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VBA Code Sample

This code is aimed at Contact items. You can adapt it for other types of items as well. Put the code below in an Outlook VBA module and associate it with a toolbar button.

Sub StampContact() Dim objItem As Object Dim objNS As namespace Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI") Set objItem = Application.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem If objItem.Class = olContact Then objItem.body = objItem.body & vbCrLf & Now() _ & " - " & objNS.CurrentUser End If Set objItem = Nothing Set objNS = Nothing End Sub 

Command Button on a Form

With the form in design mode, add a command button from the control toolbox and, in its Properties dialog, name it cmdStampDate. Then add this code to the form:

Sub cmdStampDate_Click() Dim objNS Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI") Item.Body = Item.Body & vbCrLf & Now() _               & " - " & objNS.CurrentUser Set objNS = Nothing End Sub  

Redemption SafeInspector

This version, which can be called from VBA or VBScript as InsertDateTimeStamp True or InsertDateTime False, uses the SafeCurrentUser and SafeInspector objects from Redemption to avoid security prompts and offer a choice of inserting at the top or bottom of the item. Text inserted at the top inherits the format of the first line of text. Text inserted at the bottom inherits the format of the last line of text.

Sub InsertDateTimeStamp(blnInsertAtBottom As Boolean) ' for use in contact, appointment, journal, task bodies ' not messages ' get the SafeInspector and RTFEditor Set sInspector = CreateObject("Redemption.SafeInspector") sInspector.Item = Application.ActiveInspector Set sRTFEd = sInspector.RTFEditor ' build the date/time and user name string to stamp Set sCU = CreateObject("Redemption.SafeCurrentUser") strDateStamp = Now() & vbTab & sCU.Name ' get the top or bottom of item and stamp If Not blnInsertAtBottom Then sRTFEd.SelStart = 0 sInspector.SelText = strDateStamp & vbCrLf Else sRTFEd.SelectAll lenText = sRTFEd.SelLength sRTFEd.SelStart = lenText + 1 sInspector.SelText = vbCrLf & strDateStamp End If Set sCU = Nothing Set sRTFEd = Nothing Set sInspector = Nothing End Sub 

Notes

Reading Item.Body will trigger a security prompt in Outlook 2002 SP3.

Using Namespace.CurrentUser will trigger a security prompt in Outlook 2000 and 2002. See Listings 10.10, 12.8, and 20.7 in the sample code for my book for alternatives that don't trigger a prompt.

To expand the VBA version to other types of items besides contacts, use a Select Case or If ... End If block to check the Class property so that you know what type of item you're working with.

[FrontPage Scheduled Image Component]Unless you are working with a MailItem or PostItem and using Word as the email editor, Outlook provides no known way to control the cursor position in an Outlook item, which means you can't insert the date, then put your cursor in a particular place. This functionality is available in the SafeInspector object supported by the third-party Redemption library.

More Information

• How do I get the date stamped in my notes field? -- How to create a custom form to do this; sample available.
• Insert Date-Time -- Utility to stamp any Outlook item with your name and the date/time, in various formats and locations