can't access forms

[j lunis]

Vista Home Premium 32 / Outlook 2007

I have created some forms that used to work. No more.
On selecting a Contact form, I get "The form required to view this
message cannot be displayed. Contact the administrator." All other
forms appear to work. To my knowledge, I am the administrator. This is
a stand-alone PC in my residence. If I go to Manage User Accounts, it
shows only 2 accounts - LastName Administrator and Guest.
I have googled my problem and found references to FRMCACHE.DAT which I
am told to delete and restart Outlook. Did that. Opened Outlook and
tried to open a form. Same error. And FRMCACHE.DAT was not rebuilt.
Doing 'Find' shows no such file.
FWIW, I can open the file in 'Design Form' and edit and publish.
This is the first Form problem I have ever had in Outlook. How do I
get rid of the error? I think I have switched Contacts to use the
default form and I still get the error.
BONUS QUESTION: Is there a way to point Outlook to a NEW default
folder that contains all my forms?

 

[Hollis Paul]

FWIW, I can open the file in 'Design Form' and edit and publish.
This is the first Form problem I have ever had in Outlook. How do I
get rid of the error? I think I have switched Contacts to use the
default form and I still get the error.

This isn't the proper outlook forum for this question, as it is not a
forms programming issue, but an operational issue. But, have you been
able to find the form in question by clicking, in the Outlook UI, New,
and then on the bottom Choose form, and then navigating the various
folder choices?

In the past, in other Outlooks and on an older OS, I had difficulty with
one of my custom forms in that it was losing the contents of the Message
ID field, and would not display. When you open one of your data items,
which you know should be using this custom form, in the default form,
what do you find in the Message ID field?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

This *is* the correct forum for forms issues, both design and usage, but we
are not going to be able to help you unless you answer the questions that I
asked in response to your post on another forum.

 

[j lunis]

This *is* the correct forum for forms issues, both design and usage, but we
are not going to be able to help you unless you answer the questions that I
asked in response to your post on another forum.

contact, message, etc.? Contacts only
Where are they published? in Outlook, is that what you mean?
Do you have backup copies in the form of .oft files? I have OFTs in the
template folder
What has changed on the machine between the time when they used to work
and now? nothing that I know
Does the problem occur with all forms or just some? Contacts only

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Where, precisely, did you publish the form -- to the Contacts folder? Your
Personal Forms library? You could try republishing with your .oft file.

Also, please quote enough of the previous message(s) in the discussion
thread so that we can see what the issue is. Not everyone reads newsgroups
on the web site. At this point, I have no idea what the original issue is.

 

[j lunis]

Where, precisely, did you publish the form -- to the Contacts folder? Your
Personal Forms library? You could try republishing with your .oft file.

Also, please quote enough of the previous message(s) in the discussion
thread so that we can see what the issue is. Not everyone reads newsgroups
on the web site. At this point, I have no idea what the original issue is.

I hope this is from the beginning
------------------
Vista Home Premium 32 / Outlook 2007

I have created some forms that used to work. No more.
On selecting a Contact form, I get "The form required to view this
message cannot be displayed. Contact the administrator." No other forms
appear to work EXCEPT those in the standard library. To my knowledge, I
am the administrator. This is a stand-alone PC in my residence. If I
go to Manage User Accounts, it shows only 2 accounts - LastName
Administrator and Guest.
My custom forms are in either Personal Library or Outlook Folders. All
of these forms give the error.
I have my OFT files in a custom folder. All open without error but if I
publish them, I get the error.
Nothing I know has changed to cause the error.
FWIW, I can open all forms in 'Design Form' and edit and publish.

I have googled my problem and found references to FRMCACHE.DAT which I
am told to delete and restart Outlook. Did that. Opened Outlook and
tried to open a form. Same error. And FRMCACHE.DAT was not rebuilt.
Doing 'Find' shows no such file.

How do I get rid of the error?
Do I need/have FRMCACHE.DAT?
BONUS QUESTION: Is there a way to point Outlook to a NEW default
folder that contains all my Templates?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

When you try to run a form, are you invoking it from the Personal Forms
library or the Contacts folder? Does the problem occur on existing items, new
items, or both? Have you recently installed any Office updates? Check under
Programs in Control Panel.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

I'm breaking this question out into a separate thread, because it's not
related to your problem. Outlook templates -- i.e. .oft files -- are stored
in the file system. You can put them in any folder you want, but they're
useful only to back up published forms.

Any contact forms must be published to your Contacts folder or to the
Personal Folders library. Don't publish them in both places.

 

[j lunis]

I'm breaking this question out into a separate thread, because it's not
related to your problem. Outlook templates -- i.e. .oft files -- are stored
in the file system. You can put them in any folder you want, but they're
useful only to back up published forms.

Any contact forms must be published to your Contacts folder or to the
Personal Folders library. Don't publish them in both places.

Very good. Currently, when I open Choose Form|User templates in File
System, the path shows as Users\XXXX\Appdata\roaming\microsoft\templates.
Since I can put them in any folder, how do I get the User templates in
File System path to change to where I have the OFTs?

 

[j lunis]

If I have the lingo right, I 'invoke' a form by going to Contacts and
hitting CTRL-N. That gives me the error. I can go to Tools|Form|Choose
Form and go to standard library and 'invoke' the (default?) form there
and it works. Choosing a form in any other folder? results in the
error. I can't use any custom forms.
When I open an existing contact, it opens with the default form.
Control Panel|Program Updates results in . . . . nothing. No popups, no
new screen, no error, nothing.

In your other thread, I notice you say "Any contact forms must be
published to your Contacts folder or to the Personal Folders library.
Don't publish them in both places." Went to both folders and both have
a form called "Contacts." could that be a problem? How do I delete a
form from a library? I see no 'Delete.'

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

No, it is not possible to set a different default initial folder for the User
Templates in File System display.

Again. the .oft files are only useful as backups. Items created with them
will not have the same full functionality as they would with published forms.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

So, I presume we can take it from your description that you made this
particular form the default for your Contacts folder? And you get the same
error for any other custom form?

You can manage forms in a folder through the folder's Properties dialog, on
the Forms tab.

 

[j lunis]

Correct - no custom forms work. Most I can at least open with Design.
And no forms in Personal Library can be opened in either Choose or Design.
Manage? Well it is certainly very likely I changed the default. CTRL-N
would open my custom form for years. Just went to change back to the
OEM default for Contacts. Don't see how to do it.
Contacts|Properties|Forms|Manage|Set gives me two choices - Forms
Library|Personal Forms and and Folder Forms|Library|and a list of
Outlook folders. No choice for Standard Library.
You have been very patient but this old geezer is still lost. I can see
the OEM(?) Default forms in Standard Forms Library. but, from
Contacts|Properties|Forms I see no way to access them to get back to the
REAL default form.
And I still don't understand how to get custom forms to work again.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Set the default form for a folder on the folder's Properties dialog, at the
bottom of the General page. The standard form is IPM.Contact.

The Manage Forms dialog is for custom form management chores, not for
setting the default form for a folder.

 

[j lunis]

Ah, progress. I can now use the default Contact form by using CTRL-N.
You have solved a significant problem.
Now for the 2nd part . . . how do I get rid of the error so I can use
Custom forms? I have a number I use for special purposes and no
standard form is adequate.
And this, now Tools|Forms|Design a Form. All forms I select (except
standard) now give the same error message I was getting for Choose Form.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

In Windows Explorer, try going to the FORMS folder -- C:\Users\<your user
name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FORMS -- and deleting not just FrmCache.dat but
also any subfolders you see there. Also make sure that you have full owner
permission on that folder, because Outlook needs to write new items whenever
you load a form into the cache.

 

[j lunis]

Very good. Still progress I presume.
Now when I try to open a custom form I get
"The form you selected cannot be displayed. An error occurred while
installing the form."
What's my next step?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Did you check the permissions on the Forms folder?
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[j lunis]

Ah, lingo again.
Under Contacts|Properties|Forms, I see no 'Permissions.' Wrong place?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Managing permissions for folders on your hard drive is not an Outlook
feature. Use Windows Explorer for that.