You cannot create Office document forms in Outlook 2002 and in Outlook 2003 (289947)

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In earlier versions of Outlook, you can create an Office document form in Outlook. This is an Outlook mail message or post form that contains an embedded Office document on one of the Outlook form pages. To create this type of form, you click the File menu, point to New, and then click Office Document.

However, in Outlook 2002 and in Outlook 2003, this same command creates a regular Office document that opens in a separate window. The command functions in the same way as the New Office Document command that is available on the Windows Start menu.

This change was made mainly to simplify interoperability between Outlook and other Office programs, and because each Office program now supports an E-mail command that allows you to send Office documents from individual Office programs.

Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003 open existing items that are based on the Office document form architecture because these forms are still available for existing items. However, you cannot create a new Office document form.

Using Office Documents with Outlook

If you want to send the document to someone, click the E-mail toolbar button so that you can address the document to someone.

If you want to post the document to a Microsoft Exchange Server or Outlook folder, use one of the following approaches:

• Click the File menu, point to Send To, and then click Exchange Folder. In the Select an Exchange Folder dialog box, click a folder, and then click OK.
• Save the document to disk, and then drag the file to an Exchange or Outlook folder.

Customizing Office Document Forms

If you customized an Office document form in an earlier version of Outlook by entering Design mode and adding Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) code, the form will most likely function correctly in Outlook 2002 and in Outlook 2003. However, correct functionality depends on the type of customizations that you made using VBScript.

If you need to modify the form design, you can open one of the forms or items that you created, and then enter Design mode to make changes. However, it is recommended that you use Outlook 2000 or an earlier version to make changes in design mode. Outlook 2000 and earlier versions of Outlook are specifically designed to support this feature.