Why can't I send a simple non email letter from outlook?

[Chuck Harmon]

I still use snail mail frequently. Why won't Outlook give me that option.
Email is fine, but it is not the ONLY way to write a letter!

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

Simply write your letter in MS Word or another desktop program and print and
mail.
Why would you expect an *email* program to give you snail mail options?

:I still use snail mail frequently. Why won't Outlook give me that option.
: Email is fine, but it is not the ONLY way to write a letter!

 

[Mary]

Not sure what you mean. Outlook is an email program, not a word processor.
Use Word or another text editor to write and print your letter and mail it
yourself. You can also write an email, print it and mail it instead of
sending the email.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I still use snail mail frequently. Why won't Outlook give me that
option. Email is fine, but it is not the ONLY way to write a letter!

Outlook is an electronic messaging tool. If you want to write a paper
letter, use Word.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

if you mean for addressing, outlook 2003 and older have actions, new letter
to contact... or you can use a view that shows the full snail mail address
(like address card view) and just copy the contact and paste into word (use
paste special, as text or paste into notepad, then copy again).

http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/copy_data.htm

 

[weewillie]

Outlook is an electronic messaging tool. If you want to write a paper
letter, use Word.

Brian

I am very surprised at what you are saying considering you are a MVP
I've been with office ever since office 97

Outlook is where users keep their contact information, be it telephone
number, fax number, mobile number, email , personal address and
business address. ie it's a 'one stop shop' for all contact
information for an office user.

Why do you think it has fields on it's main contact field for address
if it's not to write a letter?

In many walks of business life the written letter has higher status
than email. Outlook combines the ability to send email, telephone
calls , faxes and writes letters.

The fact that the 2007 seems to have almost forgotten that writing
letters is still mainstram in business is the oddity.

I have a technical problem with office 2007, where word crashes every
time I try and write a letter using outlook contacts. A helpful person
on the forum on WOPR, told me that word was broken in this regard

1 Has a bug report been filed?
2 what is it's progress?

The person advised me as a temporary workround, to initiate the letter
to contact from within outlook

This isn't easy. Any search for this with microsoft gives no clues
So, using my initiate , in this vacuum of advice from microsoft, I
added yet another toolbar item, to pick up addresses on word from
outlook

If you really are an MVP, I would expect you would be able to answer
these questions as well as your colleagues have done for me in the
past

I'm using office sp1 on vista business sp1

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

In point of fact, letters have always been written in Word, never Outlook.
Word is a word processor. Outlook is not.
No functionality has been lost. When users start a letter from Outlook, they
are always taken immediately to Word where they create their letter.
The only thing that has been removed is the "New Letter to Contact" Wizard,
which most people found so useless and difficult that they avoided it
anyway. All it did was try to create a letter from a template while still
taking them immediately to Word to finish the letter. Most users quickly
recognized that they had far more flexibility just creating the letter in
Word in the first place and then pulling the Contact information from
Outlook. Or they created their own merge document instead of trying to use
the Wizard's template.
All of those abilities remain.

 

[weewillie]

In point of fact, letters have always been written in Word, never Outlook.
Word is a word processor. Outlook is not.
No functionality has been lost. When users start a letter from Outlook, they
are always taken immediately to Word where they create their letter.
The only thing that has been removed is the "New Letter to Contact" Wizard,
which most people found so useless and difficult that they avoided it
anyway. All it did was try to create a letter from a template while still
taking them immediately to Word to finish the letter. Most users quickly
recognized that they had far more flexibility just creating the letter in
Word in the first place and then pulling the Contact information from
Outlook. Or they created their own merge document instead of trying to use
the Wizard's template.
All of those abilities remain.

Russ, why the top posting, I thought that was anti good practice?

Each time I try to write a letter in word using the outlook icon on my
QAT, word crashes. Diagnostics show no probs
This is a known fault. What is the progress with the fault report?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

It is not a "known fault."
It is end user error in configuring the Outlook Address Book. State how you
did so. State the error message.
Top posting has always been preferred in these groups.

 

[weewillie]

It is not a "known fault."
It is end user error in configuring the Outlook Address Book. State how you
did so. State the error message.
Top posting has always been preferred in these groups.

Russ

The word forum in wopr advises that it is a known fault, I could post
you a link if you like

All I did with the address book was bring over my 2003 pst and then
use file/open

As I've said before, there is no error message, word simply closes

Thanks for your help

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

WOPR missed the mark on this one. I'm glad they at least sent you to the
newsgroups. The feature works the same as in all other versions of Outlook.
The behavior you see means you either did not migrate your data correctly or
did not configure your Outlook Address Book correctly.
Was this a clean install of Outlook 2007?
How did you migrate your PST file and connect it to your Outlook 2007
profile?
How did you configure your Outlook Address Book Service to use your previous
data file?
Outlook is extraordinarily unforgiving in these steps and it is easy to make
a mistake.

 

[weewillie]

Russ

I did answer some of your questions in my post
I migrated my pst from 2003 by file open which I believe is the
recommended method

It was a new pc with vista business and office 2007, and was most
definately a clean instal

what do you want me to do now?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

File > Open answers none of my questions.
What did you do next? What did you do with Outlook 2007's default PST file?
How did you configure your Outlook address book service?

 

[weewillie]

File > Open answers none of my questions.
What did you do next? What did you do with Outlook 2007's default PST file?

It's in Appdata

How did you configure your Outlook address book service?

Can't remember precisely, sorry for being painful, could you give me
some tips or give me a q&a so that I can answer you better

Thanks for your help

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Sure, and there are many posts here that can do the same.
Simple version: You open your old data file in your new Outlook profile. Use
File > Data File management to set your old file as the default for that
profile. Restart Outlook. R click and close the new data file that the new
profile created. Go to your Contacts Folder and set it as an email address
book in its properties. Restart Outlook. Both the Outlook Address Book and
Word address book will work after that.
More detailed instructions here:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

 

[weewillie]

Russ, I'm confused

Several months ago when I started outlook for the 1st time in 07, I
file/opened my old pst file, which successfully brought over all my
email folders and outlook address books
I set up email accounts etc and that part of outlook has been working
fine

I now realise that the new pst file created by outlook 07, which
doesnt have any data in it, is set as the default pst file

Si I did as you said and I've changed my pst which was derived from my
'old one' to the new default pst file
however, suddenly all my address book folders have disappeared

Unfortunately, when I also tested word it shut down when I tried to
use outlook address book to insert an address. I had none of these
issues with 2003, and previous versions


feel I'm now 'up a creek without a paddle'
please help

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

After you switched your default PST file to your old one, did you then go
into each Contact Folder's properties and enable it as an email address
book? Did you close the original PST file?
The reason Word is crashing is that you still have not configured your
Outlook Address Book Service correctly.

 

[E-Mail Letters to Editor]

I am so frustrated with this whole operation.

After spending some time composing a letter to the editor of my newspaper
and answering questions by HP or MSN, I received a message that the e-mail
couldn't be transmitted.

Then I can't even find a method to convey the problems I am experiencing to
them.

Is this supposed to be a "user friendly" system? Not by me!

I wasn't even able to print a copy of the e-mail, that wasn't allowed to be
sent.

 

[Gordon]

I am so frustrated with this whole operation.

After spending some time composing a letter to the editor of my newspaper
and answering questions by HP or MSN, I received a message that the e-mail
couldn't be transmitted.

So what was the error message IN FULL?

Then I can't even find a method to convey the problems I am experiencing to
them.


Is this supposed to be a "user friendly" system? Not by me!

I wasn't even able to print a copy of the e-mail, that wasn't allowed to be
sent.

So what happened when you tried?
Please don't just give us nebulous rantings, tell us IN DETAIL what did
or didn't happen and someone will be almost bound to be able to help...

 

[VanguardLH]

in

I am so frustrated with this whole operation.

Oh, the "whole operation". Uh huh, that's real descriptive, sure. I
can already tell this discussion has a black hole for an OP.

After spending some time composing a letter to the editor of my newspaper
and answering questions by HP or MSN, I received a message that the e-mail
couldn't be transmitted.

Which means it had nothing to do with Outlook. The problem was that you
addressed your e-mail to an invalid e-mail address, that e-mail address
doesn't exist anymore, or for some other reason but for which you chose
to keep a secret because you wouldn't bother to divulge the content of
that NDR (non-delivery report). Outlook wasn't the problem. It sent
the e-mail just fine. It even received the NDR just fine.

Then I can't even find a method to convey the problems I am experiencing to
them.

Again, how is that an Outlook issue? It isn't. So they don't have a
phone number. Not an Outlook issue. So they don't provide a web form
to send them feedback. Not an Outlook issue. So they don't provide you
with a postal address to send snail mail. Not an Outlook issue.

Is this supposed to be a "user friendly" system? Not by me!

When you grow up, sometime after getting past 6 years old, you'll know
better how reality works. It's not like in the cartoons.

I wasn't even able to print a copy of the e-mail, that wasn't allowed to be
sent.

Sure. Uh huh. If it got sent, a copy is sitting in your "Sent Items"
folder that you can print. Oh, maybe the problem is that you don't have
a printer. Who knows. At this point, who cares.

What the hell has snail mail got to do with Outlook? Lay the paper on
your desk, draw on it using a pen, stick it in an addressed envelope
with a stamp, and walk out to your mailbox. Duh.

Time to take your meds. Stop selling your ADS meds to the other kids.
Use them yourself. You r-e-a-l-l-y need them.