Microsoft Outlook Custom Forms

Forms are code and user interface templates that Outlook uses to display data stored in individual Outlook items. Every item that you open in Outlook uses a form to display information. 

The forms designer is built into all versions of Outlook. You can launch a design session with the Tools | Forms | Design a Form command. Alternatively, open any Outlook item in Outlook 2003 or earlier and choose Tools | Forms | Design This Form.

In Outlook 2007, to design a form derived from an open item or to publish any form, you must first turn on the display of developer commands, and then look on the Developer tab in the ribbon for the Design This Form command: Choose Tools | Options, switch to the Other tab, click Advanced Options, and then select the Show Developer tab in the Ribbon check box.

Every form is based on existing form. The closest thing to a blank form is the post form.

Forms can have VBScript code behind them to react to user actions -- validating data, synchronizing it with databases, creating new Outlook items, etc. To add code, once you're in form design mode, click the View Code command on the toolbar or ribbon.

In an Exchange Server environment, custom forms are typically stored in the Organization Forms library, so that everyone has access to them. They can also be published directly to a folder. Personal forms are published either to a folder or to your Personal Forms library. Only published forms can run code.

Overview

My book, Microsoft Outlook Programming: Jumpstart for Administrators, Developers, and Power includes detailed chapters on creating custom Outlook forms.

These references also provide an introduction to the forms creation process:

• Outlook Forms Step by Step -- Create a check request form and make it available on the company intranet with this illustrated, 16-lesson guide.
• Outlook Forms -- detailed, illustrated walkthrough showing how a business form can be converted to an Outlook message form
• Tutorial: Creating and distributing custom forms with Outlook -- tutorial on basic forms layout and publication; does not cover coding.
• Using Microsoft Outlook Forms -- provides useful questions for the planning process as well as a brief walkthrough of the design steps
• Developing Custom Forms Using Microsoft Outlook 2002 (Part 1) and Part 2
• Support WebCast: How to Create Custom Contact Forms in Outlook 2000 -- half-hour introduction to building forms
• Customizing New Meeting Request Outlook Form - detailed walkthrough with screen shots

Custom form code

Code behind Outlook forms uses VBScript, a slim, portable version of the Visual Basic programming language. 

To add or modify code, open the form in design mode and then click the View Code command on the toolbar or ribbon. You can use the Script | Event Handler command to add an item-level event handler procedure shell to the code window. See Syntax for Microsoft Outlook property and control values and events for details on the key events that fire when the user interacts with the data controls on the form.

Code runs only on properly published custom forms, not on .oft form templates or one-off forms. See Microsoft Outlook Forms Security Issues for information on other specific scenarios that can result in code not running.

Forms with code behind them do not normally show any content in the reading pane. Instead, the user must open the item to see the content. This behavior is controlled by a hidden MAPI property. For a code example that shows how to add the property and set its value using CDO 1.21, see Active content in preview pane - solved. Redemption could also be used, instead of CDO. We haven't tried the technique with the PropertyAccessor object in Outlook 2007.

Design issues

• Frequently asked questions about custom forms and Outlook solutions

Controls

• Controls on Microsoft Outlook Forms
• To add a date-time picker control to an Outlook form
• Outlook View Control -- ActiveX control to display Outlook views in a folder home page, Outlook form, or VB project
• Using contact item selector fields
• OL2002: How to Display a Web Page in an Outlook Form
• To add accelerator keys to Microsoft Outlook form controls

Fields

• Understanding Custom Fields in Microsoft Outlook -- Be sure you understand where fields are actually created. In order to avoid one-off form situations, custom fields need to be present in the item. But to support the Restrict and Find methods, they also must be present in the folder.
• How to work with user-defined fields in solutions in Outlook 2002
• Changes to custom properties in Outlook 2003 Service Pack 2
• Known issues when you develop custom solutions for Office Outlook 2007 - custom properties may not propagate in some scenarios

Using formulas for initial values and validation

• OL: How to Use Formulas in a Custom Outlook Form

Icons

Set the icons for a custom form on the (Properties) page. Icons need to be 32x32, 16-color files. For the small icon, the image should be in the upper-left corner.

Limitations

• OL2002: Text That You Insert into Field Is Missing -- yes, there is a size limit for item data
• OL2000: Forms Support Limited Number of Fields, Controls -- More than 200 may be too many.

Quirks, limitations, samples, etc. of particular Outlook forms: 

• Microsoft Outlook Appointment Forms  
• Microsoft Outlook Contact Forms
• Microsoft Outlook Message Forms  
• Microsoft Outlook Task Forms

Publishing and sharing forms

• Saving and Publishing Microsoft Outlook Forms
• To distribute Microsoft Outlook forms to other users
• To change a default Outlook form
• How the Microsoft Outlook forms cache works

Managing published forms

To delete a published form, you can use the Forms Manager. Choose Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options | Custom Forms | Manage Forms. For code solutions, see:

• To remove a published form programmatically - from the Personal Forms library, with CDO
• How To Remove Published Forms from a Folder Using CDO (1.x)

To get a list of all the published forms in a folder, see:

• List the custom forms in a folder - code sample using CDO 1.21

Other custom form issues

• Printing Custom Outlook Forms and Reports
• To import or export data from custom fields and forms
• To recover the password for a custom form - does not apply to Outlook 2007, which does not support custom form passwords