collecting data using email in a Access table

#1

I am collecting a group's information(name, phone number and three
paragraphs describing their hobby). I want to send an email to all the
group recipients which allows them to enter the information(name, phone
number and three paragraphs describing their hobby) and update it in a
Access table stored on my machine.

One way I can do this if all recipients have Outlook 2007 is using the
email create facility of Access 2007 which is described at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007) can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The drawbacks are all users may not read their clients using Outlook
2007 in which case the above method may not work and the formatting may
not be preserved(for instance, in a Access table, the description of
hobby may be stored as a string of characters which when copied/pasted
to a MS-Word document, may need lot of rework to be readable).

Is there a workaround around these or is there another way to achieve
what I want than the above method?

Would a simple PHP/MySQL form be more suited for my requirements where
users can go to a URL, enter their info, do a submit which would result
in the data being stored at the backend? But, still the formatting of
hobby description may not be preserved.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

#2

On 4/23/2010 9:26 PM, a_t wrote:

Quote:

I am collecting a group's information(name, phone number and three
paragraphs describing their hobby). I want to send an email to all the
group recipients which allows them to enter the information(name, phone
number and three paragraphs describing their hobby) and update it in a
Access table stored on my machine.

One way I can do this if all recipients have Outlook 2007 is using the
email create facility of Access 2007 which is described at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007) can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The drawbacks are all users may not read their clients using Outlook
2007 in which case the above method may not work and the formatting may
not be preserved(for instance, in a Access table, the description of
hobby may be stored as a string of characters which when copied/pasted
to a MS-Word document, may need lot of rework to be readable).

Is there a workaround around these or is there another way to achieve
what I want than the above method?

Would a simple PHP/MySQL form be more suited for my requirements where
users can go to a URL, enter their info, do a submit which would result
in the data being stored at the backend? But, still the formatting of
hobby description may not be preserved.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Saw the link at
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...-via-emai.aspx
which suggests responses from people responding from their Yahoo/Hotmail
through the Web-interface should work if "You'll have to move the
messages to your Outlook Inbox and process them manually by opening each
message and clicking the Export To
Access button on the message Ribbon."

The table does not update and I receive the error message "Cannot export
data due to errors. Failure: Cannot process this e-mail message. The
form in this email message is either corrupt or has been modified" when
I try to do the manual export.

Any advice would be appreciated.

#3

a_t wrote:

Quote:

On 4/23/2010 9:26 PM, a_t wrote:

I am collecting a group's information(name, phone number and three
paragraphs describing their hobby). I want to send an email to all the
group recipients which allows them to enter the information(name, phone
number and three paragraphs describing their hobby) and update it in a
Access table stored on my machine.

One way I can do this if all recipients have Outlook 2007 is using the
email create facility of Access 2007 which is described at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007) can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The drawbacks are all users may not read their clients using Outlook
2007 in which case the above method may not work and the formatting may
not be preserved(for instance, in a Access table, the description of
hobby may be stored as a string of characters which when copied/pasted
to a MS-Word document, may need lot of rework to be readable).

Is there a workaround around these or is there another way to achieve
what I want than the above method?

Would a simple PHP/MySQL form be more suited for my requirements where
users can go to a URL, enter their info, do a submit which would result
in the data being stored at the backend? But, still the formatting of
hobby description may not be preserved.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Saw the link at
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...-via-emai.aspx
which suggests responses from people responding from their Yahoo/Hotmail
through the Web-interface should work if "You'll have to move the
messages to your Outlook Inbox and process them manually by opening each
message and clicking the Export To
Access button on the message Ribbon."

The table does not update and I receive the error message "Cannot export
data due to errors. Failure: Cannot process this e-mail message. The
form in this email message is either corrupt or has been modified" when
I try to do the manual export.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I was unaware that it required Outlook 2007 to respond to the messages.
I thought one simply needed A2007 and O2007 for the sending and
receiving part.

Here's a couple of troubleshooting links
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...CH100645721033
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...CH100645721033
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...154271033.aspx

Info Demo:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...527131033.aspx

Does it work fine for memo fields of more than 255 chars?

In mu experimentation with it it seamed a bit clunky. Good luck.

#4

"a_t" <a_t@t.com> wrote

Quote:

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007) can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The above information is completely incorrect on your part, the forms that
they fill out on the target computer can be any e-mail reader, including WEB
based ones. There's absolutely no relationship to access or outlook required
in any way shape or form at all. The only requirement is the email by the
responder supports HTML. And, I a am hard pressed to think of ANY email
system these days that does not support HTML.

If you choose to use info path forms in place of HTML, then yes, your
responers not only require outlook, but ALSO infopath.

However, if you choose HTML, then no software is requied on target comptuer.

Again:

There's absolutely no relationship to outlook or Access required on the
target computer that responds in any way at all.

So, the responding computer does not need Access, does not need Outlook and
in fact can be a Linux or even Mac computer. In fact a web browser on a
smart phone should also work.

Again:

There's absolutely no relationship to outlook or Access required on the
target computer that responds in any way at all.

--
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
pleaseNOOSpamKallal (AT) msn (DOT) com

#5

On 4/24/2010 6:07 PM, Salad wrote:

Quote:

a_t wrote:

On 4/23/2010 9:26 PM, a_t wrote:

I am collecting a group's information(name, phone number and three
paragraphs describing their hobby). I want to send an email to all the
group recipients which allows them to enter the information(name, phone
number and three paragraphs describing their hobby) and update it in a
Access table stored on my machine.

One way I can do this if all recipients have Outlook 2007 is using the
email create facility of Access 2007 which is described at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007) can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The drawbacks are all users may not read their clients using Outlook
2007 in which case the above method may not work and the formatting may
not be preserved(for instance, in a Access table, the description of
hobby may be stored as a string of characters which when copied/pasted
to a MS-Word document, may need lot of rework to be readable).

Is there a workaround around these or is there another way to achieve
what I want than the above method?

Would a simple PHP/MySQL form be more suited for my requirements where
users can go to a URL, enter their info, do a submit which would result
in the data being stored at the backend? But, still the formatting of
hobby description may not be preserved.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Saw the link at
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...-via-emai.aspx
which suggests responses from people responding from their
Yahoo/Hotmail through the Web-interface should work if "You'll have to
move the messages to your Outlook Inbox and process them manually by
opening each message and clicking the Export To
Access button on the message Ribbon."

The table does not update and I receive the error message "Cannot
export data due to errors. Failure: Cannot process this e-mail
message. The form in this email message is either corrupt or has been
modified" when I try to do the manual export.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I was unaware that it required Outlook 2007 to respond to the messages.
I thought one simply needed A2007 and O2007 for the sending and
receiving part.
So, did I until I tried it and it did not work.

Quote:

Here's a couple of troubleshooting links
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...154271033.aspx

According to this link and the message("Failure: Cannot process this e-mail
message. The form in this email message is either corrupt or has been
modified") I am receiving when someone responds to
it from a Web-based email interface such as Yahoo mail or Gmail, the
form being sent somehow gets changed which is why
the data cannot be collected in Access.

Quote:

Info Demo:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...527131033.aspx

Does it work fine for memo fields of more than 255 chars?
I did not test that.

Quote:

In mu experimentation with it it seamed a bit clunky. Good luck.

Did it work for you with with a Web-based mail
interface such as Yahoo mail or Gmail? By clunky, you mean it was a bit
slow or something else?

Thanks for your advice and time.

#6

On 4/24/2010 11:36 PM, Albert D. Kallal wrote:

Quote:

"a_t" <a_t@t.com> wrote in message
news:cNrAn.262184$K81.39609 (AT) newsfe18 (DOT) iad...

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007) can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The above information is completely incorrect on your part, the forms that
they fill out on the target computer can be any e-mail reader, including
WEB
based ones. There's absolutely no relationship to access or outlook
required
in any way shape or form at all. The only requirement is the email by the
responder supports HTML. And, I a am hard pressed to think of ANY email
system these days that does not support HTML.

If you choose to use info path forms in place of HTML, then yes, your
responers not only require outlook, but ALSO infopath.

However, if you choose HTML, then no software is requied on target
comptuer.

Again:

There's absolutely no relationship to outlook or Access required on the
target computer that responds in any way at all.

So, the responding computer does not need Access, does not need Outlook and
in fact can be a Linux or even Mac computer. In fact a web browser on a
smart phone should also work.

Again:

There's absolutely no relationship to outlook or Access required on the
target computer that responds in any way at all.

Ok, I believe you, but it does not work which is why I posted here and
so did
the person who posted at
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...-via-emai.aspx

I tried it and it did not work. There is one possibility from the error
message I am receiving and the link at,
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...154271033.aspx
According to the above link and the message("Failure: Cannot process
this e-mail message. The form in this email message is either corrupt or
has been modified") I am receiving when someone responds to
it from a Web-based email interface such as Yahoo mail or Gmail, the
form being sent "somehow" gets changed which is why
the data cannot be collected in Access.

When I received the request in my Yahoo email account, I clicked the
reply, filled the data needed and clicked send. But, outlook could not
process it automatically and when I try to process it manually I get the
error message("Failure: Cannot process this e-mail message. The form in
this email message is either corrupt or has been modified").

If I might suggest, you can try it out and see if it works for you. If
it does, I might be doing something incorrect when responding to the
request from a Web-based interface which is what I need to correct.

Thanks for your advice and time.

#7

a_t wrote:

Quote:

On 4/24/2010 6:07 PM, Salad wrote:

a_t wrote:

On 4/23/2010 9:26 PM, a_t wrote:

I am collecting a group's information(name, phone number and three
paragraphs describing their hobby). I want to send an email to all the
group recipients which allows them to enter the information(name, phone
number and three paragraphs describing their hobby) and update it in a
Access table stored on my machine.

One way I can do this if all recipients have Outlook 2007 is using the
email create facility of Access 2007 which is described at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007) can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The drawbacks are all users may not read their clients using Outlook
2007 in which case the above method may not work and the formatting may
not be preserved(for instance, in a Access table, the description of
hobby may be stored as a string of characters which when copied/pasted
to a MS-Word document, may need lot of rework to be readable).

Is there a workaround around these or is there another way to achieve
what I want than the above method?

Would a simple PHP/MySQL form be more suited for my requirements where
users can go to a URL, enter their info, do a submit which would result
in the data being stored at the backend? But, still the formatting of
hobby description may not be preserved.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Saw the link at
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...-via-emai.aspx

which suggests responses from people responding from their
Yahoo/Hotmail through the Web-interface should work if "You'll have to
move the messages to your Outlook Inbox and process them manually by
opening each message and clicking the Export To
Access button on the message Ribbon."

The table does not update and I receive the error message "Cannot
export data due to errors. Failure: Cannot process this e-mail
message. The form in this email message is either corrupt or has been
modified" when I try to do the manual export.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I was unaware that it required Outlook 2007 to respond to the messages.
I thought one simply needed A2007 and O2007 for the sending and
receiving part.

So, did I until I tried it and it did not work.

Here's a couple of troubleshooting links
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...154271033.aspx

According to this link and the message("Failure: Cannot process this e-mail
message. The form in this email message is either corrupt or has been
modified") I am receiving when someone responds to
it from a Web-based email interface such as Yahoo mail or Gmail, the
form being sent somehow gets changed which is why
the data cannot be collected in Access.

Are you doing the testing or are you getting responses from external
sources? It says not to modify the email form (input is fine) so
perhaps the form is being modified by the person responding to the message.

That being said, I did not test or use it with Yahaoo or Gmail.

Quote:

Info Demo:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...527131033.aspx

Does it work fine for memo fields of more than 255 chars?

I did not test that.

In mu experimentation with it it seamed a bit clunky. Good luck.

Did it work for you with with a Web-based mail
interface such as Yahoo mail or Gmail? By clunky, you mean it was a bit
slow or something else?

No. The data entry format is clunky. No validation. Formatting

non-existent. No checkboxes. Perhaps if everyone had One-Note it
wouldn't be but that is expecting way too much.

I'll defer to Albert's response regarding Yahoo/Gmail. I should think
it makes no difference.

Quote:

Thanks for your advice and time.

I asked Albert, regarding A2010, whether the data collection section was
improved last November/December. He didn't feel that there was much of
any change. But with Web forms, was that an issue? I agree with him.
I would prefer doing data collection using the web instead. A2010 will
be coming out mid-May.

#8

On 4/25/2010 4:53 PM, Salad wrote:

Quote:

a_t wrote:
On 4/24/2010 6:07 PM, Salad wrote:

a_t wrote:

On 4/23/2010 9:26 PM, a_t wrote:

I am collecting a group's information(name, phone number and three
paragraphs describing their hobby). I want to send an email to all the
group recipients which allows them to enter the information(name,
phone
number and three paragraphs describing their hobby) and update it in a
Access table stored on my machine.

One way I can do this if all recipients have Outlook 2007 is using the
email create facility of Access 2007 which is described at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

This creates a form, to which the recipients(if using Outlook 2007)
can
choose to do a reply, enter the required data, click send and the data
will get stored on my Access table.

The drawbacks are all users may not read their clients using Outlook
2007 in which case the above method may not work and the formatting
may
not be preserved(for instance, in a Access table, the description of
hobby may be stored as a string of characters which when copied/pasted
to a MS-Word document, may need lot of rework to be readable).

Is there a workaround around these or is there another way to achieve
what I want than the above method?

Would a simple PHP/MySQL form be more suited for my requirements where
users can go to a URL, enter their info, do a submit which would
result
in the data being stored at the backend? But, still the formatting of
hobby description may not be preserved.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Saw the link at
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...-via-emai.aspx

which suggests responses from people responding from their
Yahoo/Hotmail through the Web-interface should work if "You'll have to
move the messages to your Outlook Inbox and process them manually by
opening each message and clicking the Export To
Access button on the message Ribbon."

The table does not update and I receive the error message "Cannot
export data due to errors. Failure: Cannot process this e-mail
message. The form in this email message is either corrupt or has been
modified" when I try to do the manual export.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I was unaware that it required Outlook 2007 to respond to the messages.
I thought one simply needed A2007 and O2007 for the sending and
receiving part.

So, did I until I tried it and it did not work.

Here's a couple of troubleshooting links
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...154271033.aspx

According to this link and the message("Failure: Cannot process this
e-mail
message. The form in this email message is either corrupt or has been
modified") I am receiving when someone responds to
it from a Web-based email interface such as Yahoo mail or Gmail, the
form being sent somehow gets changed which is why
the data cannot be collected in Access.

Are you doing the testing or are you getting responses from external
sources? It says not to modify the email form (input is fine) so perhaps
the form is being modified by the person responding to the message.

I am doing the testing and I am not modifying the form, just entering
the data.

Quote:

That being said, I did not test or use it with Yahaoo or Gmail.

Can you try that and see if it works with Yahoo/Gmail? It did not for me
and neither for
the person at
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...-via-emai.aspx

Quote:

Info Demo:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...527131033.aspx

Does it work fine for memo fields of more than 255 chars?

I did not test that.

In mu experimentation with it it seamed a bit clunky. Good luck.

Did it work for you with with a Web-based mail
interface such as Yahoo mail or Gmail? By clunky, you mean it was a
bit slow or something else?

No. The data entry format is clunky. No validation. Formatting
non-existent. No checkboxes. Perhaps if everyone had One-Note it
wouldn't be but that is expecting way too much.

I'll defer to Albert's response regarding Yahoo/Gmail. I should think it
makes no difference.
I also want to believe that, but I don't understand why it is not working

for me.

Quote:

Thanks for your advice and time.

I asked Albert, regarding A2010, whether the data collection section was
improved last November/December. He didn't feel that there was much of
any change. But with Web forms, was that an issue? I agree with him. I
would prefer doing data collection using the web instead.

I did not get that part? You mean using A2010, data collection could be
easily done using Web based interfaces for email(like Yahoo/Gmail) or
something else?

Or, are you suggesting by "I
would prefer doing data collection using the web instead." data
collection using some sort of PHP/MySQL form is more advisable?

Can you please clarify?

Thanks for your advice and time.

#9

a_t wrote:

Quote:

Are you doing the testing or are you getting responses from external
sources? It says not to modify the email form (input is fine) so perhaps
the form is being modified by the person responding to the message.

That being said, I did not test or use it with Yahaoo or Gmail.

Sorry. I'm at my home machine and don't have A2007. I was exploring it

on a client machine.

Quote:

I asked Albert, regarding A2010, whether the data collection section was
improved last November/December. He didn't feel that there was much of
any change. But with Web forms, was that an issue? I agree with him. I
would prefer doing data collection using the web instead.

I did not get that part? You mean using A2010, data collection could be
easily done using Web based interfaces for email(like Yahoo/Gmail) or
something else?

Or, are you suggesting by "I
would prefer doing data collection using the web instead." data
collection using some sort of PHP/MySQL form is more advisable?

Can you please clarify?

Sure. With A2010 one can publish their DB to the web. So you could

have an input form on the web that would update your tables. I'm going
to guess that OfficeLive will support the Sharepoint part. And
OfficeLive is free. http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-us/.

Here's a link of an app by Albert using Access 2010. It shows both
desktop and web app.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU4mH0jPntI

Here's another demo of A2010 and SP2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq-tDuPfgZc

Here's another example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl2TYxriMmg

Good luck.

#10

On 4/25/2010 9:52 PM, Salad wrote:

Quote:

a_t wrote:
Are you doing the testing or are you getting responses from external
sources? It says not to modify the email form (input is fine) so perhaps
the form is being modified by the person responding to the message.

That being said, I did not test or use it with Yahaoo or Gmail.

Sorry. I'm at my home machine and don't have A2007. I was exploring it
on a client machine.

When you get a chance, can you please test it with Yahoo/Gmail email account
if it is possible for you? I tested it a lot of times and it did not
work for me. So, if either you or someone could test it and if it works
for you, I can know where I am erring.

Quote:

I asked Albert, regarding A2010, whether the data collection section was
improved last November/December. He didn't feel that there was much of
any change. But with Web forms, was that an issue? I agree with him. I
would prefer doing data collection using the web instead.

I did not get that part? You mean using A2010, data collection could be
easily done using Web based interfaces for email(like Yahoo/Gmail) or
something else?

Or, are you suggesting by "I
would prefer doing data collection using the web instead." data
collection using some sort of PHP/MySQL form is more advisable?

Can you please clarify?

Sure. With A2010 one can publish their DB to the web. So you could have
an input form on the web that would update your tables. I'm going to
guess that OfficeLive will support the Sharepoint part. And OfficeLive
is free. http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-us/.

Here's a link of an app by Albert using Access 2010. It shows both
desktop and web app.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU4mH0jPntI

Here's another demo of A2010 and SP2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq-tDuPfgZc

Here's another example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl2TYxriMmg

Good luck.

Thanks for the examples. We may not get A2010 in the near future so have
to work with A2007 in the meantime.