Microsoft KB Archive/294705

= OL2002: Cannot Import or Export User-Defined Outlook Fields =

Article ID: 294705

Article Last Modified on 3/1/2004

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q294705





SYMPTOMS
You cannot use the Import and Export command on the File menu to import or export user-defined fields from or to other file formats. This is true of user-defined fields in all types of Outlook items.



CAUSE
The Outlook Import/Export Wizard does not support importing or exporting data in to or out of Outlook user-defined fields.



WORKAROUND
Use one of the following approaches to work around this limitation:

Method 1: Use a Contact's Standard &quot;User&quot; Fields
Contact items have four standard fields called User Field 1, User Field 2, User Field 3, and User Field 4. Outlook does not store data in these fields, and if you have four or less custom fields to import, you may want to consider importing the data into one or more of these standard fields.

Method 2: Copy and Paste User-Defined Fields from a Table View
IMPORTANT: This approach only works for exporting data in user-defined fields; you cannot use this approach to import data into user-defined fields.

You can export user-defined fields from your Contacts by copying data from a table view. A table view is one of five types of views Outlook supports. In a table view, data is presented in rows and columns. To define a table view of your Contacts folder that contains the user-defined fields that you want to export:
 * 1) On the Tools menu, click Organize, and then click Using Views.
 * 2) In the Change Your View list, click a table view such as Phone List, click Customize Current View, and then click Fields.
 * 3) Click the field source from the Select available fields from list. This may be either User-defined fields in folder or a form containing the user-defined fields.
 * 4) Click the user-defined fields from the Available fields list, and then click Add to move the fields to the Show these fields in this order list.
 * 5) To position a field in the list, click the field, and then click Move Up or Move Down. Click OK twice.
 * 6) In the Current View list, click the current view name, and then type a name for your new view. Press ENTER, and then click OK.

The new view should now display the user-defined field or fields. To export the data that is contained in the user-defined fields, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click the contacts that you want to export, and on the Edit menu, click Copy.
 * 2) Open Microsoft Excel, and then paste the contacts into a new worksheet.
 * 3) On the File menu, click Save As to save the contacts. In the Save as type list, click the format that you want.

Method 3: Use a Third-Party Utility
The Slipstick Systems Web site contains information about utilities that are available to transfer data that is contained in Outlook user-defined fields. You can find information about importing and exporting data from user-defined fields at the following Slipstick Systems Web site:

http://www.slipstick.com/dev/customimport.htm

Method 4: Develop a Utility
You can use the Outlook object model to programmatically import or export data from a folder, including data that is stored in user-defined fields. If you have programming experience, or are willing to hire a solution provider to create a solution for you, use the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles as a starting point for creating the solution:

290658 OL2002: How to Programmatically Import Outlook Items from Microsoft Access

290792 Ol2002: How to Programmatically Export Items to Microsoft Access

Additional query words: OutSol OutSol2002 custom field

Keywords: kbprb KB294705

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