Yes, that's the right procedure to add fields that aren't already defined in the folder. You can confirm they're working by adding the field to the view and checking to make sure that the data you expect to see from the individual items is actually displayed.

The icon that a custom form uses is controlled by a setting on the (Properties) page of the form, in design mode. If you customized a contact form, then it's still a contact regardless of the icon.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"Frustrated to the MAX!" wrote in message ...
thanks for the quick reply - how do i define fields in the folder? open the
folder in contacts and right click then select field chooser and add new
fields that way? in other words, if I can see it in the table view on the
right of my screen, is the field in the folder that is displayed in the table
view?

Also, I've modified forms and instead of a small biz card icon, I'm now
seeing what appears to be a post it note icon - have I made some change to
the contact form that is confusing outlook and having it be reclassified as a
note and not a contact?

I'm thinking this will cause import/export problems down the road, will it?

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Yes, custom fields are available to a Word merge if (a) the fields are defined in the folder, not just in the items or custom form and (b) you start the merge from Outlook, not Word.


"Frustrated to the MAX!" wrote in message ...
One other question/issue - if a contact with custom form fields is used to
create a mail merge, are the new custom fields available to the word
document?