Using Templates

Using Templates A template is a custom form you save in your Windows file system, instead of publishing it to an Outlook folder.
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Using Templates[ Team LiB ]Using TemplatesA template is a custom form you save in your Windows file system, instead of publishingit to an Outlook folder. A template can be used for everything that a form is used for.Create a custom form, and then choose File, Save As, Outlook Template instead ofpublishing it to a folder.You can also create a template without entering Design mode by choosing File, Save As,Outlook Template (*.oft) from any form. Use this method when youre creating atemplate with fields filled in or a message that contains boilerplate text. A good use of a custom template is explained at http://www.slipstick.com/dev/olforms/skedrpt.htm. Follow the instructions to send a message to the same group of people on a schedule.Many users find templates easier to work with than forms for several reasons. You cancopy templates to a folder in Outlook and double-click to use them. When you no longerneed a template, its easy to delete it. You can create toolbar buttons hyperlinked totemplates or add templates to the Navigation bars Shortcut bar.When you use scripting in your form, youll have to publish the form to avoid Outlookssecurity features or use ClickYes (http://www.express-soft.com/mailmate/clickyes.html)to avoid the security prompts. You must use Outlook as your email editor to design email forms or templates.[ Team LiB ][ Team LiB ]Managing Published FormsAfter youve published a form, you might want to always use it when you create an itemin your folders, convert all existing items to use the new form, or delete old forms thatyou no longer use.As I mentioned previously, when the form is published to a folder, its listed in theActions folder when you open the folder. This works well for a form that you dont wantto use for every item, but it wont work when you automatically create items withoutopening the folder, such as dropping messages in a folder to create contact, task, orcalendar entries.When you want the new form set as your default, select a folder, right-click on it, andchoose Properties (see Figure 20.11). Select the new form from the When Posting to ThisFolder, Use drop-down list. To test it, drag a message to the folder. It should use yournew form. Figure 20.11. Use the Properties dialog to manage your custom forms. Set the default form for the folder from the General tab and manage your forms from the Forms tab.If your form wasnt published in this folder, youll have to copy it to the folder. 1. Switch to the Forms tab and select Manage (see Figure 20.12). Figure 20.12. Use the Forms Manager to copy forms between folders and delete forms you no longer want. 2. Choose Set and browse to the folder you need to copy a form to or from. 3. Select the form you want to copy and choose Copy. 4. Delete forms you no longer use by selecting the form and choosing Delete.Use the Properties button to look at and edit the properties of the selected form. If youdidnt enter categories, contact, or description information before you published the form,you can add the information using the Form Manager. The description displays on theForms Manager dialog and in the description field on the Forms tab. Choose Clear Cacheto delete the forms cache file and create a fresh one.Changing existing items to use the new form requires VBA code or a utility to change theold MessageClass to the new MessageClass. I use Change Forms, a utility included in theOffice 2000 Resource Kit. It was written for Outlook 2000 and works well with Outlook2003, although youll have to unzip ChangeForms.exe and run Changeforms.msi to installit.After installed, select an item you want to change to use the new MessageClass, and runChange Forms from the Tools, Forms, Change Forms menu. Type the name of the newMessageClass in the field and run the utility. Only the items using the old MessageClassare changed to the new MessageClass.Another utility is Omsgclas, which is available from Microsofts Knowledge Base Article201089. It changes all items in the folder to the new message class. As a result, when yourun Omsgclas on a Contacts folder, it destroys all distribution lists in the folder. You canuse Omsgclas to identify the different message classes you have in a folder, and then useChange Forms to change specific message classes. For more information and utilities you can use to change the MessageClass, see http://www.slipstick.com/dev/newdefaultform.htm.[ Team LiB ]