This is an old post, but I have the same issue for a couple days and was unable to figure it out. So, I opted to use the road @WernerCD used and would like to add my PowerShell script that could help you in the case that you decide to go down this path.
Before starting, allow me to explain my issue. We have multiple folders with contacts in it. These contacts contain User Defined Fields that due to migration issues, were not added to their containing folder. While we use Outlook, we need to be able to see these fields on the current view. However, when we try to add the UDF columns, it only allows us to use the "User-defined fields in folder", which is empty.
Below is the PowerShell script that will check a public folder (and its subfolders) within Outlook, check every contact UserProperties (Equivalent for UDF), put them into an array, then it will check if each contact's UDF exist on its containing folder (UserDefinedProperties), and if it doesn't exist, it will added it as a Text field without a value.
Please keep in mind that all our contact folders are under a folder called Shared Contacts Folder.
Code
# Connection to Outlook
$Outlook = New-Object -com Outlook.Application
$Namespace = $outlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")
# "Location" of public folders (Change [email protected])
$PublicFolder = $Namespace.Folders.Item("Public Folders - [email protected]")
$PublicFolders = $PublicFolder.Folders.Item("All Public Folders")
# Folder that you would like to check. We will check Shared Contacts under Shared Contacts Folder
$SharedContactsFolder = $PublicFolders.Folders.Item("Shared Contacts Folder")
$SharedContacts = $SharedContactsFolder.Folders.Item("Shared Contacts")
Write-Host ("<----------------------------------------------------------->") -foreground Yellow
function CheckContacts($MyFolder){
# Check if this folder has subfolder
If ( $MyFolder.Folders.Count -gt 0) {
Write-Host ("Folder '" + $MyFolder.Name + "' contains subfolders (" + $MyFolder.Folders.Count + ")") -BackgroundColor Yellow -foreground DarkBlue
Foreach ( $Subfolder in $MyFolder.Folders ) {
CheckContacts($Subfolder)
}
}
Write-Host ("Working on folder: " + $MyFolder.Name) -BackgroundColor White -foreground DarkBlue
$All_UDF = @()
# Check User Defined Fields (UDF) for each contact and add them to array
foreach ( $Contacts in $MyFolder.Items ) {
foreach ( $UDF in $Contacts.UserProperties ) {
# Check if field was previously added to array
If ($All_UDF -notcontains $UDF.Name) {
$All_UDF += $UDF.Name
}
}
}
# Add all UDF to Folder's UDF
Write-Host ("We will add the following UDF into '" + $MyFolder.Name + "': ") -foreground Green
Write-Host ($All_UDF -join "`n") -foreground Green
Foreach ( $UDF in $All_UDF ){
# Only add if UDF does not exist on folder's UDF
if( (CheckFolderUDF $MyFolder $UDF) -eq $false) {
# Add - Always add UDF as Text field (1)
Write-Host ("Adding '" + $UDF + "' to '" + $MyFolder.Name + "'")
$MyFolder.UserDefinedProperties.Add($UDF, 1)
}else{
Write-Host ("Already present: " + $UDF)
}
}
Write-Host ("<----------------------------------------------------------->") -foreground Yellow
}
Function CheckFolderUDF ( $MyFolder, $MyUDFName ) {
$Result = $false
Foreach ( $Folder_UDF in $MyFolder.UserDefinedProperties ){
If ( $Folder_UDF.Name -eq $MyUDFName ) {
$Result = $true
break
}
}
return $Result
}
# Start - Check Shared Contacts
CheckContacts($SharedContacts)
How do I run/test this code?
1) Open Windows PowerShell ISE (within Windows).
2) Copy the code above and paste it into the PowerShell ISE window.
3) Read and understand the code.
4) Modify as needed.
P.S.: I tried to add this a "comment", but I don't have enough points.
