Default Contacts Form Has Suddenly Changed

[Bond@discussions.microsoft.com Graham Bond]

My default contacts form in Outlook 2003 has suddenly changed and I have no
clue why or how. I believe it happened shortly after a Bluetooth ActiveSync
with the PDA device though I can't be sure (and neither can I see how this
could possibly be relevant!). In short, the form has gone from being very
detailed, including separate fields for First Name, Last Name (in the
Personal Details section) and City, State, ZIP Code etc.(in the Address
section), to condensing all this information together to give me a form that
looks rather like an Outlook Express Contacts Form. It's now too simple and
omits some important fields that I want to see when I bring up the form (for
example, the 'department' field is now missing (though the 'job title' field
is still there). I know the data is still there as I can see it on my PDA
device. I want to see it in my main Outlook program too and I want the
original default form to be restored. After spending days looking for answers
(and testing soltions out myself) I remain clueless. Any ideas what might
have happened and how I might resolve this? Thanks so much.

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Are you opening these items from your Contacts folder in the main Outlook window? Open such an item and see if there is a Help | About This Form command available. If so, tell us what you see on the resulting dialog.

--
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

"Graham Bond" <Graham Bo...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:F32E092D-E91A-4DD9...@microsoft.com...

[Graham Bond]

I am opening these items by going to the Contacts View (which I arrange by
'categories' incidentally) and selecting a contact. A new window then pops up
with the contact details. In this window, I cannot see a 'Help \ About This
Form' option (the Help Menu has nine options, beginning with 'Microsoft
Office Outlook Help F1' and ending with 'About Microsoft Office Outlook').
This is the form that I would like to reconfigure to its default setting.

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

These are contacts in your default Contacts folder, right? Can you check the size of a few of these items, please? What tabs do you see across the top of the form?

--
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

"Graham Bond" <Graha...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:94C15D4B-FCEE-480B...@microsoft.com...

>I am opening these items by going to the Contacts View (which I arrange by
> 'categories' incidentally) and selecting a contact. A new window then pops up
> with the contact details. In this window, I cannot see a 'Help \ About This
> Form' option (the Help Menu has nine options, beginning with 'Microsoft
> Office Outlook Help F1' and ending with 'About Microsoft Office Outlook').
> This is the form that I would like to reconfigure to its default setting.
>
> "Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:
>
>> Are you opening these items from your Contacts folder in the main Outlook window? Open such an item and see if there is a Help | About This Form command available. If so, tell us what you see on the resulting dialog.

>>

[Graham Bond]

Hello again Sue. Thanks for your continuing help.
I'm actually away from my laptop at the moment, so cannot confirm exactly
which tabs I see at the top of the contacts screen (I'll get back to you on
that just as soon as I return in a couple of hours time). However, in my
haste to reply, let me just say that I have created and used several hundred
contacts, accumulated over the last 18 months or so. I've used Outlook both
and at work and at home and on multiple laptops and the form I've used to
enter and view all of this data has been the same throughout. To focus
things, I'll just describe the very top of this form. Originally, the top
line had fields (are these the same as 'tabs'?) for First Name, Last Name and
Company. Now, the form has just one field for 'name' (featuring all of the
data) and the 'company' field is on the second line. This new form is not too
wacky. In fact, it looks as if it is probably another kind of 'default' form
and its more than adequate for most of my needs. However, it's just not the
one I want and I'm not comfortable with the fact that Outlook seems to have
changed itself and not given me a way of reverting back! I hope that makes
sense. I'll get back to you with more details shortly. Thanks again.

[Graham Bond]

Further to my post of a few hours ago, the tab that I am having problems with
is the 'General' tab. At the top of the screen there are five tabs: General,
Details, Certificates, Activities and All Fields. It is the arrangement of
the fields within the General tab that is causing problems and it is the
General tab that I am looking at restoring to the default layout.

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

In the Windows registry, look for the key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\CustomForms. If that key is present, let us know if there are any entries under Compose or Read.

It might be helpful if you posted a screen shot of the page you're seeing somewhere.

Also, I still need you to report back on the size of a few items that don't have attachments.

--
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

"Graham Bond" <Graha...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:FCE87F38-8FD3-45FB...@microsoft.com...

>> >

[Graham Bond]

Sorry. I'm not too IT savvy and I'm getting a bit lost. I don't know how to
examine my Windows Registry. I've looked into my Windows folder in the C:/
drive but can find my HKCU folder within that. My Windows Help section seems
to suggest that my Windows Registry is something altogether different and I'm
a bit nervous about delving too far into the innards of my (new) laptop!

Furthermore, my Print Screen button doesn't seem to be working so I'm not
sure how to get a screenshot. If you can advise, I'd welcome the advice!

In terms of sizes, everything is the same size as it always was. The only
thing different is the orgnanisation of the page. I've used the 'Department'
field as an example of one field that is missing. Of course, I'm not able to
see the original form that I always worked in so I am going on memory here.
'Department' was one field that was definitely visible in the old layout and
is now not visible. It used to be visible immediately under the Name field
(above 'Job Title', I think). Now it isn't there at all, yet the info is
still there as I can see it on the PDA.

The most problematic aspect of all this is the address section of the
contact form. Whenever this form change took place it seems to have messed
around the 'country' field. I have just looked up a friend who address is
listed as Brighton....Sussex....China. I have lived in China for a while, so
this is not as odd as it looks - many of my other contacts are China. My
father's address, meanwhile, is missing the country information altogether in
the address display. This is odd as the information is still present. To bear
this out, if I go into the Contacts view pane and select to list my contacts
'by location', everyone is assigned to a country, including my father!

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You can view the registry with the Regedit program. Run it from your computer's Start | Run command.

Print Screen is probably working fine. It copies the screen to the clipboard. You then have to paste it into Paint, Word, etc. to create a file.

The country doesn't usually show in an individual contact window if it's the same as your own location.

--
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

"Graham Bond" <Graha...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B6360E69-11CF-42AC...@microsoft.com...

[Graham Bond]

No. There is no 'Custom Forms' key in the registry path you mention. There is
only "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Forms\Choose Form" in which
there are two entries - '(default)' (Type: REG_SZ, Data: (value not set)),
and 'settings' (Type: REG_SZ, Data: 0.0).

Thanks. You are right. My Print Screen button was working fine. I've emailed
a copy of the JPG file to your 'outlookcode.com' email address. Sorry I had
to do this. I have nowhere to post it online at this particular moment.

Thanks for clearing up the country issue. It makes sense for the country
info to be absent if it matched the country I currently reside (FYI, I'm in
the UK right now, though spend most of my time in China). For what it's
worth, under my old, favoured contact form, the country always seemed to be
displayed. It was in a field towards the bottom left of the page. Now I have
to bring up this info by clicking on the 'Address' button you can see in the
image.

As you can see from the image, the contacts form is a fairly standard one.
It's just not the one I want! In the old form, there were fields all the way
down the left column. Now there's that big grey area of unused space. There
is nothing sinister in this. It's simply a matter of that fact that some
fields are missing and that some bits of information have been condensed.

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Sorry, but I don't receive mail at that address. Send the screen shot to the webmaster at the same domain. You can use any number of Internet sites for posting pictures.

--
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.asp
"Graham Bond" <Graha...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:EB802740-4FB1-45FF...@microsoft.com...

[Graham Bond]

I've resent the screenshot to the webm...@outlookcode.com address. Hope you
can pick it up. Thanks.

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Thanks. The screen shot you sent depicts the built-in contact form for Outlook 2003. If you use the Restore Down button at the upper-right of the window to "unmaximize" it, it won't have such a big blank gray area.

The Department field is where it has always been on the built-in Outlook contact form in every version, on the Details page.

Since it's unclear exactly what the previous layout looked like or where it came from, it's impossible to say how to get it back. You can, however, customize the form yourself to give it a different appearance. These pages should help:

http://www.outlookcode.com/d/forms.htm
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/contactform.htm
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/newdefaultform.htm

--
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

"Graham Bond" <Graha...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7A07A598-F7B0-4DFE...@microsoft.com...

> I've resent the screenshot to the webm...@outlookcode.com address. Hope you
> can pick it up. Thanks.
>
> "Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:
>
>> Sorry, but I don't receive mail at that address. Send the screen shot to the webmaster at the same domain. You can use any number of Internet sites for posting pictures.

>>

>> http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.asp
>> "Graham Bond" <Graha...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:EB802740-4FB1-45FF...@microsoft.com...
>> > No. There is no 'Custom Forms' key in the registry path you mention. There is
>> > only "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Forms\Choose Form" in which
>> > there are two entries - '(default)' (Type: REG_SZ, Data: (value not set)),
>> > and 'settings' (Type: REG_SZ, Data: 0.0).
>> >

>> > As you can see from the image, the contacts form is a fairly standard one.
>> > It's just not the one I want! In the old form, there were fields all the way
>> > down the left column. Now there's that big grey area of unused space. There
>> > is nothing sinister in this. It's simply a matter of that fact that some
>> > fields are missing and that some bits of information have been condensed.
>> >
>> > "Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> "Graham Bond" <Graha...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B6360E69-11CF-42AC...@microsoft.com...
>> >> > Sorry. I'm not too IT savvy and I'm getting a bit lost. I don't know how to
>> >> > examine my Windows Registry. I've looked into my Windows folder in the C:/
>> >> > drive but can find my HKCU folder within that. My Windows Help section seems
>> >> > to suggest that my Windows Registry is something altogether different and I'm
>> >> > a bit nervous about delving too far into the innards of my (new) laptop!
>> >> >
>> >> > Furthermore, my Print Screen button doesn't seem to be working so I'm not
>> >> > sure how to get a screenshot. If you can advise, I'd welcome the advice!
>> >> >
>> >> > In terms of sizes, everything is the same size as it always was. The only
>> >> > thing different is the orgnanisation of the page. I've used the 'Department'
>> >> > field as an example of one field that is missing. Of course, I'm not able to
>> >> > see the original form that I always worked in so I am going on memory here.
>> >> > 'Department' was one field that was definitely visible in the old layout and
>> >> > is now not visible. It used to be visible immediately under the Name field
>> >> > (above 'Job Title', I think). Now it isn't there at all, yet the info is
>> >> > still there as I can see it on the PDA.
>> >> >

[Graham Bond]

Thanks for all your help with this. I still haven't got to the bottom of the
mystery change but I've been reassured that nothing is too badly amiss.
Furthermore, I've learned plenty along the way. Thanks again.