Design Outlook 2007 Form

In this topic I'll illustrate :

1. How to design outlook 2007 form.
2. How to call our form in the easiest way available.

Let us start

1. How to design a form :

1.1: Open MSWORD ! from office icon choose word options.

From popular click on Show developer on the ribbon – select it.

Close MSWORD . ( see figure 1.1 )

Figure ( 1.1 ) activate develop pane shown in step (1.3)

1.2: from outlook click on new message , prepare your message stamp as you need (From, to , CC and inter message text , format it ) you can inter your signature too .

In my example my form shown as in figure (1.2 )

Figure ( 1.2 ) my example form

1.3: click on develop pane then click on design this form ( see figure 1.3 ).

Figure ( 1.3 )

1.4: now you converted to design mode note that field from not appear , so from properties pane click field chooser then choose address fields ( see figure 1.4 ) .

Figure ( 1.4 )

1.4.2: from address fields drag from and drop it in top of to location and note that from field will auto filled with mail you write it in step 1.2 . ( see figure 1.5 )

Notes :

* you can also add BCC field and do a lot of changes in any field ( like make from field read only , validate field values …….. etc ) just right click on the field and choose properties from shortcut menu and take a look about what you can do .

* you can't add text to message text from design mode if you need to do that back to step 1.2 .

Figure ( 1.5 ) adding from field to our form

1.4.3. now from developer pane click on Publish choose Publish form , publish form dialog box will appear from look in select personal forms library and write your form name then click publish . ( see figure 1.6 )

Notes :
* you can publish your form in outlook folder and select folder ( inbox , sent items , drafts … etc ) and the form will appear in the selected folder but after using it , it will be deleted from the folder and you will need to publish it again ! .
* Form name I recommend writing it without any spaces because we will use it in macro code in step 2.1 and I recommend writing it in English not in Arabic .

Figure ( 1.6 )

1.4.4. close design pane and don't save the form you needn't that .

1.5. now let us use this form from tools menu choose forms then choose form , choose form dialog box will appear from look in choose personal forms library then select your form and click open .
But that's a too long way to call your form every time you need it so let us make it too easy to call your form .

2. How to call your form in the easiest way available .

( Now we will call our form with one click from tool bar  just follow me )
2.1. from tools menu choose macro then choose macros , macros dialog box will appear write your Macro name and then click create , now VBA " Visual Basic for Applications " programming environment opened as in figure 1.7 . ( don't worry ) you just need to copy below code in this environment as the following .

Code : ( read notes after figure 1.7 for red word in the code )

strForm = "IPM.Note.FromCC"
Set objFolder = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder
Set objItem = objFolder.Items.Add(strForm)
objItem.Display



Figure ( 1.7 ) VBA environment

Notes :.

* don't do anything more than what I say in this environment .
* area in red rectangle is the code that you need to write and note that :.
. first and last line auto written and after word Sub note that its your macro name .
. copy my above mentioned code and paste it BETWEEN first and second lines .
* you MUST replace RED word in my code with your FORM NAME and DON'T DELETE ANY CHARACTER OR PUT ANY SPACES OR DOTS

2.2. close VBA and don't worry about saving data .

2.3. now we returned to outlook ( do you still with me  ) from view menu choose toolbar choose customize .

2.3.2. customize dialog box opened from commands tab from categories group select macros your macro will appear on your left hand drag and drop it any where in tool bar ( you can click on modify selection and rename button name ) . see figure ( 1.8 )

Figure ( 1.8 )

2.3.3. close customize dialog box .

2.4. now simply click on your macro button to call your form.

Notes :

* too add another form repeat all above mentioned steps and note that in step 2.1 in VBA environment you will find your first code written just copy new code between new macro lines and rename red word with your new form name , code will appear as the following

* macro name mustn't be the same with any VBA code !!! OK Ok OK if you write macro name and you find create button disabled then rename macro name , to explain that try to name the macro ( sub , end , unlock ………. ) .
* you can create new tool bar name it as you like , position it under new message button and put your macros in it , it will appear as the following .



* when you close your Outlook you will asked to save PROJECT click YES .
* our macro code need to be trusted to use , trusted comes by sign our code with digital signature which not allowed So when you open outlook again macro will not running unless you do the following :

From tools menu click Trusted Center then choose macro security and from right pane select no security checks for macro then click OK and then restart your outlook .



Thanks

Ehab Ragab