Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Mar 26, 2004

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The last time we updated the Outlook section, we created a customized E-mail message using Word's merge file feature.

This week we'll take customization a step further, by exploring the Forms Library inside of Outlook, and creating our own E-mail message form – which can make your Outlook message look like no other.

TIP

A lot of what we're going to do will require the use of Outlook or Exchange Server as the mail system, in order to work just as expected. A bit of it may translate into Internet E-mail as a whole.

The first step in the process is selecting the usual Outlook form from the Standard Forms Library that we will revise to create our own work product. This involves clicking Tools > Forms > Design Form.

Figure 236

You'll be confronted with a dialog box with a drop down list. Keep the default Standard Forms Library, and pick an element of Outlook that you want to customize, such as Message. Click Open.

Figure 237

The version of your message that opens is unlike what you're used to seeing. It is the "master" message – or standard form – that you can redesign and eventually publish to your personal forms.

TIP

Be careful with these forms. If you save them to the Standard Forms Library before you know what you're doing, you can make all your subsequent messages be based on what you've foolishly done.

As you look at this master form, noticed that the Edit Compose Page button is highlighted. Eventually we'll also edit the Read page, which is version of the message seen by the recipient. Note the Field Chooser window that is hovering; we may use that later on, or we can close it.

The large blank window is the message object. To confirm that, right-click on it and choose Properties. It's actually just the big field into which the user types her message.

This screenshot has some of the elements I used for my Outlook signature (a feature we covered earlier). To use these elements in the version of the message I publish to the Forms Library, I may need to re-establish the signature for the form.

Figure 238

For now, we want to reduce the size of the Message field so we can populate our form with other cool stuff.

Click directly on it. You'll see selection handles, which let you resize the message field to reveal more of the basic background of the main form.

NOTE

If you have dabbled in VBA or Visual Basic, this is now beginning to look familiar, particularly after you click the Hammer and Wrench button on the main toolbar to open the Control Toolbox.

Figure 239

First we'll put a label on the form to let the recipient know what's expected. Click on the "A" and drag out a label control on the form. Right-click it and select Properties, and set the properties as follows:

Name	lblExpenseRequest
Caption	Expense Request
Font	Arial 12 pt

Then check Resize with Form.

Figure 240

Click Apply. You have labeled your form to be an "Expense Request" – or, more literally, a special type of E-mail message.

We can add another label to be a caption to our first input field ("Venue"), and then create a textbox (the ab/ icon on the Toolbar) to represent the first field.

Right-click on the textbox, select Properties, and click the New button under the Value Tab to get the New Field dialog box.

Figure 241

We'll name the Field Venue and keep it as a text type of field.

Now by copying and pasting these two elements onto our form again, we can quickly duplicate them and change their Properties.

What we'll get is a populated message form that has three fields into which the user will input text: Venue, Date and Expense Type. These constitute the field names for the textboxes as well, but the name for the third textbox should have no spaces; it is named ExpenseType.

Figure 242

Let's take a look at what we've done so far. Click Form > Run this Form, and take a look at how your customized E-mail message will appear.

Figure 243

Notice that it looks like a "regular" Outlook message, except that the message area itself is smaller, with customized areas for specific input by the user.

TIP

You can create the Read part of the form to include buttons for the recipient to use to Accept or Reject the expenses. You can further customize this form with other objects from the Toolbar, such as pictures or other types of controls.

But now let's publish the form so we can use it more readily.

Click Tools > Forms > Publish Form As.

Remember the "As" so you don't override your normal message form.

Give it a snappy name, like ExpenseRequest (no space) and click Publish. Make sure that it goes into the Personal Forms Library (not the Standard Library).

Figure 244

When you click Publish you'll get an important reminder, to check the Send Form Definitions button in the Properties Tab. Accept this suggestion.

Figure 245

This means that you can send this form message to a user who does not have the form already published, and it should work. To see that it's enabled, click the Properties tab after publishing the form; you should see it checked. If not, check it and republish the form.

To use the forms, all you need to do is click Tools > Forms > Choose Forms. By opening the Personal Forms Library from your drop down arrow, your newly published Expense Request form should be there for you to open as a new E-mail message.

Figure 246

Fill in the information, including the To and Subject fields, and send it as you normally would. (Here I've reset the Picture properties for my signature GIF.)

Figure 247

Obviously, in an Office environment the fields of such customized incoming messages could be captured and used to compile reports using VBA. In a future update we may add buttons to the form's Read Page so your recipient can Approve or Decline the expense report, taking advantage of other Outlook features.

You can (and should!) experiment with the field chooser and other forms (like the Tasks or Contact forms) to create your own version of Outlook elements. Just be sure to publish them to your Personal Folder and not the Standard Forms Library unless you always want to use them.

Finally, you can save Forms as works in progress by saving them with OFT extension using File > Save As in the Form Designer area.

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