Comments inline.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"CYBER23HYPER" wrote in message ...
Hi-
this message is in 3 parts
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

I work for a small nonprofit group for pastors and outreach organization
leaders who meet once monthly as well as have an annual "love your city"
churches responding to neibourhood needs (free pop/ bbqs/ repair roofs/ clean
up yards) event......so need distribution centers for promo items, ect ....
comprehensive new form
I have permission from our Tech person to change all our contacts to this
form..... we'v backed up the hard-drive to cds, saved existing format of
contacts to excell files

so OBJECTIVES..KEEPING IN MIND I'M USING OUTLOOK 2000/ MICROSOFT OFFICE
98.. and no one here is comfortable to do changes to program code

#1 - to achive a more streamlined approach for recording the subscriptions
to the once monthly email that goes out detailing the upcoming meeting......
and for recruiting and organizing the existing contacts, and new schools who
wish to participate in our once yearly event
#2 - to safely "migrate" all existing contacts/ info (I believe it is on
the default form provided by outlook) to my new form

WHAT I'V LOOKED AT / TRIED so far

http://www.outlookcode.com/d/newdefaultform.htm MVP’s page on various
methods to change the default form used

#1 TRIED MEATHOD
i'v tried using Outlook 2000 Existing Items Converter

http://www.microsoft.com/office/orka...l.htm#ConvPack
which the above page now says has been taken off the downloads page because
of security issues........

You're looking at the wrong converter. The tool you want is at http://TESTwww.su.edu/faculty/jcombs/test.doc. (Thanks, I'll fix the link.)


SOMEONE HAD SAID "So, by use of the utility, you can change all existing
data items to be
displayed with your new form. You just have to publish your form to a place
where the utility can find it--like the Exchange Organization Forms Library,
if
you are on an Exchange system, of your personal Forms Library if you are
using a
pst, or your Inbox. "
when I go to choose form in OUTLOOK 2000, then from that screen it gives me
a full drop-down menu with a CONTACTS option….
it’s in Outlook:\\Contacts (no category name, no subcategory name)

That's a reference to your Contacts folder and its forms library. You can use the drop-down list at the top of the dialog to change to a different forms library.


#2 MICROSOFT's WINZIP .EXE FILE solution at :
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[ln];q201089
the .doc file doesn’t show up in the folder I publish/ extract files to
after I do the “extract files to….” In winzip

Look again, extract again or both. Then run the .doc file, enable macros, and follow the prompts and instructions.


#3 solution
solution http://www.plustech.co.uk/Products/docmsgclass.html
How do I use DocMessageClass?

It doesn't come with instruction? Ask the developer?

To enable these older contacts to use the new form, each contact's
MessageClass has to be changed. Select the relevant Outlook-Folder in the
folders list. (Folders which are setup to use a user-defined form, are
displayed with a green tag). Now select one or more Source- MessageClasses
----( is IMP.contact)
and
one Target-MessageClass.
After clicking on the "Convert MessageClass" button, each entry which
belonged to the Source-MessageClass, will have been be re-assigned to the
Target- MessageClass
(which shows when u go to PUBLISH FORM AS….. right at bottom).

My CUSTOM FORM's message class is IPM.Contact.2msgclass


QUESTION/ PROBLEM #2
(also I'V NOW READ ----- In general, you should not publish the same form in
different forms libraries using the same name for the form. Doing so is
likely to cause forms cache corruption. If you want to make a backup, either
save as an .oft file or publish under a different name. -------
I had published my 2msgclass form into my INBOX as well as in my
contacts.....
after I read the above, I republished the form under a new name UNDER the
contacts option, and then opened 2msgclass FORM AND DID DELETE......... but
it still is showing up.........

Opening a form and pressing delete doesn't delete the published form, which is a hidden item. If you're using Outlook 2000 in Corporate/Workgroup mode, you can remove it by bringing up the Properties dialog for the folder, switching to the Forms tab, and clicking Manage.

how can I make sure that all my work isn't corrupted once I do get the
conversion utility program to work?????

Make backups of your data, as you usually would, but also make backups of the form by saving it as an .oft file.