Outlook Synchronization
Q. When I run the Outlook sync, I am getting duplicate Birthday and Anniversary dates in the Outlook Calendar.
A. When certain fields in Outlook have been modified a duplicate entry will be added for the Birthday and Anniversary fields. This is an issue with Outlook.
Q. Can I synchronize the ContactEase categories with Microsoft Outlook?
A. Yes, this is an option in the synchronization setup. There is a checkbox in the Address mapping screen. Simply check this box and the categories with be synchronized. If you are using the ContactEase form for Microsoft Outlook, this option will be grayed out. With the ContactEase form, when you select the Categories button, you will get the list of categories directly from the database.
In ContactEase v9.20, there is a bug when specifying the list of categories that will be synchronized. This is only an issue if not using the ContactEase Outlook form and will be fixed in the next release.
Q. What are the File, Preferences, Database Settings, Outlook tabs used for?
A. There are three different tabs that deal with the Outlook settings. All of the settings under File, Preferences, Database Settings are global.
1. Outlook Fields. This tab allows the ContactEase fields to be mapped globally rather than for each user. To map the fields, click on the "Mappings" button and go through each dialog to map the different type of fields. The "Allow user to specify their own field mapping for this database" checkbox specifies whether or not the users will see the mapping dialogs if setting up the sync manually. This option is generally unchecked so the fields remain mapped globally.
2. Outlook Schedule. This tab allows the synchronization schedule to be set globally. As with the Outlook Fields tab, you can not allow users to set their own schedule if setting up the synchronization manually.
3. Outlook Categories. This tab specifies which categories will be visible to users when they click on the CECategories button on the ContactEase Outlook Form. Uncheck categories to make them not visible.
4. Outlook Settings. This tab specifies the automatic generation of master records. When adding a contact within Outlook which contains a new company name (one that does not exist in the database), if this option is checked, the contact and company will be split out into two records in the database when the contact is saved. It will create the company record as the master and the contact record will be linked to it. If this option is not checked (which is the default) the contact added in Outlook will also be one record in the database.
Q. The Outlook tabs in File, Preferences, Database Settings are not showing up.
A. You must have Administrator permissions to the database in order to see these tabs.
Q. Is there any way that we can make specific users’ mappings different than what is set globally for the Outlook sync?
A. Yes you can. Using the File, Synchronize, Microsoft Outlook settings you can map the fields locally and it will take precedence over the global settings. There is a checkbox in the File, Preferences, Database Settings called "Allow users to specify their own field mappings for this database", this needs to be unchecked in order to map the fields locally.
Q. If we change the fields that are mapped in the Outlook sync, will the existing records in ContactEase be updated accordingly (will the field no longer exist in the record)?
A. The previously synched values will not be changed back, there's not really a way we could do that since it's not safe to assume that any value in the ContactEase field would have been entered there via synch. If you think that's the case you can search on records marked by the user using the Security tab on the Find screen and then use Edit/Assign/Field to globally blank out the mobile number. You need to have Admin level rights to search on records marked for others.
Q. How can we add a user who hasn’t used ContactEase yet to the Marked list? We want to mark a number of records for this user prior to ContactEase being setup.
A. The marked by list is the list of users that are in the ContactEase Administrator database. To add a new user to this database, run ContactEase Administrator, go to the Users tab and add a new user (the format of the username must be their Windows login). This new user should also be added to the correct group if appropriate.
Q. Is the File, Preferences, Database Settings, Outlook Settings, “Automatically generate master records" a local or global setting?
A. All preferences specified under Database Settings are global settings used by all users. You also need Administrator privileges to the database in order to see any of the Outlook settings.