Remove prefix from Gmail meeting invitations

Several people asked me how to remove the word "Invitation:" from the subject of Gmail invitations, as it takes up a lot of space on Outlook's calendar, making it difficult to see the appointment subject.

How can I remove the word 'Invitation' from every appointment that originated as an invite from a Google calendar?

After installing the macro, new and updated meeting subjects will have "Invitation:" and "Updated invitation:" removed from the subject.

Option Explicit
Private objNS As Outlook.NameSpace
Private WithEvents objItems As Outlook.Items

Private Sub Application_Startup()
 
Dim objWatchFolder As Outlook.Folder
Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")

'Set the folder and items to watch:
Set objWatchFolder = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderCalendar)
Set objItems = objWatchFolder.Items

Set objWatchFolder = Nothing
End Sub

Private Sub objItems_ItemAdd(ByVal Item As Object)
Dim strTemp As String
'Debug.Print Item.Subject
strTemp = LCase(Item.Subject)
If InStr(LCase(Item.Subject), "invitation: ") > 0 Then
      strTemp = Replace(strTemp, "Invitation: ", "")
      'Debug.Print strTemp
      Item.Subject = strTemp
      Item.Save
End If

End Sub

Private Sub objItems_ItemChange(ByVal Item As Object)

Dim strTemp As String
'Debug.Print Item.Subject, "change"
If InStr(Item.Subject, "invitation: ") > 0 Then
      strTemp = Replace(Item.Subject, "Updated invitation: ", "")
      'Debug.Print strTemp
      Item.Subject = strTemp
      Item.Save
End If

End Sub

Remove Prefix from Existing Appointments

To remove Invitation from existing appointments, we'll use a version of the macro at Copy: is prefixed to the Subject of a Meeting.

Put this macro in a module, select the calendar the Gmail invitations are on then run the macro. It will remove Invitation: and Updated invitation from the meeting subjects.

Sub FixExistingAppts()
Dim myolApp As Outlook.Application
Dim calendar As MAPIFolder
Dim Item As Object

Set myolApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set calendar = myolApp.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder

Dim iItemsUpdated As Integer
Dim strTemp As String

iItemsUpdated = 0
For Each Item In calendar.Items
    If InStr(1, LCase(Item.Subject), "invitation: ") > 0 Then

      strTemp = Replace(Item.Subject, "Updated invitation: ", "")
      strTemp = Replace(strTemp, "Invitation: ", "")
      Item.Subject = strTemp
      iItemsUpdated = iItemsUpdated + 1
    Item.Save
    End If
    
Next Item

MsgBox iItemsUpdated & " of " & calendar.Items.Count & " Meetings Updated"

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 need to go into ThisOutlookSession (unless otherwise marked).

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

To put the macro code in ThisOutlookSession:

1. Expand Project1 and double click on ThisOutlookSession.
2. Copy then paste the macro into ThisOutlookSession. (Click within the code, Select All using Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste.)

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