OL98: Displaying Excel Custom Properties in an Outlook View

ID: Q180925

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 98
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

This article describes how you can use the Microsoft Outlook 98 Message view of a messaging application programming interface (MAPI) folder to display a Microsoft Excel 97 worksheet's custom properties.

MORE INFORMATION

The example below allows you to display a list of Microsoft Excel worksheets in such a manner that contents of selected cells are also displayed. For example, in Outlook your worksheets may be displayed as follows, where Department and Total are cell ranges within each worksheet:

NOTE: This procedure requires that Integrated File Management be installed on your computer. It is not installed during a new install of Outlook 98. It is installed during an upgrade, and can be added by running Outlook 98 setup and selecting add new components.


   From          Subject          Department      Total
   ----          -------          ----------      -----
   John Doe      Sales.xls        Sales          100,000
   Jane Doe      Expenses.xls     Expenses           500

The example below is a four-part process. First, you create a Microsoft Excel worksheet that includes named cell ranges. Second, you define the named cell ranges as custom properties of the worksheet. Third, you create a MAPI folder in Outlook and copy the Microsoft Excel worksheet into the MAPI folder. Fourth, you create user-defined fields in the MAPI folder that match your Microsoft Excel worksheet custom properties.

Part 1 - Define Named Cell Ranges in a Microsoft Excel Worksheet

In Microsoft Excel, create a new worksheet as follows and format cell A2 as text and cells B2:F2 as numbers:


          A          B        C        D        E        F
    1 Department     Q1       Q2       Q3       Q4     Total
    2 Sales        25,000   25,000   25,000   25,000   100,000

Select cell A2.

On the Insert menu, point to Name, and then click Define on the menu that appears to open the Define Name dialog box.

Under Names In Workbook, type Department over the word "Sales," click Add, and then click OK.

Select cell F2.

On the Insert menu, point to Name, and then click Define on the menu that appears to open the Define Name dialog box.

Under Names In Workbook, type Total, click Add, and then click OK.

Part 2 - Set Custom Worksheet Properties

On the File menu, click Properties to open the File Properties dialog box.

Click the Custom tab and click to select the Link To Content check box.

In the Source list, click Department, and in the Name box, type Department, and then click Add.

In the Source list, click Total, and in the Name box, type Total. Click Add, and then click OK.

Save the worksheet as Sales.xls in your My Documents folder, and then close it.

Part 3 - Create a MAPI Folder and Copy the Worksheet

Start Outlook and on the Outlook Bar, click Other Shortcuts to make it the active group.

On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder to open the Create New Folder dialog box.

In the Name box, type Testlink and in the Folder Contains list, click to select Mail Items. Click OK.

Click Yes to create a shortcut to this folder in the Outlook Bar. The shortcut will appear under the group, My Shortcuts.

In Windows Explorer, find and click to select the Sales.xls file.

Drag the Sales.xls file to the Testlink shortcut on the Outlook Bar in the My Shortcuts group.

Part 4 - Creating User Fields in the MAPI Folder

Click the Testlink shortcut on the Outlook Bar. The Sales.xls file is now an item in the Testlink MAPI folder. You should see Sales.xls in the Messages view of the Testlink folder.

Right click on the on a message header such as From or Subject. Click Field Chooser on the shortcut menu.

From the list box at the top of the Field Chooser dialog box, click to select "User-defined fields in folder."

Drag the Department and Total fields to the column headers of the current view to create new columns. You should now see the Department name and the Total fields with the information from the Excel Worksheet.

In the Messages view, double-click Sales.xls to open it in Excel.

With Sales.xls open, type "50000" in the cell E2.

On the File menu, click Exit, and when prompted to save changes, click Yes.

The updated value in the Total field of the Outlook messages view should read "125,000."

REFERENCES

For more information about creating name ranges in Microsoft Excel, type "name range" in the Office Assistant, click Search, and then click to view "Name cells in a workbook."

For more information about creating Outlook user-defined fields, type "creating user-defined fields" in the Office Assistant, click Search, and then click to view "Create a custom field."

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbdta IntpOle
Version : WINDOWS:
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto