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How the Outlook forms cache works
When you open an item that requires a custom form, Outlook stores a
copy of the form on your local hard disk. The next time you need to
use the form, Outlook checks this forms cache. If the form is in the
cache, Outlook goes to the form's original location to check the
form's Modified timestamp. If a user has modified the form since
Outlook cached it, Outlook opens the form from its original location
and updates the cache with the modified version. If no one has
modified the form since Outlook cached it, Outlook loads the form
from the cache, which is usually much faster than opening it from
the original location.
If the required form isn't in the cache, Outlook looks in other
locations, in this order:
- Current folder's forms library
- Personal Forms library
- Organization Forms library
- Web Forms library (for Corporate/Workgroup
mode only, with Outlook Web Access
running on the Exchange Server, if you've enabled it by clicking
Web Services in Tools | Options | Other | Advanced
Options | Custom Forms)
Error
Messages | Clearing the Forms Cache | Notes
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Error Messages
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The error messages The form required to view this message cannot be
displayed and Can't create item often signal corruption
related to a custom form—either in the form itself or in the data
file on the client that stores forms cache information. Outlook uses
the Frmcache.dat file to maintain a summary of cached forms and
pointers to the cached files.
Outlook
2002 SP1 adds a ForceFormReload registry entry that can make force Outlook to reload
a form from the original published version when Outlook can't load
the form from the cache. A similar fix is available in Outlook 2000
SP3. See:
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Clearing the Forms Cache
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To clear the forms cache, exit Outlook, and delete the Frmcache.dat
file. The Frmcache.dat file resides in the Forms folder. In Outlook
97 and Outlook 98, the forms cache folder is the \Windows\Forms
folder. In Outlook 2000 without Windows user profiles, the forms
cache folder is in C:\Windows\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Forms. In Outlook 2000 with user profiles, look in
C:\Windows\Profiles\%username%\LocalSettings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Forms.
If you have installed Office 2000 Service Release 1/1a, Outlook 2000 in
Corporate/Workgroup mode should have a button to clear the forms
cache on the Manage Forms dialog (Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options | Custom Forms,
then click Manage Forms). So does Outlook 2002.
When you restart Outlook, it will create a new Frmcache.dat file
with information about the cached forms. If that technique doesn't
resolve the problem, try deleting not just the Frmcache.dat file but
also the folders for the individual forms. (However, Microsoft warns
not to delete the \Forms\Configs folder that appears on Outlook 97
and 98 installations.) In Outlook 98, you'll also need to run
Outlook setup and, through the Add
New Components function, reinstall support for the
Corporate/Workgroup mail component.
Also see:
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Notes
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The forms'
retrieval order explains a common problem with forms. Suppose a user
publishes a new form in the Personal Forms library. Later, the user
makes changes to the form and saves the revised form under the same
name but in a different library—Organization Forms. When the user
opens an item that uses the custom form for the first time, Outlook
loads the version in the Personal Forms Library because Outlook
checks that location first, but that version won't include the
revisions on the version the user saved in the Organization Forms
Library.
The stumbling block is the copy in the Personal Forms library.
The solution is to delete that copy by using the Manage Forms dialog
(Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options | Custom Forms,
then click Manage Forms). After you delete that copy, the
Organization Forms copy usually loads fine. If it doesn't, make sure
that you're incrementing the version number on the form's (Properties)
page. You can also try using the form to create a new item. When
opening a previously created item doesn't load the updated form into
the cache, creating a new item sometimes does the job.
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More Information
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