Let Users Retrieve Answers from an Outlook Contacts List

This feature is supported in Microsoft Outlook 2000 and later.

You can link dialogs in your template to a Microsoft Outlook Contacts list. This allows your users to retrieve information they already know from Outlook, rather than typing it in manually.

To do this, you must first specify Outlook as an answer source for a specific dialog. Then you must map variables in the dialog to fields in the Contacts list. Like most variable mappings, data types must match. For example, you cannot map a Text variable to a date field, and vice versa.

To map variables in a dialog to fields in Outlook

1. Edit the dialog you want to link to the Contacts list. (This dialog can be in any template.) (See Edit a Custom Dialog.)
2. Click the Options tab. The window changes to show several custom options.
3. Click the Answer source drop-down button and choose Outlook.
4. Click Map Variables. The HotDocs Variable Mapping dialog box appears. The Variable Name column lists the variables in the current component file.
5. In the Map To column, click the drop-down button and choose the Outlook field that corresponds to the variable.
6. Repeat Step 5 for each variable you want to map.

Now, when users view this dialog during the interview, a Select button will appear on the dialog. When they click the button, HotDocs will display the Contacts list in Outlook where users can select the name of a contact and have the appropriate information merged into answer fields in the interview.