To launch a custom Outlook form

From a folder

For a Appointment, Contact, Journal, Task or Post form, you can make the custom form the default for a folder on the folder's Properties menu. The default  form launches when the user presses Ctrl+N or double-clicks in the folder view.

You cannot make a message form the default for a folder, because messages are designed to be sent, not posted. The workaround is to make a post form the default, and use this code on the post form to launch your custom form:

Function Item_Open() Set objFolder = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder Set objItem = _ objFolder.Items.Add("IPM.Note.Your Custom Form") objItem.Display Item_Open = False End Function

See OL2000 How to Set Any Form as Default for a Folder for more on this issue. Message forms need additional special treatment, because message items always save in Drafts; see Microsoft Outlook Message Forms.

We also have a custom Form Launcher form that provides this capability.

From a Windows shortcut

"<path>\Outlook.exe" /c "IPM.Note.My Form"

where <path> represents the full path to your Outlook.exe file. (HINT: Use Start | Find to locate Outlook.exe, then drag it to the Windows desktop to create a shortcut. You can then modify this shortcut to add the /c switch and published form name.

If you didn't publish the form, but instead, saved it as an .oft Outlook template file (using File | Save As), then all you need is a shortcut to the .oft file.

You can add shortcuts like these to the Windows desktop or Programs menu or to the Office shortcut bar. Or, put them all in one system folder, then add a shortcut to that folder to the Outlook Bar.

From a hyperlink

1. Choose File | Save As to save the form as an .oft Outlook template file.
2. Choose View | Toolbars | Customize.
3. Drag any button from the Commands tab of the Customize dialog to the toolbar. 
4. Right-click the new button, and enter a new Name. If you include an ampersand (&), the letter following the ampersand is assigned as a hotkey for the button. You will be able to run the form simply by pressing Alt plus that key.
5. Choose Assign Hyperlink | Open. 
6. In the Assign Hyperlink dialog, select the .oft file
7. Click OK, then Close to finish adding the hyperlink button.

Thanks to Stephen Monty of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Australia for this tip, which he shared on the outlook-users mailing list. Also see:

• Go to a Web Site from a Custom Toolbar Button in Outlook 2000
• Go to a Favorite Web Page from Your Outlook Bar in Outlook 2000

If the form has been published rather than saved as an .oft file, you can use one of these methods:

• Create a hyperlink to a Windows shortcut, as described above
• Add a button to run an Outlook VBA macro that launches the form.
• Use our custom Form Launcher form to create a library of forms in a public folder, each capable of being launched from an Outlook link such as

<Outlook://Public Folders/All Public Folders/Forms/~Sales Contact>

From a macro

• To add a toolbar button to launch an Outlook 2000 form -- sample code that applies to forms published either to a folder or to the Organization Forms or Personal Forms library
• OL2000: How to Assign a Macro to a Toolbar Button
• Open a Form from a Toolbar Button

As a default form

• Substitute Default Form

From a web page

• To launch a custom Outlook form from a Web page

Other tools

More Information

• Using Microsoft Outlook to Schedule Report Transmissions -- Example of using a Windows shortcut to launch a form.
• To customize the Microsoft Outlook toolbar
• Save in Target Folder Sample Form -- A form that saves itself to a particular folder, regardless of where you launch it from. Includes a reusable function to return any folder as a MAPIFolder object based on its path string.  
• OL Simplifying the Process to Open Organizational Forms