• Outlook as a business application
• Contact form quirks & limitations
• My favorite tools
• Fax in Windows 2000

• Thanks to our sponsors
• New Slipstick site features
• New utilities
• Updated utilities

I've weathered quite a few discussions lately on the topic of why Outlook does not work just like Act!, GoldMine or <fill in the blank with your own favorite contact manager>. It's very frustrating to move from one system to another, swallowing all the marketing hype, only to learn that to make Outlook perform the integration of data that you expect in an industrial-strength contact manager takes a considerable investment in programming. It just doesn't work that way out of the box.

The number-one frustration seems to be that there is no easy way to customize a form with a drop-down list that allows the user to pick an item in an folder or in a database and populate matching fields on the Outlook form.It's not even that obvious how to do it in code! (If you want to see some samples, check some of the latest threads in the microsoft.public.outlook.program_forms and microsoft.public.outlook.program_vba newsgroups.)

That said, there are some good tools for managing the interaction of Outlook with other folders and databases. To name a few:

The ADO Data control and Microsoft Data Grid control from Office 2000 Developer Edition or Visual Studio. Randy Byrne's Building Applications with Microsoft Outlook 2000 book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0735605815/cdolivthepremier) includes a good explanation of how to use these.

The Outlook View Control control, included with the Team Folders and Digital Dashboard kits from Microsoft, makes it very easy to view data from other folders (say, a master Calendar folder while you're trying to set up a meeting or plan a vacation), though it can function as a selection tool only when used in a folder home page.

The Outlook Extensions Library from http://www.teamscope.com includes quite a few functions for adding better selection and other functions to Outlook forms, and it works with any version of Outlook, not just Outlook 2000.

If your organization doesn't have the in-house resources to customize Outlook as a contact management tool, take a look at what has already been done in this area:

• Contact management addins -- http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contact_management.htm
• Productivity addins -- http://www.slipstick.com/addins/productivity.htm

And don't forget that you can always write Microsoft at mailto:outwish@microsoft.com to make specific suggestions for the next version.

While we're on the subject of contact management, let's look at some of the quirks related to customizing the Contact form in Outlook. If you understand these from the beginning, you'll spend less time beating your head against the wall.

#1: Outlook 97 cannot open forms where the first page has been customized in Outlook 98 or Outlook 2000.

#2: If you customize the first page of the Contact form, the feature that automatically formats telephone numbers no longer works.

#3: When you drag a contact using a customized form to the Inbox, it does not create a message addressed to the contact. Instead, you get a message with the contact details in the body. You can see this even more clearly if you drag the item with the right mouse button. The resulting pop-up menu is missing the Address Message to Contact command that's the default when you drag a contact using the default Contact form. One workaround is to instruct your users in how to right-click a contact, then choose New Message to Contact from the context menu.

#4: The names you see in the Field Chooser are not necessarily the same as the actual property names that you would use in code. For example, what you see as the Company field is actually the CompanyName field. There's a topic in Help on this -- Outlook Fields and Equivalent Properties. Too bad that Help in Office no longer includes the ability to bookmark favorite topics like this.

Things you cannot do with the contact form:

Add address fields to the Business, Home, Other list or change the labels on the drop-down list for the built-in address fields

Add telephone fields to the drop-down list of built-in phone fields or change the labels for the built-in fields

Add more e-mail address fields

Customize the Details page

Use the "Send plain text only" checkbox in Corporate/Workgroup mode or get the value of that property through the Outlook object model in IMO mode (In fact, we haven't been able to even figure out what property it is. Maybe CDO can help.)

Have you found other limitations that keep the Contact form from behaving as you'd expect or want? Drop me a line at mailto:emo@slipstick.com, and I'll add to this list in the next issue.

People often ask what third-party utilities I recommend for Outlook users. There are hundreds of good tools for Outlook, and what works for me may not do as well for you. I realize, though, that it's hard to decide which to use or even which to try. So, here are the three that I use every day:

Email Templates (http://www.nsoftware.com) -- Anybody who receives as much e-mail as I do can't get by without some kind of tool for applying stock responses to messages. ET can be scripted to insert information from the incoming message into your reply (or forward, etc.) and refile the original message when you're done. ET templates can also be used as custom actions in Rules Wizard, which vastly expands what you can do with Rules Wizard. Works with all versions of Outlook. The web site has other examples of cool things you can do with just a little scripting.

Micro Eye ZipOut (http://www.microeye.com) -- I'll admit that the fact that my fellow MVP Randy Byrne had a lot to do with this utility, but that's not the only reason I like it. It automatically compresses outgoing attachments, but you can also use it to compress atttachments in items already stored in your folder. Outlook 2000 only, because it's a COM addin.

Personal Folders Backup (http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloaddetails/Pfbackup.htm) -- It's free, and it does a good job of backing up my PST files. I just have to remember to shut down Outlook 15 minutes before I want to turn the compuer off, to give the backup utility time to do its work.

Besides these, I largely use tools I've built myself -- e.g., a custom form for sending Internet faxes and various Outlook 2000 VBA routines, like the ZapHTML tool at http://www.slipstick.com/dev/code/zaphtml.htm.

This week, of course, sees the release of Windows 2000. In our little EMO corner of the world, Windows 2000 passes two milestones. First, it marks the end of Windows Messaging as an operating system component. Windows 95, Windows 98 (if you know where to look) and Windows NT 4.0 all included Windows Messaging as a way of connecting not just to Internet mail servers, but also to Microsoft Mail and other in-house servers. In Windows 2000, though, you see the completion of the migration to Internet mail. Out with Windows Messaging, in with Outlook Express to allow you to connect to POP, IMAP, NNTP and LDAP servers.

For most users, though, the passing of Windows Messaging is just a blip. Much more exciting is the return of a supported fax service to Windows. The Microsoft Fax component included in Windows 95 has gone without significant updates for years and is now buried on the Windows 98 CD. There was a Personal Fax for Windows NT "technology preview," but it never made it to release and was quietly withdrawn. Small Business Server was the first version of Windows since Windows 95 to include a fax component -- a full-blown fax server with a client that worked either standalone or as a MAPI transport in Outlook. However, since SBS was limited to small offices, few people have had a chance to use this fax server.

With Windows 2000, if setup detects a fax modem, it automatically installs Outlook Express Fax, which you can configure using the Fax icon in Control Panel and Start | Programs | Accessories | Communications | Fax. It will deliver faxes to your Outlook Inbox if you're using Outlook in Corporate/Workgroup mode. The MSKB article at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q246/1/51.asp provides some details (though not enough). As we learn more about this feature, we'll post updates at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/win2000fax.htm.

The improvements we've been making to the Slipstick Systems site would not be possible without our sponsors. These companies have been generous with their support, and we look forward to continuing our association for some time to come. Please check out the products and services they have to offer:

Automated Profile Management
Profile Maker 2000 with Walk Up Profiles automatically configures Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Netscape Communicator. Most MAPI providers are supported, including Compaq Work Expeditor, HP OpenMail 5.4 and Corel Address Book.
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Aspeon Software
Introducing ExchangePlus for attachment compression and filtering, content and spam filtering, message recall, read receipt force/block and message disclaimers. Also featuring Rover for roaming users, CompressMail and DeployMate.
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C2C
MaxCompression reduces costs and network bandwidth requirements by automatically compressing Outlook/Exchange attachments. ActiveFolders is a toolkit for managing mailboxes and public folders. C2C also provides Microsoft Mail to Exchange migration services.
http://www.c2c.com

GFI
FAXmaker provides network faxing either as a native Exchange Server connector or as an SMTP mail to fax gateway. A free 5-user version of FAXmaker for Networks/SMTP is available. Mail Essentials for Exchange/SMTP is a toolkit providing virus checking, spam blocking, disclaimers, attachment compression, automatic replies with tracking number and server-based PGP encryption/decryption.
http://www.gficomms.com/faxmaker/slipstickfm.shtml

The Haaverson Corporation
OProfile automatically generates Microsoft Outlook profiles. SmartDL is a tool for Exchange Server self-managing distribution lists. WebDIR provides web-based directory management for Exchange Server, including the ability for users to update their own data.
http://www.haav.com/

Nemx Software
Nemx Power Tools for Microsoft Exchange Server include an anti-virus scanner, which searches for viruses in private and public folders and via the Internet Mail Connector; SignatureMaker, for companywide disclaimer statements or consistent "look and feel" signatures; and Content Manager to block transmission of specific files and define rules for monitoring the content of incoming and outgoing messages.
http://www.nemx.com

Symprex Ltd.
LOOK is a group schedule-viewing add-on for Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Server that includes the ability to define favorites and quick access to frequently used calendars.
http://www.symprex.com

Trend Micro
ScanMail, HouseCall Antivirus and other tools to block viruses, malicious code and other related Internet security threats.
http://www.antivirus.com/