I am confused and annoyed

[J]

Friday Morn

I want to add a field that will appear on the GENERAL screen for ALL current
and new contact records.

How do I do this?


Attempting this in 2007. Would like to be able to do the same in 2003 and
then copy contacts to 2007

=======================

I have added a custom filed to a contact record.

This field does not appear in the folder filtering.


I have added a new folder field.


I edited a form. I added the field. I saved the form.


Now this form is the default for the contact I used to edit the form.
But not for any other.

And I cannot revert to the original general screen.


The folder field does not appear in any other contact.


And so on.

-----------------------------

 

[Karl Timmermans]

Here are some basic principles you need to understand about user-defined
fields and custom forms:

A) When no custom form is in use

#1 - When adding a new UDF via "User defined fields in this item" - any
field added will also automatically appear under "User defined fields in
folder"
#2 - A value must be entered in any given UDF for it to appear under "User
defined fields in this item" - or in other words, if you add a UDF as
described under #1 but fail to add a value - you will NOT see that field
under the "User defined fields in this item" list on subsequent visits
#3 - If you simply add new UDF under the "User defined fields in folder"
list - it will not appear in any contact until a value is entered for the
field - as per item #2
#4 - If you delete a field from the "User defined field in folder" list - it
does NOT remove the fields from any contacts that may have had values
entered for that field
#5 - If you delete a field from the "User defined field in this item" for a
specific contact - it does not automatically remove the field from the "User
defined fields in folder" list whether or not any other contact has any data
entered for that field

B) When creating a new custom form

#1 - When creating/publishing a new custom form to be used for items in a
given contact folder, you must do 2 specific things after publishing the
form
a) make it the default for the folder at which point it will
automatically be used for all NEW contacts created. It will however NOT be
retractively applied to any pre-existing contacts in the
folder. To accomplish that, you'll need to use any number of available tools
that
will set the individual "message class" name to the newly
published custom form. We also provide a free utility to do that:
ContactGenie Message Class Modifier -
http://www.contactgenie.com/cg20dlorder.htm
b) once a custom form has been applied to a given contact (i.e.
Message Class field value set to the custom form name) - all user-defined
fields
will be listed under each contact whether or not a value has
been entered

#2 - A contact folder can be comprised of set of contacts using different
message classes (i.e. each contact can end up being assigned to a different
message class/custom form but only custom form per contact). In some cases,
this is a desired environment but for most people it isn't. If a contact has
been created with a custom form different than that assigned as the
"default" for the folder, the original is the form that will be used - NOT
the default (unless of course the original custom form has since been
deleted in which case you may end up with an error message stating that the
contact can't be opened with that custom form).

As with all things, be it cars or software, it's important that one
understands the subject matter. There are endless books on this topic some
of which are listed on the SlipStick site which in itself is a very useful
resource - http://www.slipstick.com

Karl

 

[J]

Thank you for your reply.

I do understand what you have written below.

<rant>
I find it more than annoying that MS continues to do stupid stuff with this
program.

This is a database program: I should be able to add a field and check a box
indicating I want it available everywhere.

But NOOOOOOOO! It will only be available in certain folders until
I,,,,,,,,

I want to add a field to the general screen, BUT NOOOOO I have to create a
new form that looks completely different.

And, I have to obtain/purchase a third party utility to do this.

Completely rediculous.
</rant>

I apologise.

J

Here are some basic principles you need to understand about user-defined
fields and custom forms:

A) When no custom form is in use

#1 - When adding a new UDF via "User defined fields in this item" - any
field added will also automatically appear under "User defined fields in
folder"
#2 - A value must be entered in any given UDF for it to appear under "User
defined fields in this item" - or in other words, if you add a UDF as
described under #1 but fail to add a value - you will NOT see that field
under the "User defined fields in this item" list on subsequent visits
#3 - If you simply add new UDF under the "User defined fields in folder"
list - it will not appear in any contact until a value is entered for the
field - as per item #2
#4 - If you delete a field from the "User defined field in folder" list -
it does NOT remove the fields from any contacts that may have had values
entered for that field
#5 - If you delete a field from the "User defined field in this item" for
a specific contact - it does not automatically remove the field from the
"User defined fields in folder" list whether or not any other contact has
any data entered for that field

B) When creating a new custom form

#1 - When creating/publishing a new custom form to be used for items in a
given contact folder, you must do 2 specific things after publishing the
form
a) make it the default for the folder at which point it will
automatically be used for all NEW contacts created. It will however NOT be
retractively applied to any pre-existing contacts in the
folder. To accomplish that, you'll need to use any number of available
tools that
will set the individual "message class" name to the newly
published custom form. We also provide a free utility to do that:
ContactGenie Message Class Modifier -
http://www.contactgenie.com/cg20dlorder.htm
b) once a custom form has been applied to a given contact (i.e.
Message Class field value set to the custom form name) - all user-defined
fields
will be listed under each contact whether or not a value has
been entered

#2 - A contact folder can be comprised of set of contacts using different
message classes (i.e. each contact can end up being assigned to a
different message class/custom form but only custom form per contact). In
some cases, this is a desired environment but for most people it isn't. If
a contact has been created with a custom form different than that assigned
as the "default" for the folder, the original is the form that will be
used - NOT the default (unless of course the original custom form has
since been deleted in which case you may end up with an error message
stating that the contact can't be opened with that custom form).

As with all things, be it cars or software, it's important that one
understands the subject matter. There are endless books on this topic some
of which are listed on the SlipStick site which in itself is a very useful
resource - http://www.slipstick.com

Karl

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

J, as a semi-relational database, Outlook can have heterogenous items in the
same folder, unlike databases in which every record in a table has identical
fields. This flexibility has a cost -- it requires some patience to
understand -- but it definitely does not require a third-party tool. It
should be possible to accomplish most of what you want to do using the new
form regions feature in Outlook 2007. By designing a region and registering
it as an adjoining region for use with IPM.Contact items, you can add a small
pane at the bottom of the General page to display data from your custom
field, retaining the look and feel of the original General page.

Outlook 2003 does not support form regions, only published custom forms, but
it sounds like your main focus is Outlook 2007 anyway. If you do need to work
with Outlook 2003, these pages explain the basic fields concepts (and best
practices) and how to make your form the default for all contacts by
modifying the Windows registry:

http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=39
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=29

I agree with you completely about the issue of having to add a field at the
folder level in order to be able to filter by it. It is annoying to have to
do that extra work if a custom form is going to be used across multiple
folders. At least Outlook 2007 adds a Folder.UserDefinedProperties
collection so that this necessary operation can be more easily automated.

I've crossposted this reply to the microsoft.public.outlook.program_forms
forum, as that's the primary place where such form design issues are
discussed by Outlook developers and power users.