A user in our Outlook Forums wanted to know how to filter and delete contacts that contain addresses that bounce. While Outlook doesn't have an automated method for deleting contacts that contain bad addresses, you can use VBA to add a category to the contacts. I recommend adding a category and manually deleting the contacts (or move them to a folder, if you want to keep a history). If you want to delete contacts using a macro, you need to loop backwards, otherwise you'll skip some matches.
Note: the code as written replaces the categories on a contact. To add a category while keeping the existing categories, use myItem.Categories = myItem.Categories & ";Bounced"
If you use Outlook to manage mailing list, you can use the macro to unsubscribe contacts by changing it to use the sender's address.
Categorize Contacts from non-delivery reports
This code sample grabs addresses from non-delivery reports (NDR). It gets the first email address in a message body, such as you'd find in an NDR then looks up the contact and adds a color category.
To use it, select the NDR reports and run the macro.
Sub GetValueUsingRegEx3() Dim obj As Object Dim Selection As Selection Dim olMail As Object 'Outlook.MailItem Dim Reg1 As Object Dim M1 As Object Dim M As Object Dim strAddress As String Dim myContacts As Items Dim myItem As ContactItem Set Selection = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection Set myContacts = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts).Items For Each obj In Selection Set olMail = obj Set Reg1 = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp") With Reg1 .Pattern = "(([\w-\.]*\@[\w-\.]*)\s*)" .IgnoreCase = True .Global = False End With If Reg1.test(olMail.Body) Then Set M1 = Reg1.Execute(olMail.Body) For Each M In M1 strAddress = M.SubMatches(1) Debug.Print strAddress Set myItem = myContacts.Find("[Email1Address]=" & strAddress) If TypeName(myItem) = "ContactItem" Then If Not TypeName(myItem) = "Nothing" Then myItem.Categories = myItem.Categories & ";Delete" Debug.Print strAddress & " Delete" myItem.Save End If End If Next End If Next End Sub
Categorize Sender's Contacts
This version of the macro gets the Sender's email address, finds sender's contact and adds a category to it. Use this to process unsubscription requests.
To use select messages and run the macro.
Public Sub FindCaontactChange() Dim Selection As Selection Dim currentItem As Object Dim objMail As Object Dim strAddress As String Dim myContacts As Items Dim myItem As ContactItem Set Selection = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection Set myContacts = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts).Items On Error Resume Next For Each objMail In Selection strAddress = objMail.SenderEmailAddress Debug.Print strAddress Set myItem = myContacts.Find("[Email1Address]=" & strAddress) If TypeName(myItem) = "ContactItem" Then If Not TypeName(myItem) = "Nothing" Then ' Match found myItem.Categories = "Unsubscribe" Debug.Print strAddress & " Unsubscribe" myItem.Save End If End If Err.Clear Next Set myItem = Nothing Set myContacts = Nothing Set objMail = Nothing Set currentItem = Nothing Set Selection = Nothing End Sub
Working with a string of addresses
To use this macro, you need a comma separated list of addresses. This can be a list of addresses in Excel or sender's addresses in Outlook (use a custom view containing only the email address field).
Sub DeleteaNDRContact() Dim myContacts As Items Dim myItem As ContactItem Set myContacts = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts).Items For Each myItem In myContacts Debug.Print myItem.Email1Address Select Case myItem.Email1Address Case "AccountStatus@domain.com", "alias@hotmail.com", "alias@live.com", "user@domain.net" myItem.Categories = "Bounced" myItem.Save End Select Next End Sub
How to use macros
First: You will need macro security set to low during testing.
To check your macro security in Outlook 2010 or 2013, go to File, Options, Trust Center and open Trust Center Settings, and change the Macro Settings. In Outlook 2007 and older, itâs at Tools, Macro Security.
After you test the macro and see that it works, you can either leave macro security set to low or sign the macro.
Open the VBA Editor by pressing Alt+F11 on your keyboard.
To put the code in a module:
- Right click on Project1 and choose Insert > Module
- Copy and paste the macro into the new module.
More information as well as screenshots are at How to use the VBA Editor