Automated printing of Global Contacts? 3

[esmithbda]

We recently had an issue where all power for our area (we are on an island, and the entire island was without power) was down. We needed to call each of our clients and let them know that we would be down for several days and not to panic (the nature of our business is that which could easily enduce panic in our clients were people not warned as to why they could not contact us).

We have all contact information in the Global Contacts in the public folders (techincally it is in a few areas there, but conceptually it should all be the same if we can get it working for one).

Is there a way to automate via script so that all of those contacts are printed out?
Unfortunately we can't rely on a physical person to actually do this every N days - so if we could automate that, it would resolve this issue.
(so if our power is out, we can still access that data)

Is this something which would be automated server-side, or client-side? I am familiar with many programming languages, but I have never written anything in regards to Global Contacts before.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

 

[markdmac]

Are you just looking to have a phone list? I'd have to do some experimenting but think it should be fairly easy to be able to use script to grab the data into Excel and then print that out in a nice spreadsheet which should make it a lot more readable.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Zelandakh]

Mark - you are being too literal. Back up 2 steps...

esmith - this is tragically simple!!!

New Access database.
New table.
Linked table to Exchange() Address Book (not directly to public folders) and choose relevant folder.
New query based on above table. Pick relevant fields for your requirements such as name and phone number.
New report based on query. Lay out the data appropriately.
Test print works correctly.

New macro.
openreport. Choose report name as per above. In View, choose print to print it.
Save the macro as autoexec so that it runs when you open the database.

Then either put a shortcut to the database in your startup folder or use scheduler to open it.

I'll be turning this into an FAQ one day!

 

[nickpark]

That is so cool, I didnt know you could connect Access to Exchange!

Runs bloody slow though!
Scrolling through my Address Book takes ages!

 

[markdmac]

A star from me too Z. Very nice solution. I'll have to give it a try myself.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[esmithbda]

I never noticed that you could link Access to Exchange.

I am getting an error about MAPI names and am too busy today to fully test this - but it certainly looks like the path I want.
(it appears that this works great for local contacts, but will need to be toyed with for the shared Global Contacts in the Public Folders)

Thanks so much - star from me too!

 

[esmithbda]

I follow the steps:
1) create new Access DB
2) link a table to Exchange()
3) point it at the Global Contacts folder which is inside the Public Folders
4) I then uncheck (although it doesn't appear to matter either way) "I would like the wizard to store my MAPI profile name with my linked table."

Then I click Finish and I get the error message "The MAPI store "Global Contacts" is known but is not available in the current profile"

I did a search on Google and it appears that this is a common enough thing to see, but nobody says how to resolve it.
There was one mention saying that folder (Global Contacts in this case) had to be in my profile's Outlook Address Book - so I made sure that it was (it wasn't). They also noted that the folder needs to have its own email address, which it does - I checked on the Exchange server.

But it still gives that error message.


If I connect to "Outlook()" instead, then it appears to work. I suppose I will have to go that route instead.

 

[esmithbda]

Oh - I see what Z was saying - I am too busy today and I suppose didn't read carefully enough. He says right there: "Exchange() Address Book (not directly to public folders)".
Meaning that I need to not connect to the public folders and instead connect to the Address Book.

Right - got it.

Thanks!

 

[markdmac]

FYI Zelandakh,

I was able to solve a different problem using your solution. Had to get contact data from a public folder onto my PocketPC. Using your post I was able to get it into an Access Database that I then converted to PocketAccess. Just had to purchase a program to be able to open the database (since MS removed that from PPC) and now I have the data I needed with me. Sweet!

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[esmithbda]

I finally have time to try to sit down and get this implemented, and now I am getting an error "Object is invalid for operation." when I try to run a report on the database. If I view the database (Global Contacts) directly, there are periodic rows that just have "#Error" in there instead of data in each spot. I tried deleting those, but they always come back when you look at the table again.

I'm not sure if the error is related to the #Error fields in the linked table, but it doesn't appear to be (the error comes up immediately, and the #Error fields don't show up until at least 10 rows into the table).