Question

a task was thrown in my lap that requires me to:

1. Iterate through many (1000’s) of message folders in outlook 2010
2. for each folder in a specific subfolder, right click a menu, select export as pdf (this is a plugin “DocumentExporter”), and click the ok button

I use outlook rarely, so I’ve never automated it to this extent. I see you can do it with vba, and also potentially .net (i’ve installed the .net programmability extensions)

Any suggestions on the quickest way to go about this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I do not have Outlook here so the following is air-code.

Sub DoIt()
  Recurse ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder ' select relevant folder in Outlook first
End Sub

Sub Recurse(f as MAPIFolder)
  Dim sf As MAPIFolder

  PrintPdf

  For Each sf In f.Folders
    ' open a potential sub-tree of folders, and move down one folder in the UI
    SendKeys "{RIGHT}{PAUSE 100}{DOWN}"
    Recurse sf
  Next f
End Sub

Sub PrintPdf()
  ' open the context menu, go down 4 entries, press enter, wait 10 seconds
  SendKeys "{APP}{PAUSE 100}{DOWN 4}{ENTER}{PAUSE 10000}"
End Sub

I have no idea if this will work, it’s just an idea. Make sure that Outlook is in foreground while running this (by assigning the DoIt() routine to a custom toolbar button). The starting folder must be selected before you begin.