Troubleshooting Custom Forms Issues

[ClearContext Support]

There are a few custom forms issues that have been popping up in support. Here's how to resolve them:

Form Region "Clearcontext.7" cannot be opened

This error indicates that something is blocking ClearContext's ability to open a component it needs for MessageContext. To resolve:

1. If you are using Outlook 2010, go to Windows Control Panel > Programs and uninstall Primary Interop Assemblies 2007 if it is listed.
2. If that doesn't help, open repair your Office installation by following directions in step #6 here.
3. Finally, if the above doesn't fix the issue, disable Show add-in user interface errors in Outlook options:
   
   • In Outlook 2010, open File > Options > Advanced, page down to the Developers section and de-select "Show add-in user interface errors"
   • In Outlook 2007, open Tools > Options > Other > Advanced Options, and de-select "Show add-in user interface errors"

A form region cannot be opened. The form region manifest contains invalid XML.

See instructions here to resolve.

The form region "ClearContext.RelatedView" cannot be opened. An add-in returned an error while loading the form region storage. The return type must be a path to the form region storage file or the contents of the form region storage.

Follow the same instructions for the above message.

The custom form cannot be opened. Outlook will use an Outlook form instead.

This appears to be a native Outlook 2010 issue rather than a direct conflict with ClearContext. According to SlipStick (a great resource on all things Outlook):

We're seeing reports from users who imported email from Live Mail to Outlook 2010 and are now receiving the following message: "The custom form cannot be opened. Outlook will use an Outlook form instead. The object could not be found." When they dismiss the dialog, the message opens normally.

While I'm not sure of the cause, the fix is simple: download DocMessageClass and run it on the messages in the Inbox, changing them to the IPM.Note message form.

DocMessageClass

If that doesn't help, try the fix documented below.

[ClearContext Support]

A few customers have reported that opening messages with blank subjects can cause the following message:

"The custom form cannot be opened. Outlook will use an Outlook form instead."

** See the next post before attempting the process below **

We haven't been able to identify the exact cause, but the following "nuclear" clean up option should eliminate the problem.

1. Remove ClearContext using our complete uninstall script.
2. If the following key exists in your registry, delete or rename it: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook\FormRegions\IPM.Message
3. Delete ClearContext forms and clear your forms cache by following directions posted here.
4. If using Exchange, allow Outlook time to synchronize these changes back to the server.
5. If using Exchange, create a new profile (or delete/rename your OST mail file) and allow Outlook to completely rebuild it (step #3 here)
6. Close any open, offline mail files in your Outlook profile (i.e. Archive files).
7. Close Outlook and reinstall ClearContext.
8. If the problem is resolved, re-open your archive mail files.

[ClearContext Support]

We have released v5.4.1 to production. I expect it to resolve some of the issues above.