Formalize a request form process in outlook and excel

[Ivyan]

Hello,

I am going to create a request form in outlook. My idea is as below

I send an email to a requestor(a person who make a request to me). The email contains a message box with a few words in it explaining the form and how to use it, and a blank form for the requestor to fill out.

The requestor opens the email and sees the message as well as the form (There is wording like "Please click the form to open it". The requestor clicks the form and it pops up.) Then the requestor fills out the form and clicks the Submit commandbutton.

And then the email with the form containing request data filled out by the requestor will be sent back to me.

I open the email and check the form. Then I EXPORT the data in the form to an excel sheet by an easy way like clicking a button or anything else. The excel sheet is regarded as a database for the request data collected. I might put the excel in a shared folder or on a internal website for sharing the database with my colleages in my department.

But I have little knowledage about vba. So I am looking for your help! How to formalize the process I mentioned above via vba? btw, I am using 64-bit office on 64-bit windows 7.

Thank you in advance!

Ivy

[gmayor]

The 64 bit Office is usually reserved for power users of Excel who need to address very large worksheets. The recommended version for most users is the 32 bit version. The 64 bit version may result in conflicts with third party products.

The thing to do is to create a form in Word, using legacy form fields or perhaps preferably content controls. I say 'perhaps' because content controls are not available to Word 2003 users and are limited in Word 2007. However they are faster to process.

Simply attach the form to your message and ask the user to return it to you, as you have no control over the software that the recipient uses to access e-mail.

You can then use http://www.gmayor.com/ExtractDataFromForms.htm to extract the returned data to your Excel worksheet. Note that Excel is not a multi-user application. Only one user can access the worksheet at a time, and you will not be able to update the worksheet while someone else has it open.

[Ivyan]

Sorry about the mistake. Office in my computer is 32 bit. But why not just create a form in outlook? Attaching a word form looks like a good solution. But if I want the recipients to fill in the form in the email instead of download of the word document?

[Ivyan]

Anyone here can help with writing some vba code in outlook? Many thanks in advance!