XCLN: Outlook 2000 Can Substitute Default Forms with Custom Forms (250308)

SUMMARY

Although Outlook 97 and Outlook 98 allow you to customize forms, you can only use these custom forms to affect items when they are created, not when they are used to view items received in a user's Inbox. For example, you can customize the standard mail item form (IPM.NOTE) and use that form to send a message to another user as long as the form definition is sent with the item or if the form itself is published in the user's forms library or the Organizational Forms Library. However, there is no way to replace a default form with a custom created form when you are viewing an item that has arrived in the Inbox.

In Outlook 2000, you can create a custom form to display the default mail items.

MORE INFORMATION

Every folder in a user's mailbox has a definitive message class. For example, the message class for the Inbox is called IPM.NOTE; the message class for the Tasks folder is called IPM.TASK; the message class for the Calendar folder is called IPM.APPOINTMENT; the message class for the Contacts folder is called IPM.CONTACT, and so on. When you open a message in the Inbox, it is opened with the IPM.NOTE (default) form.

In Outlook 2000, you can create a custom form, install it in one of the forms libraries (for example, Personal Forms Library, Organizational Forms Library, and so on) and then configure Outlook to use this custom form to display a particular item instead of using the regular form that is used to display that item.

Thus, for example, you can create a custom form called IPM.NOTE.TEST, save it in the Personal Forms Library, and then configure Outlook to use IPM.NOTE.TEST to display mail items instead of using the IPM.NOTE form, which would have been used by default.

This functionality can be achieved by using the Formswap utility that is available from the following location. The name of the file to download is Formsadmin.exe:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2000/appndx/toolbox.htm

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

232303 OL2000: How the Forms Cache Works