How to create an email request form that people can fill-in and Reply

J

John7

I like to create an atractive request mail form that recipients can fill-in
and return by clicking [Reply] or mailto:link.

The mail form must meet these demands:
- Simple but atractive (in RTF or HTML, with pictures)
- Can be forwarded without corrupting it's layout
- Form not attached but directly in mail body
- Avoiding security restrictions
- Reply must contain recipients respons information
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Any suggestions?


TIA,
John7
 
S

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]

- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Only Outlook supports custom forms, not Outlook Express. If you want a truly
universal solution, put up a web page and point recipients to that URL.

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



John7 said:
I like to create an atractive request mail form that recipients can fill-in
and return by clicking [Reply] or mailto:link.

The mail form must meet these demands:
- Simple but atractive (in RTF or HTML, with pictures)
- Can be forwarded without corrupting it's layout
- Form not attached but directly in mail body
- Avoiding security restrictions
- Reply must contain recipients respons information
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Any suggestions?


TIA,
John7
 
G

Guest

Here is a possibility...

1. Create your HTML-based survey using FrontPage or InterDev

a. Include the following code associated with your Enter control:

<FORM action="mailto:[email protected]?Subject=Survey
results" method=post>

b. Save the HTML file

2. To save the survey as Outlook stationary, within Outlook:

a. Select Tools menu option, click Options, and then click Mail Format
tab.

b. In the Compose in this message format list, click HTML.

c. Click Stationary Picker, and then click New.

d. Under Choose how to create your stationary, click the Browse button
to select your saved HTML file.

e. Click Next.

f. In the Compose in this message format list, click Rich Text to reset
the default message format.

3. To distribute the survey, within Outlook:

a. Select Actions menu option, click New Mail Message Using, and then
click the name of the stationary that you create above.

b. Address to survey participants.

When the recipents process the form, the data values are mailed to the
address referenced above.



Sue Mosher said:
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Only Outlook supports custom forms, not Outlook Express. If you want a truly
universal solution, put up a web page and point recipients to that URL.

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



John7 said:
I like to create an atractive request mail form that recipients can fill-in
and return by clicking [Reply] or mailto:link.

The mail form must meet these demands:
- Simple but atractive (in RTF or HTML, with pictures)
- Can be forwarded without corrupting it's layout
- Form not attached but directly in mail body
- Avoiding security restrictions
- Reply must contain recipients respons information
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Any suggestions?


TIA,
John7
 
J

John7

Walter said:
Here is a possibility...

1. Create your HTML-based survey using FrontPage or InterDev

a. Include the following code associated with your Enter control:

<FORM action="mailto:[email protected]?Subject=Survey
results" method=post>

b. Save the HTML file

2. To save the survey as Outlook stationary, within Outlook:

a. Select Tools menu option, click Options, and then click Mail Format
tab.

b. In the Compose in this message format list, click HTML.

c. Click Stationary Picker, and then click New.

d. Under Choose how to create your stationary, click the Browse button
to select your saved HTML file.

e. Click Next.

f. In the Compose in this message format list, click Rich Text to reset
the default message format.

3. To distribute the survey, within Outlook:

a. Select Actions menu option, click New Mail Message Using, and then
click the name of the stationary that you create above.

b. Address to survey participants.

When the recipents process the form, the data values are mailed to the
address referenced above.



Sue Mosher said:
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Only Outlook supports custom forms, not Outlook Express. If you want a truly
universal solution, put up a web page and point recipients to that URL.

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



John7 said:
I like to create an atractive request mail form that recipients can fill-in
and return by clicking [Reply] or mailto:link.

The mail form must meet these demands:
- Simple but atractive (in RTF or HTML, with pictures)
- Can be forwarded without corrupting it's layout
- Form not attached but directly in mail body
- Avoiding security restrictions
- Reply must contain recipients respons information
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Any suggestions?


TIA,
John7


Walter,

Amazing, this seems to be exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks so much for the comprehensive explanation, step by step!

I used Word as HTML-editor in Outlook and came quite close.
Form was nice but respons data got lost when replying, the
layout got mixed up and I couldn't figure out the Enter button action.

Final questions:
1. Will your form work when responding with other clients than Outlook ?
2. Could Word work equally well as Frontpage for HTML creation ?
3. Could you name sources for things like Enter button action programming ?


THX so far & TIA
John7
 
G

Guest

1. Will your form work when responding with other clients than Outlook ?

Yes, but in either case the response comes back as an ATT attachment....
you'll have to parse the response - using Excel "Text to Columns" works
fine...
Survey responses are in a form similar to the following:

&Member=Yes&Unit=ITC&Method=E-mail&Useful=Yes&Expected=Yes&Comments=These+are+Walter%27s+comments...+
2. Could Word work equally well as Frontpage for HTML creation ?
Yes

3. Could you name sources for things like Enter button action programming ?

Here is a sample...

<html>
<body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'>
&nbsp;
<table border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="236">
<img border="0" src="ba_cop_logo.gif" width="197" height="74"></td>
<td> <p align="right">
<font face="Verdana" style="font-family: verdana" size="6">Brown Bag
Feedback Form</font></p>
<p> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<FORM action="mailto:[email protected]?Subject=Survey results"
method=post><INPUT type=hidden value=37108 name=esProjectID>
<fieldset style="padding: 2">
<legend>Are you a member of the Business Analyst Community of
Practice?</legend>
<input type="radio" name="Member" value="Yes" checked>Yes<p>
<input type="radio" name="Member" value="No">No</p>
</fieldset>
<!--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<p>What is your Business Unit? (ITC,S&T IT, Marketing IT, etc.):
<input type="text" name="Unit" size="50"></p>
<!--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<fieldset style="padding: 2">
<legend>How did you hear about this event?</legend>
<p><input type="radio" value="E-mail" checked name="Method">E-mail</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="Method" value="BA CoP Newsletter">BA CoP
Newsletter</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="Method" value="BA CoP Web Site">BA CoP Web
Site</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="Method" value="Word of Mouth">Word of Mouth</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="Method" value="Other">Other</p>
</fieldset>
<!--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<fieldset style="padding: 2">
<legend>Did you find the information in this Brown Bag useful?</legend>
<input type="radio" name="Useful" value="Yes" checked>Yes<p>
<input type="radio" name="Useful" value="No">No</p>
</fieldset>
<!--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<fieldset style="padding: 2">
<legend>Did you learn what you were expecting?</legend>
<input type="radio" name="Expected" value="Yes" checked>Yes<p>
<input type="radio" name="Expected" value="No">No</p>
</fieldset>
<!--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<P class=txtDkGreenBold style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">6. Please share any
additional
comments or suggestions you have regarding this Brown Bag:
<TEXTAREA name=Comments rows=5 cols=116 SIZE="900"></TEXTAREA>
<P>
<P>Thank you for participating in our survey.<BR>
<!--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<INPUT class=Style4 id=Submit style="Z-INDEX: 1; LEFT: 7px; WIDTH: 2.86cm;
POSITION: absolute; TOP: 15px; HEIGHT: 0.95cm"
tabIndex=2 type=submit value=Submit>
</FORM>
</body>
<!--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
</html>



John7 said:
Walter said:
Here is a possibility...

1. Create your HTML-based survey using FrontPage or InterDev

a. Include the following code associated with your Enter control:

<FORM action="mailto:[email protected]?Subject=Survey
results" method=post>

b. Save the HTML file

2. To save the survey as Outlook stationary, within Outlook:

a. Select Tools menu option, click Options, and then click Mail Format
tab.

b. In the Compose in this message format list, click HTML.

c. Click Stationary Picker, and then click New.

d. Under Choose how to create your stationary, click the Browse button
to select your saved HTML file.

e. Click Next.

f. In the Compose in this message format list, click Rich Text to reset
the default message format.

3. To distribute the survey, within Outlook:

a. Select Actions menu option, click New Mail Message Using, and then
click the name of the stationary that you create above.

b. Address to survey participants.

When the recipents process the form, the data values are mailed to the
address referenced above.



Sue Mosher said:
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Only Outlook supports custom forms, not Outlook Express. If you want a truly
universal solution, put up a web page and point recipients to that URL.

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



I like to create an atractive request mail form that recipients can fill-in
and return by clicking [Reply] or mailto:link.

The mail form must meet these demands:
- Simple but atractive (in RTF or HTML, with pictures)
- Can be forwarded without corrupting it's layout
- Form not attached but directly in mail body
- Avoiding security restrictions
- Reply must contain recipients respons information
- If possible but not necessary ... suitable for mail clients
other that Express and Outlook.

Any suggestions?


TIA,
John7


Walter,

Amazing, this seems to be exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks so much for the comprehensive explanation, step by step!

I used Word as HTML-editor in Outlook and came quite close.
Form was nice but respons data got lost when replying, the
layout got mixed up and I couldn't figure out the Enter button action.

Final questions:
1. Will your form work when responding with other clients than Outlook ?
2. Could Word work equally well as Frontpage for HTML creation ?
3. Could you name sources for things like Enter button action programming ?


THX so far & TIA
John7
 

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