How to automate Outlook by using Visual Basic

This article demonstrates how to programmatically control Microsoft Outlook using Automation from Visual Basic. The example demonstrates creating contacts, creating appointments, and sending messages by using Microsoft Outlook's object-model.

Follow the steps below to create and run the example. To run the sample, you need an early-bound reference to a Microsoft Outlook type library. The following table lists the file names of the type libraries for the different versions of Microsoft Outlook:

Building the automation sample

1. Start Visual Basic, and create a new Standard EXE project.
2. From the Project menu, choose References and select Microsoft Outlook.
3. Add a button to your form.
4. Double-click the button, and then add the following code:

    ' Start Outlook.
    ' If it is already running, you'll use the same instance...
      Dim olApp As Outlook.Application
      Set olApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
       
    ' Logon. Doesn't hurt if you are already running and logged on...
      Dim olNs As Outlook.NameSpace
      Set olNs = olApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
      olNs.Logon
   
    ' Create and Open a new contact.
      Dim olItem As Outlook.ContactItem
      Set olItem = olApp.CreateItem(olContactItem)
   
    ' Setup Contact information...
      With olItem
         .FullName = "James Smith"
         .Birthday = "9/15/1975"
         .CompanyName = "Microsoft"
         .HomeTelephoneNumber = "704-555-8888"
         .Email1Address = "someone@microsoft.com"
         .JobTitle = "Developer"
         .HomeAddress = "111 Main St." & vbCr & "Charlotte, NC 28226"
      End With
      
    ' Save Contact...
      olItem.Save
       
    ' Create a new appointment.
      Dim olAppt As Outlook.AppointmentItem
      Set olAppt = olApp.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)
       
    ' Set start time for 2-minutes from now...
      olAppt.Start = Now() + (2# / 24# / 60#)
       
    ' Setup other appointment information...
      With olAppt
         .Duration = 60
         .Subject = "Meeting to discuss plans..."
         .Body = "Meeting with " & olItem.FullName & " to discuss plans."
         .Location = "Home Office"
         .ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 1
         .ReminderSet = True
      End With
       
    ' Save Appointment...
      olAppt.Save
       
    ' Send a message to your new contact.
      Dim olMail As Outlook.MailItem
      Set olMail = olApp.CreateItem(olMailItem)
    ' Fill out & send message...
      olMail.To = olItem.Email1Address
      olMail.Subject = "About our meeting..."
      olMail.Body = _
           "Dear " & olItem.FirstName & ", " & vbCr & vbCr & vbTab & _
           "I'll see you in 2 minutes for our meeting!" & vbCr & vbCr & _
           "Btw: I've added you to my contact list."
      olMail.Send
       
    ' Clean up...
      MsgBox "All done...", vbMsgBoxSetForeground
      olNS.Logoff
      Set olNs = Nothing
      Set olMail = Nothing
      Set olAppt = Nothing
      Set olItem = Nothing
      Set olApp = Nothing
   						

5. Run the project, and click the button to run the code.

Once the code runs, you should have a new contact named "James Smith," an appointment scheduled in two minutes with a reminder to appear in one minute, and have sent a message to someone@microsoft.com. Also, because you added a birthday for your contact (9/15), a recurring event was added for your Outlook Calendar to remind you of the day.

New to Outlook 2002 are the two dialog boxes: one warning you that a program is trying to access e-mail addresses you have stored in Outlook and asking if you want to allow this, and another message to the effect that a program is trying to send e-mail. This feature will protect you from unknowingly being used by a virus that sends e-mail from your system.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information about Outlook programming resources, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: