Outlook templates (XP and 2000)

Topic

New Reply

How do you create and use a template for email messages? I need to have a boilerplate message in which I fill in the blanks eaxh time I send it.

Reply | Quote

Replies

Take a look at Post #166074, and then post any follow-up questions here.

Reply | Quote

Based on the oinfo in post #166074, I have designed a form (worked well, thanks) and then saved it to “Inbox” so that it does appear on the bottom of the Actions menu — all good… but then, when I tried to delete the form, I couldn’t.

The Help Assistant said to go to Tools/Options/Other/Advanced Options/Custom Forms/Manage Forms — but, when I try to go there, there is no ‘Custom Forms’ choice.

Where did it go, how do I find it? or what should I do instead?

Chuck Billow

Reply | Quote

This might be one of those differences between Outlook 2000 configured for “Internet Mail Only” and “Corporate Workgroup” mode. However, even though I have CW mode and have that button, clicking the button pops up the error: “Unable to display the dialog box. No pages in the property sheet due to low memory. Close some windows or programs.” In fact, I hardly have any programs open… According to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q256118, XCLN: Low Memory Error Message When You Try to Access Custom Forms in Outlook, this is because I do not have the Exchange Extensions add-in enabled. After turning that on (see picture), I can use the Manage Forms dialog.

If you don’t have the option to use this add-in, you could change Outlook to CW mode, but this will result in somewhat longer opening and shut down times, and MS says POP3 performance isn’t as good, although I haven’t compared so I don’t know what the difference is. CW mode also doesn’t let you send from different accounts by using the drop-down on the Send button. There may be other trade-offs…maybe MaryJ knows of a master list?

To change modes, if you wish to do so, use the button “Reconfigure mail support…” on the Mail Services tab of the Tools|Options… dialog. The Office CDs may be required.

Reply | Quote

Jefferson:

So there is *no* way to remove the form? Where the heck is it being stored and read from? Not showing in the Inbox…

And how do I remove it from the menu? Customizing doesn’t seem to work, as the menu addirion is “un-modifiable”… And recalling my settings with “Save My Settings” didn’t seem to eradicate it either…

Chuck Billow

Reply | Quote

I think you can fix remove this from your tool bar by dragging the button off the bar itself; when you release over a non-bar area it goes away. You may have to chant “BG is King” at the same time.

As for getting rid of the form you have to know how you saved it. I don’t think “custom form” is an option in the picklist – just personal and organizational. If you don’t see your form under either of those then you probably either saved it as an .oft file or published it to a folder under your mailbox. For the former, try searching your hard drive for *.oft to see what shows up. The latter could be tough. You could examine the code, but the code doesn’t necessarily need a folder path to find the form.

Reply | Quote

John:

>I think you can fix remove this from your tool bar by dragging the button off the bar itself; when you release over a non-bar >area it goes away. You may have to chant “BG is King” at the same time.

If you try what I did to get into this spot (save a form to Inbox) you’ll find that the entry that ends up on your menu is inaccessible through normal customizing channels… I’d done a certain amount of this customizing, and was pretty comfortable with it, but not this time…. as for “BG is King” …

>As for getting rid of the form you have to know how you saved it. I don’t think “custom form” is an option in the picklist – just personal and organizational. If you don’t see your form under either of those then you probably either saved it as an .oft file or published it to a folder under your mailbox. For the former, try searching your hard drive for *.oft to see what shows up. >The latter could be tough. You could examine the code, but the code doesn’t necessarily need a folder path to find the form.

I see no way to access this form at all … sigh…

Chuck Billow

Reply | Quote

I gather you don’t have the Exchange Extensions option. Well, that makes it harder.

…Searching Microsoft…

Yes, as I suspected, the above dialogs are unique to the Corporate/Workgroup installation. See Q195497, OL2000: (IMO) Error in “Remove a form from a forms library,” for the news:
[indent]

---

In the IMO installation, you cannot delete a custom form. If you want to replace a custom form, you can create a new form which uses the same name and publish it in the same folder as the original.

---

[/indent]Maybe that’s the best thing. Come up with the final version, and save over the test version.

Reply | Quote

John:

I moved my pst file to another drive, did a re-install/repair on Outlook, then imported the pst file into the newly created ‘default’; I also then d/l my settings using MS’s Save My Settings….

Now the form is gone from my menu… does this mean that it in fact was *not* imported? Since just d/l my settings before, without the re-install / import had *not* removed the menu item…?

This process seems terribly over-complicated… there ought to be a law…

Thanks for the help, though…

Chuck Billow

Reply | Quote