Add a keyword to the subject of all messages sent

Last reviewed on January 31, 2013

Lili wanted to know how to create a macro that will add "Privacy" to the subject of every message she sends, if privacy is not already in the subject.

This is easy using an ItemSend event. My code looks for the word anywhere in the subject, to account for RE: and FW:. You could use Left(Item.Subject, 6) or Right(Item.Subject, 6) = "Privacy" if you want to look for the word at the beginning or end of the subject.

Public WithEvents myOlApp As Outlook.Application

Private Sub Application_Startup()
    Initialize_Handler
End Sub

Public Sub Initialize_handler()
    Set myOlApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
End Sub

Private Sub myOlApp_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)

 If InStr(1, Item.Subject, "Privacy", vbTextCompare) = False Then 
    Item.Subject = "Privacy " & Item.Subject
 End If
End Sub 

BCC and add a code to the subject

In this version of the macro, the user is asked if he wants to BCC the message. If yes, then he needs to add a code to the subject. If he leaves the code blank or cancels it, the message is not sent.


Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
 Dim objRecip As Recipient
 Dim strMsg As String
 Dim res As Integer
 Dim strBcc As String

 On Error Resume Next

 strBcc = "me@domain.com"
 res = MsgBox("BCC this message?", vbYesNo + vbDefaultButton1, _
 "BCC Message")

 If res = vbNo Then
   Cancel = False
 Else

 Dim strTemp As String
 Dim strFilenum As Variant

 strFilenum = InputBox("Enter the file number")

 If strFilenum = "" Then
       Cancel = True
       MsgBox "The file number was blank or you clicked Cancel." _
       & vbCrLf & "click Send and select No if you don't want to BCC & add a file number."
       Exit Sub
     Else
       strTemp = "[" & strFilenum & "] " & Item.Subject
       Item.Subject = strTemp
       Item.Save
 End If

 Set objRecip = Item.Recipients.Add(strBcc)
     objRecip.Type = olBCC

 If Not objRecip.Resolve Then
     strMsg = "Could not resolve the Bcc recipient. " & _
          "Please check the BCC Script configuration. " & _
          "Do you want still to send the message?"
     res = MsgBox(strMsg, vbYesNo + vbDefaultButton1, _
           "Could not resolve BCC")

 If res = vbNo Then
    Cancel = True
 End If
 
End If
End If

End Sub

Customize the macro

To use this macro to do other things when you send a message, remove or replace the contents of myOlApp_ItemSend macro. Remove everything from Dim... to End If and inset your code.

For example, to display the Category picker dialog when you send a message, use

 Item.ShowCategoriesDialog

ItemSend macro

How to use the macro

To use this code, open the VB editor using Alt+F11. Expand Project1 to locate ThisOutlookSession and paste the code at the top of ThisOutlookSession.

Click in the Application_Startup macro and press F5 or the Run button to kick start the macro without restarting Outlook.

Oh, and don't forget to check your macro security settings in Trust Center, Macro Security. (Tools, Macros, Security in older versions of Outlook.)

Written by

Diane Poremsky
A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999 and involved in IT support since 1985, Diane is the author of several books and video training CDs and online training classes for Microsoft Outlook. You can find her helping people online in Outlook Forums as well as in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums.