VB and VBA in Outlook Development

VBAProject.otm

When you first open Outlook VBA, it will already have a built-in class module named ThisOutlookSession which supports an intrinsic Application object and its events. In addition to backing up the VBAProject.otm file, you might also want periodically to export the individual modules from the project and back them up, too.

You can copy the VBAProject.otm file to another user's machine but the macros won't run until the user has actually used one of the Tools | Macro commands. See Distributing Microsoft Outlook VBA Code for other thoughts and techniques on distributing VBA macros.

Also, in Outlook with the Email Security Update, macro security is set to High by default, which means that unsigned projects will not run at all. You can use the Selfcert.exe program on the Office CD to generate a local security certificate for signing the project. 

Even though you can copy the VBAProject.otm file, it's still not a supported method for distributing Outlook macros company-wide. The recommended method is to create an Outlook COM add-in.

Tools

Discussion

• OutlookCode.com forums
• microsoft.public.outlook.program_vba newsgroup at msnews.microsoft.com. Also available on the web at Microsoft and, with years worth of archives to search, at  Google Groups
• OUTLOOK-DEV discussion list

Techniques

• Syntax for Microsoft Outlook property and control values and events
• Ten Tips for Microsoft Office VBA Library Development -- VBA basics
• Working with Members of an Items Collection
• Calling a VBA Procedure from VBScript
• OL2000 Programming Examples for Referencing Items and Folders
• OL2000 How to Programmatically Set a Form's From Field
• OL2002 How To Create A Solution That Runs at Set Time Interval
• To generate an ID number for an Outlook item

"Object model guard" security prompts

• Microsoft Outlook "Object Model Guard" Security Issues for Developers
• Outlook E-mail Security Update
• OL2002- VBA Code Does Not Run, or Causes Security Warning to Appear
•  How to avoid security prompts in Visual Basic programs for Outlook
• How to Prevent the VBA Macro Security Warning in Outlook 2000

Working with toolbars and menus:

• Programming Microsoft Office Command Bars -- basics, but not Outlook specifics
• More Programming with Microsoft Office Command Bars -- Outlook specifics and advanced techniques
• Built-In Outlook 2000 Icon ID Map -- FaceID values and matching images for all built-in icons available for use on Outlook (or Office) toolbars.
• TIP: Fun with Outlook CommandBars -- samples for using CommandBarButton.Execute to run useful toolbar and menu commands

Also see samples under next heading.

Wrapper classes for multiple object event handling

Many Outlook applications require that multiple objects of a particular type be monitored for events, for example, monitoring multiple folders for new items or capturing the Write for all ContactItem objects. The solution is to use a wrapper class. These examples show how:

• Items Command Bar -- wrapper class for Explorer objects
• Inspector wrapper sample
• EventCollection Class v2.0 -- General solution, using the IConnectionPoint and IConnectionPointContainer interfaces to receive events from objects added to a collection
• CommandBar & ExplorerWrapper c# example
• C# AddIn sample: InspectorWrapper & CommandBar
• Creating an Outlook My.Blogs Managed Code Add-in -- Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office sample that shows how to manage toolbars for multiple Explorer windows

Drag and drop:

• Get dropped attachments from Outlook messages
• Getting attachments from Outlook messages dropped on a form
• Saving attachments of Outlook messages when the attachments are dropped

Tutorials

• The Super-Easy Guide to the Microsoft Outlook Object Model  
• Making Microsoft Outlook Useful - quick introduction to working with folders and messages
• Using VBA in Outlook -- from Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Inside Out
• Using VBA to Manage Your Outlook Email Attachments
• Microsoft Outlook VBA Tutorial -- eBook that demonstrates the general use of VBA text, string and email handling functions

Samples

• Member-supplied samples at OutlookCode.com
• More OutlookCode.com samples

Basics:

• ACC2000 How to Use Automation to Create a New Contact Item in Microsoft Outlook
• ACC2000 How to Use Automation to Add Appointments to Microsoft Outlook
• ACC: Using Automation to Add a Task/Reminder to MS Outlook
• OFFXP Microsoft Office XP Automation Help File Available - includes samples for importing from Access with DAO, creating a new folder, creating new items, etc.

More at Microsoft: 

• OL2002 How to Programmatically Update Company Names
• OL2002 How to Programmatically Set Journaling for All Contacts
• OL2002 How to Programmatically Search a Folder Tree
• OL2002 How to Programmatically Find a User's Next Available Free Time
• How to Send Outlook Reminders to a Pager
• Developing Integrated Office Solutions -- Shows how to fill a list box with the names of all contacts and extract the address from the contact the user selects.  
• OL2000: How to Prevent Changes to the Outlook Bar
• HOWTO: VB: Detect Deleted Appointments in a Recurring Series with Outlook Object Model
• Working with Files, Folders, and Drives -- covers both VBA and Microsoft Scripting Runtime Object Library methods
• HOWTO OL2000 Work with Linked Contacts of Outlook Items Using the Outlook Object Model - Visual Basic
• Deleting Multiple Junk E-mail Messages in Outlook 2002 -- demonstrates how to use the FileSystemObject for text file manipulation
• XL2002 How to Send a Range of Cells Using VBA -- using the MailEnvelope object
• Office Developer Center Viewing Multiple Picture Attachments in Outlook 2003 -- Outlook MVP Eric Legault uses VBA to make it easy to view all the pictures attached to a message.

From other resources:

• Code Samples -- stripping attachments and other samples, from Slovaktech.com, including an Inspectors wrapper class
• Klemid's Tools -- Samples to send messages without leaving a trace in Sent Items, build a toolbar drop-down list with favorite recipients you've marked with a category in Contacts, and more
• Personal Message Store Export Utility
• Insert Outlook contact information into Word documents
• Overcome Email Overload - Visual Basic Macros -- macros to move items to an Inbox subfolder in one click
• How to get in code the filenames of your Outlook Personal Folder (pst) files
• How to send an email from Word using VBA -- both routing slip and Outlook automation solutions
• VBA procedure to manage contacts in Outlook from an Access project
• Applying Outlook Stationery to more than just new messages -- VBA sample from Outlook MVP Eric Legault

Problems

• OL2000 ItemRemove Event Does Not Run in Some Scenarios -- suggests using FolderChange as a workaround
• OL2000: ItemAdd Event Doesn't Fire in Some Scenarios
• OL2000 The NewInspector Event May Not Fire For a Single Occurrence of a Recurring Appointment -- hotfix available
• The Outlook Object Model Does Not Add or Remove Contacts to Your Distribution List -- hotfix available
• OL2000 (IMO) You Cannot Programmatically Add an E-mail Address to a Distribution List
• OL2000- Remove Method Does Not Remove Attachments
• OL2000 The AttachmentRead Event Does Not Run -- fixed in Outlook 2002
• OL2000 The ItemSend Event Does Not Run in Visual Basic for Applications -- WordMail problem, fixed in Outlook 2002
• OL2002 SelectionChange Event Runs When Switching Folders -- not so much a problem as unexpected behavior
• OL2002 Selection Collection Empty If Grouped Items Selected
• OL2002 Incorrect Count Property Using Recurring Appointments
• OL2002 The GetFreeBusy Method Returns Incorrect Results
• OL2000 Shortcut That Is Removed from the Outlook Bar Reappears When You Restart Outlook - hotfix available
• The RemoteStatus Property Forces Items to Download
• INFO Problems That May Cause Error 429 When You Automate Office Applications

For other version-specific issues, including fixes in various service packs, see:

• Microsoft Outlook 2003 Problems for Developers
• Microsoft Outlook 2002 Problems for Developers
• Microsoft Outlook 2000 Problems for Developers

More Information

• Outlook Developer Portal on MSDN
• All Code Solutions To MS Outlook -- commercial code library
• Working with Strings and Dates: VBA Tips and Tricks

Outlook 2003:

• Office 2003 Editions- Outlook VBA Language Reference - compiled Help file

Outlook 2002:

• OL2002 Documentation Errors in Outlook Visual Basic Help
• OL2002 Available Values for the InternetCodePage Property
• Microsoft Outlook 2002 Object Model Constants

Outlook 2000:

• Microsoft Outlook 2000 Visual Basic Reference 
• Outlook 2000 VBA Programmers Reference - basic guide to working with Outlook folders

Outlook 97/98:

• Visual Basic Help File for Outlook 97
• Errors in Outlook 97 Visual Basic Help