Microsoft KB Archive/262511

= OL98: Error Message: &quot;The Property Does Not Exist. The Field You Want to Modify Is Not Valid for This Type of Item.&quot; =

Article ID: 262511

Article Last Modified on 6/10/2000

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook 98 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q262511



SYMPTOMS
When you create or open a contact item that is based on a custom form, you may receive the following error message:

The property does not exist. The field you want to modify is not valid for this type of item.

If you click OK, the contact item opens.



CAUSE
The custom Contact form was designed by using Microsoft Outlook 2000. In Design mode, the General page of the form was modified (a control was added, moved, removed, or resized), and then the form was published or saved as an Outlook template (.oft) file. When you access or create items based on this form by using Outlook 98, you may receive the error message that is mentioned in the &quot;Symptoms&quot; section.

This error message is caused by the retention of the Contacts command button control and the associated text box control on the General page of the form. These controls are responsible for contact linking features in Outlook 2000 that are not available in Outlook 98. When you design a custom form and modify the General page of the form, the page is added to the ModifiedFormPages collection of the item which results in incompatible controls for Outlook 98.



RESOLUTION
Use one of the following methods to prevent this problem:
 * Design a new form by using Outlook 98 or earlier, and then republish the form in place of the Outlook 2000 form.

NOTE: Microsoft recommends that you design forms by using the earliest version of Outlook with which you intend to use the form.

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 * When you design a custom Contact form by using Outlook 2000, do not modify the General page of the form.

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 * Upgrade all computers that use the custom contacts form to Outlook 2000.

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 * In Outlook 2000, open the form in Design mode, remove the controls for the contact (the command button and the text box) from the General page of the Custom form, and then republish the form.



MORE INFORMATION
The Contact form in Outlook 2000 is different than the Outlook 98 Contact form because Outlook 2000 has contact linking Contacts controls (a command button and a text box). For backward compatibility, the default version of the Outlook 2000 Contacts form (Ipm.contact) does not display the Contacts controls in Outlook 98.

Keywords: kbprb KB262511

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