQL lol?

I am thinking about building some stuff that will allow us to:

Highlight a contact in Outlook's contact list.
Right click and see these same options in the context menu. (Send email,
letter, memo, fax etc.)

I've gotten as far as adding an .oft to the list of templates in the "User
templates in file system". As I understand, Outlook has certain classes of
forms it wants to work with. What I'm wondering is if we could have Outlook
open a Word doc (from within Outlook) and populate the fields based on the
info in the contact item. Or would Outlook not be able to deal with it since
it is not an Outlook message class item?

I've also been fiddling with customizing the contact form itself... was able
to publish the form into my local install of Outlook so it's not a "One-off"
etc... so I've been working with it for a while. I started back in August...
client did not realize how much time it would take and decided to just cut
and upgrade to a newer version of ACT but they are still not happy with it
so I am working on trying to get this functionality into Outlook and then I
might be able to justify setting them up with Exchange so we'd have the
shared calendar and contacts.

I've done a little VBA . I am thinking VBA might do it but there may be an
easier way or third-party stuff that will do this. (Or maybe OL 2003?)

Also researched into the way Outlook associates contacts... as I understand
it uses a "Links collection" that is based on the contact item being linked
to all the other items associated with a given contact.

Client really likes being able to:
1) Open a contact
2) See the other contacts that he has associated with that contact down in
the lower left corner.
3) Click on another contact in that list of associated contacts.
4) Rinse and repeat.

He'd like to be able to do this with categories as well, but since the Links
collection is based on contact only, I can't see how to fetch category
associations without iterating through all the contacts looking for the
specific category in question.

Anyone know if Outlook 2003 is using the same type of links collection
system?

Also wondering how much of this work would need to be duplicated if we
decide to upgrade to Outlook 2003.

Outlook has all of the functionality that you mentioned. Simply view your
contacts in a list view and select the one that you want then on the toolbar
at the top under "Actions" select what you'd like to do... send the contact
a letter, email, create a journal item or task, appointment item...whatever.
Its all there.

Anita
"s" <s@s.com> wrote in message news:bn0kdt0hkh@enews2.newsguy.com...
> What I'm trying to do is duplicate some functionality found in a program
> called ACT http://www.act.com/
> ACT is a contact management tool that has a shared calendar and a list of
> contacts.
> It uses Outlook as it's MAPI provider.
> Basically you can see your list of contacts, and highlight one, then go up
> to the menu and choose to send that contact an email, or a letter, a memo
> etc. When you make your choice, it opens the appropriate type of form...
be
> it a Word doc or email etc. You can build templates... so that the name
and
> address fields get populated based on the contact you had highlighted when
> you started. Kinda like a one-shot mail merge. For instance a word doc
opens
> with a letterhead and it is populated and ready to print after you type
your
> letter. Client also has a template for fax, memo etc. It maintains a
history
> of what you have sent to a given contact, for instance if I sent you a
Word
> doc, I could see it in the history and double click on it to open it and
see
> what it was I sent you. I see similar functionality in the Activities tab
> and journaling functionality in Outlook.
>
> I'm wondering if any of this kind of stuff may be showing up now in
Outlook
> 2003...
>
> ACT is somewhat of a dog program in my opinion. Unstable and still uses a
> .dbf database. Ever hear of SQL lol?
>
> I am thinking about building some stuff that will allow us to:
>
> Highlight a contact in Outlook's contact list.
> Right click and see these same options in the context menu. (Send email,
> letter, memo, fax etc.)
>
> I've gotten as far as adding an .oft to the list of templates in the "User
> templates in file system". As I understand, Outlook has certain classes of
> forms it wants to work with. What I'm wondering is if we could have
Outlook
> open a Word doc (from within Outlook) and populate the fields based on the
> info in the contact item. Or would Outlook not be able to deal with it
since
> it is not an Outlook message class item?
>
> I've also been fiddling with customizing the contact form itself... was
able
> to publish the form into my local install of Outlook so it's not a
"One-off"
> etc... so I've been working with it for a while. I started back in
August...
> client did not realize how much time it would take and decided to just cut
> and upgrade to a newer version of ACT but they are still not happy with it
> so I am working on trying to get this functionality into Outlook and then
I
> might be able to justify setting them up with Exchange so we'd have the
> shared calendar and contacts.
>
> I've done a little VBA . I am thinking VBA might do it but there may be an
> easier way or third-party stuff that will do this. (Or maybe OL 2003?)
>
> Also researched into the way Outlook associates contacts... as I
understand
> it uses a "Links collection" that is based on the contact item being
linked
> to all the other items associated with a given contact.
>
> Client really likes being able to:
> 1) Open a contact
> 2) See the other contacts that he has associated with that contact down in
> the lower left corner.
> 3) Click on another contact in that list of associated contacts.
> 4) Rinse and repeat.
>
> He'd like to be able to do this with categories as well, but since the
Links
> collection is based on contact only, I can't see how to fetch category
> associations without iterating through all the contacts looking for the
> specific category in question.
>
> Anyone know if Outlook 2003 is using the same type of links collection
> system?
>
> Also wondering how much of this work would need to be duplicated if we
> decide to upgrade to Outlook 2003.
>
>
>

I saw that- but is there a way to move the fields around?
It seems to drop the address field in a fixed location.
Thanks much.

"Anita Gupta" <anitagupta@acedsl.com> wrote in message
news:eTR$7iylDHA.1072@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Outlook has all of the functionality that you mentioned. Simply view your
> contacts in a list view and select the one that you want then on the
toolbar
> at the top under "Actions" select what you'd like to do... send the
contact
> a letter, email, create a journal item or task, appointment
item...whatever.
> Its all there.
>
> Anita
> "s" <s@s.com> wrote in message news:bn0kdt0hkh@enews2.newsguy.com...
> > What I'm trying to do is duplicate some functionality found in a program
> > called ACT http://www.act.com/
> > ACT is a contact management tool that has a shared calendar and a list
of
> > contacts.
> > It uses Outlook as it's MAPI provider.
> > Basically you can see your list of contacts, and highlight one, then go
up
> > to the menu and choose to send that contact an email, or a letter, a
memo
> > etc. When you make your choice, it opens the appropriate type of form...
> be
> > it a Word doc or email etc. You can build templates... so that the name
> and
> > address fields get populated based on the contact you had highlighted
when
> > you started. Kinda like a one-shot mail merge. For instance a word doc
> opens
> > with a letterhead and it is populated and ready to print after you type
> your
> > letter. Client also has a template for fax, memo etc. It maintains a
> history
> > of what you have sent to a given contact, for instance if I sent you a
> Word
> > doc, I could see it in the history and double click on it to open it and
> see
> > what it was I sent you. I see similar functionality in the Activities
tab
> > and journaling functionality in Outlook.
> >
> > I'm wondering if any of this kind of stuff may be showing up now in
> Outlook
> > 2003...
> >
> > ACT is somewhat of a dog program in my opinion. Unstable and still uses
a
> > .dbf database. Ever hear of SQL lol?
> >
> > I am thinking about building some stuff that will allow us to:
> >
> > Highlight a contact in Outlook's contact list.
> > Right click and see these same options in the context menu. (Send email,
> > letter, memo, fax etc.)
> >
> > I've gotten as far as adding an .oft to the list of templates in the
"User
> > templates in file system". As I understand, Outlook has certain classes
of
> > forms it wants to work with. What I'm wondering is if we could have
> Outlook
> > open a Word doc (from within Outlook) and populate the fields based on
the
> > info in the contact item. Or would Outlook not be able to deal with it
> since
> > it is not an Outlook message class item?
> >
> > I've also been fiddling with customizing the contact form itself... was
> able
> > to publish the form into my local install of Outlook so it's not a
> "One-off"
> > etc... so I've been working with it for a while. I started back in
> August...
> > client did not realize how much time it would take and decided to just
cut
> > and upgrade to a newer version of ACT but they are still not happy with
it
> > so I am working on trying to get this functionality into Outlook and
then
> I
> > might be able to justify setting them up with Exchange so we'd have the
> > shared calendar and contacts.
> >
> > I've done a little VBA . I am thinking VBA might do it but there may be
an
> > easier way or third-party stuff that will do this. (Or maybe OL 2003?)
> >
> > Also researched into the way Outlook associates contacts... as I
> understand
> > it uses a "Links collection" that is based on the contact item being
> linked
> > to all the other items associated with a given contact.
> >
> > Client really likes being able to:
> > 1) Open a contact
> > 2) See the other contacts that he has associated with that contact down
in
> > the lower left corner.
> > 3) Click on another contact in that list of associated contacts.
> > 4) Rinse and repeat.
> >
> > He'd like to be able to do this with categories as well, but since the
> Links
> > collection is based on contact only, I can't see how to fetch category
> > associations without iterating through all the contacts looking for the
> > specific category in question.
> >
> > Anyone know if Outlook 2003 is using the same type of links collection
> > system?
> >
> > Also wondering how much of this work would need to be duplicated if we
> > decide to upgrade to Outlook 2003.
> >
> >
> >
>
>

You'd have to write a macro (probably in Word) to do change where the
address fields would be dropped, I suppose. I'm not that familiar with word.

Anita

"s" <s@s.com> wrote in message news:bn1hmm095n@enews4.newsguy.com...
> I saw that- but is there a way to move the fields around?
> It seems to drop the address field in a fixed location.
> Thanks much.
>
> "Anita Gupta" <anitagupta@acedsl.com> wrote in message
> news:eTR$7iylDHA.1072@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> > Outlook has all of the functionality that you mentioned. Simply view
your
> > contacts in a list view and select the one that you want then on the
> toolbar
> > at the top under "Actions" select what you'd like to do... send the
> contact
> > a letter, email, create a journal item or task, appointment
> item...whatever.
> > Its all there.
> >
> > Anita
> > "s" <s@s.com> wrote in message news:bn0kdt0hkh@enews2.newsguy.com...
> > > What I'm trying to do is duplicate some functionality found in a
program
> > > called ACT http://www.act.com/
> > > ACT is a contact management tool that has a shared calendar and a list
> of
> > > contacts.
> > > It uses Outlook as it's MAPI provider.
> > > Basically you can see your list of contacts, and highlight one, then
go
> up
> > > to the menu and choose to send that contact an email, or a letter, a
> memo
> > > etc. When you make your choice, it opens the appropriate type of
form...
> > be
> > > it a Word doc or email etc. You can build templates... so that the
name
> > and
> > > address fields get populated based on the contact you had highlighted
> when
> > > you started. Kinda like a one-shot mail merge. For instance a word doc
> > opens
> > > with a letterhead and it is populated and ready to print after you
type
> > your
> > > letter. Client also has a template for fax, memo etc. It maintains a
> > history
> > > of what you have sent to a given contact, for instance if I sent you a
> > Word
> > > doc, I could see it in the history and double click on it to open it
and
> > see
> > > what it was I sent you. I see similar functionality in the Activities
> tab
> > > and journaling functionality in Outlook.
> > >
> > > I'm wondering if any of this kind of stuff may be showing up now in
> > Outlook
> > > 2003...
> > >
> > > ACT is somewhat of a dog program in my opinion. Unstable and still
uses
> a
> > > .dbf database. Ever hear of SQL lol?
> > >
> > > I am thinking about building some stuff that will allow us to:
> > >
> > > Highlight a contact in Outlook's contact list.
> > > Right click and see these same options in the context menu. (Send
email,
> > > letter, memo, fax etc.)
> > >
> > > I've gotten as far as adding an .oft to the list of templates in the
> "User
> > > templates in file system". As I understand, Outlook has certain
classes
> of
> > > forms it wants to work with. What I'm wondering is if we could have
> > Outlook
> > > open a Word doc (from within Outlook) and populate the fields based on
> the
> > > info in the contact item. Or would Outlook not be able to deal with it
> > since
> > > it is not an Outlook message class item?
> > >
> > > I've also been fiddling with customizing the contact form itself...
was
> > able
> > > to publish the form into my local install of Outlook so it's not a
> > "One-off"
> > > etc... so I've been working with it for a while. I started back in
> > August...
> > > client did not realize how much time it would take and decided to just
> cut
> > > and upgrade to a newer version of ACT but they are still not happy
with
> it
> > > so I am working on trying to get this functionality into Outlook and
> then
> > I
> > > might be able to justify setting them up with Exchange so we'd have
the
> > > shared calendar and contacts.
> > >
> > > I've done a little VBA . I am thinking VBA might do it but there may
be
> an
> > > easier way or third-party stuff that will do this. (Or maybe OL 2003?)
> > >
> > > Also researched into the way Outlook associates contacts... as I
> > understand
> > > it uses a "Links collection" that is based on the contact item being
> > linked
> > > to all the other items associated with a given contact.
> > >
> > > Client really likes being able to:
> > > 1) Open a contact
> > > 2) See the other contacts that he has associated with that contact
down
> in
> > > the lower left corner.
> > > 3) Click on another contact in that list of associated contacts.
> > > 4) Rinse and repeat.
> > >
> > > He'd like to be able to do this with categories as well, but since the
> > Links
> > > collection is based on contact only, I can't see how to fetch category
> > > associations without iterating through all the contacts looking for
the
> > > specific category in question.
> > >
> > > Anyone know if Outlook 2003 is using the same type of links collection
> > > system?
> > >
> > > Also wondering how much of this work would need to be duplicated if we
> > > decide to upgrade to Outlook 2003.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>