Which Version Of Outlook For Custom Forms Should I Use?

[Stephen L Dotson]

Background:
I have been working on a complex custom contact form in Outlook 2002. I now
need to have this form work on all machines using Outlook 98 - Outlook 2003.
I'm trying to make this form usable by at least 90% of Outlook users. I
know my Outlook 2002 form is not backward compatible, so I will have to
reauthor my form in a previous version of Outlook.

Which Version To Develop In?
Do I need to develop the form in Outlook 97 or 98 or 2000? What would be
the best Outlook forms development platform to accomplish my 90% of the
Outlook platforms distribution goal?

Can I Install Two Versions of Outlook On the Same Machine?
I have Office XP Pro with Outlook 2002 installed. Is there some way that I
can install the prior version of Outlook, on the same machine that Outlook
2002 is installed on. I don't want to have to buy another machine, and dual
booting two operating systems is out of the question.

I need your suggestions to solve my problems.

I thank you in advance.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Please do not multi-post!

I've been known to develop forms in Outlook 2003 and test in down-level
versions. The latest versions are more sensitive to size constraints, so
that actually makes some sense. In other words, complex forms that work fine
in Outlook 98 may die in Outlook 2002 or 2003. The biggest difference is
between Outlook 97 and later versions; OL97 doesn't expose the first page of
a contact form as a customizable page.

You must, however, test in *all* environments where your form will run.
Since you can have only one version of Outlook running on a machine, this
generally means that you need a copy of VMWare or Virtual PC for testing.