To search for an e-mail address in Contacts

Both the Find and Advanced Find features in Outlook search only the display name portion of an e-mail address. They do not search the underlying address itself. This Outlook VBA sample opens the first contact in the Contacts folder that matches the address that you type into the InputBox popup.

Code Sample

Sub FindEmailAddressInContacts() Dim objApp As Application Dim objNS As NameSpace Dim objContacts As MAPIFolder Dim colItems As Items Dim objItem As Object Dim strAddress As String Dim strWhere As String Dim blnFound As Boolean ' get folder to search Set objApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application") Set objNS = objApp.GetNamespace("MAPI") Set objContacts = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts) strWhere = "[Email1Address] <> vbNullString " & _ "Or [Email2Address] <> vbNullString " & _ "Or [Email3Address] <> vbNullString " Set colItems = objContacts.Items.Restrict(strWhere) ' get address to search for strAddress = InputBox("Find an Address in Contacts") If strAddress <> "" Then colItems.SetColumns ("Email1Address, Email2Address, Email3Address") For Each objItem In colItems ' must test for item type to avoid distribution lists If TypeName(objItem) = "ContactItem" Then If InStr(objItem.Email1Address, strAddress) > 0 Then objItem.Display blnFound = True Exit For ElseIf InStr(objItem.Email2Address, strAddress) > 0 Then objItem.Display blnFound = True Exit For ElseIf InStr(objItem.Email3Address, strAddress) > 0 Then objItem.Display blnFound = True Exit For End If End If Next End If If Not blnFound Then MsgBox "Not Found" End If Set objItem = Nothing Set colItems = Nothing Set objContacts = Nothing Set objNS = Nothing Set objApp = Nothing End Sub

Notes

The code uses two devices to improve performance -- the Restrict method to narrow the search only to those items with e-mail addresses and the SetColumns method to restrict the active data set to the three e-mail address fields that we want to search.

This sample returns only the first matching contact. To return all matches, you might use a VBA form with a list box on it that includes each matching contact's EntryID in a hidden column. You could then use the GetItemFromID method to open the item selected in the list box.

More Information

VB and VBA in Microsoft Outlook -- basics for VBA novices


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