Foward a Message and CC the Original Recipients

A visitor to the Microsoft Answers forum asked about forwarding a message and automatically CCing the message to the original recipients. While I would use Reply All and add the new person's address to the message, it is possible to do this using VBA. This quick macro shows how.

You'll need to create a button on the ribbon or QAT for the macro. While you could use a different method and watch for the Forward button to be clicked, that method would hijack all forwards. This method works only on the messages you want to use it on. Note that, as written, this macro will include your address in the message. To avoid this problem, you would need to test the recipients and remove your address.

As always, macro security needs to be set to low.

Open the VBA editor using Alt+F11, right-click on Project1, choose Insert > Module. Paste the code in the new module. Create a ribbon or QAT button for the macro.

Select a message and run the code.

Public Sub ForwardwithCC()
Dim strRecip As String
Dim objMsg, oMail As MailItem
 

' For a reply or reply all, replace forward  with Reply or ReplyAll
Set objMsg = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1).Forward
 
If TypeName(ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)) = "MailItem" Then
 Set oMail = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)
  
 On Error Resume Next
 
For Each Recipient In oMail.Recipients
 strRecip = Recipient.Address & ";" & strRecip
Next Recipient
 
 objMsg.CC = strRecip & ";" & oMail.SenderEmailAddress
  objMsg.Display
 
Else
 
End If
 
Set objMsg = Nothing
End Sub

Karim's version of the code

Karim posted a modified code sample in the comments that exclude your own address, using an extra If statement. He also added the the Recipients to the To field, instead of CC and changed the subject form "FW" to "RE".

Public Sub ReplyToAllWithAttachment()

Dim strRecip As String
Dim objMsg, oMail As MailItem

Dim user As String
 
' For a reply or reply all, replace forward  with Reply or ReplyAll
Set objMsg = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1).Forward
  
    If TypeName(ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)) = "MailItem" Then
    
      Set oMail = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)
     
      On Error Resume Next
    
      user = Application.Session.CurrentUser
    
      For Each Recipient In oMail.Recipients
          If Recipient = user Then
              GoTo 1:
          Else
              strRecip = Recipient.Address & ";" & strRecip
          End If
1:     Next Recipient
    
       objMsg.To = strRecip & ";" & oMail.SenderEmailAddress
       'change subject FW -->; RE
       objMsg.Subject = "RE: " & Mid(objMsg.Subject, 5)
       objMsg.Display
  
    End If
  
    Set objMsg = Nothing
    
End Sub

How to use the macros on this page

First: You need to have macro security set to the lowest setting, Enable all macros during testing. The macros will not work with the top two options that disable all macros or unsigned macros. You could choose the option Notification for all macros, then accept it each time you restart Outlook, however, because it's somewhat hard to sneak macros into Outlook (unlike in Word and Excel), allowing all macros is safe, especially during the testing phase. You can sign the macro when it is finished and change the macro security to notify.

To check your macro security in Outlook 2010 and newer, go to File, Options, Trust Center and open Trust Center Settings, and change the Macro Settings. In Outlook 2007 and older, look 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.

Macros that run when Outlook starts or automatically need to be in ThisOutlookSession, all other macros should be put in a module, but most will also work if placed in ThisOutlookSession. (It's generally recommended to keep only the automatic macros in ThisOutlookSession and use modules for all other macros.) The instructions are below.

The macros on this page should be placed in a module.

Open the VBA Editor by pressing Alt+F11 on your keyboard.

To put the code in a module:

1. Right click on Project1 and choose Insert > Module
2. Copy and paste the macro into the new module.

More information as well as screenshots are at How to use the VBA Editor