Text based fields in a form

[jamiedarby]

I have created templates in MS Word for letters that we send to customers.
These contain "Text Form Fields" so that all a user needs to do is TAB
through the document and fill in the necessary fields (Customer name,
address, etc.) and the rest of the document's content is locked/not editable.

I am looking for a way to bring this sort of form into Outlook so that a
user can simply change the contents of a few fields and send it to a
customer. What this email serves as is a way for our customers to read over
their order and Confirm the order. Right now, we have our customers hit reply
and type "I authorize this order..." into their response. Is there another
way where I can add a checkbox for the customer to check, authorizing the
order, and then send it back to us?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Unless you control the recipient's email environment -- and obviously you can't in this case -- you're not going to be able to get a checkbox to work. The reply solution you have already sounds pretty good.

 

[jamiedarby]

Well, at this time I don't have a solution for Outlook, it was moreso a
gameplan for what I am looking to build. I'm just not quite sure how to go
about doing so.

What I really would like is to get to the point where all my users need to
do is fill out certain fields and have the rest of the form be static text.
At minimum, the recipient of the email needs to be able to read the entire
message, hit reply, and then type "I authorize this order....".

To me it sounds simple, but what do I know. I've got a blank slate now and
ready to build this form, any guidance on achieving my goal would be
appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Have you thought about doing that with a Word template and the File | Send command, which uses the current document to create an email message? Mail merge is another solution if you have a lot of messages to send at one time.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54