BCM V2 2003 or BCM Beta 2007? The Beta allows this, BCM 2003 supposedly can
be edited like this (I have not yet done this):
BCM: Customizing BCM forms isn't officially supported in V2
So take the following post with a word of caution. If you customize your
forms and BCM starts behaving strangely, Microsoft Product Support Services
(PSS) will probably tell you the first thing to do is dump all your
customizations. That said, it is possible to customize BCM forms and have the
data persist within the database.
Before you attempt to customize your BCM forms you should always backup your
entire BCM database. You can do that by selecting Backup from the Business
Database option off the File menu.
To customize your BCM forms, use the following steps.
1) Disable BCM. You can do this by right clicking Business Contact Manager
in the Folder List and choosing Close. Now restart Outlook.
2) Open the form you want to customize (such as the Business Contact form).
To do this choose Tools, Forms, Design a Form. Choose the Personal Forms
Library from the Look In drop down. Select the Business Contact Form and
click Open. Click OK to the error message if one appears.
3) Customize the form by changing the drop downs, adding a field, or moving
fields around. I recommend not removing any fields. If you don't need a
particular field, right click, choose Properties, and uncheck the Visible
property to hide the field.
4) Save the customized form to a file (such as MyContact.oft).
5) Close the form (don't publish it) and close Outlook.
4) Enable BCM by going to Control Panels and double clicking on the Mail
icon. Click Data Files and choose Add. Choose Business Contact Manager
database and click OK. Now choose Use an existing database and choose your
database from the drop down menu. Click Next and Finish.
5) Launch Outlook, BCM should load and you'll see the Business Tools menu in
the menu bar.
6) Open the form you created above.
7) Choose Tools, Forms, Publish Form As. Choose Personal Forms Library from
the Look In drop down and choose the BCM form you want to replace. Choose
Publish.
8) Close the form without saving it.
9) Close Outlook.
10) Clear your forms cache. Go to the C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Forms and clear all items in that folder.
11) Open Outlook and try to launch the BCM form you attempted to customize.
Your customized form should appear.
REMEMBER: Customizing BCM forms isn't officially supported. Your mileage may
vary.
posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 6:25 PM
