Use VBA to create an Outlook Search Folder for Sender

One thing that really annoys me about Outlook is that I can right click on a message and do pretty much anything I might want to do, except create a search folder.

I like to create search folders for people who hire me then when the project is finished, I delete the search folder.

Find Related is slow and not persistent. Plus, looking over the list of search folders helps me remember who I'm looking for. :)

Use VBA to create an Instant search for messages from the selected contact.

VBA to the rescue (as always!) The following code creates a search folder using either the sender's display name or email address. It's an amazingly fast search. Next on my to-do list: use VBA to replace the Activities tab.

Error # -2147219964 : Cannot create folder. is trying to tell you that the folder name exists. Use the DeleteSearchFolder macro to delete it, then recreate it.

Create search folder for message sender macro

Open the VBA editor using Alt+F11, paste the code into the editor. Select a message and run the macro.

The current iteration works on the default Inbox (and subfolders) and Sent folder. It can easily be tweaked to use a selected contact:
Dim oMail As Outlook.ContactItem
strFilter = oMail.Email1Address

Updated March 11 2015: Results include messages sent to and from the sender which are in the Inbox (and subfolders) and Sent Items folder. The From filter looks for messages from the sender's email address; the To filter checks for both the email address and the sender's display name. The Search folder uses the Sender's name, not the email address.

Sub SearchFolderForSender()

On Error GoTo Err_SearchFolderForSender

Dim strFrom As String
Dim strTo As String

' get the name & email address from a selected message
Dim oMail As Outlook.MailItem
Set oMail = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)

strFrom = oMail.SenderEmailAddress
strTo = oMail.SenderName

If strFrom = "" Then Exit Sub

Dim strDASLFilter As String

' From & To fields
Const From1 As String = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0065001f"
Const From2 As String = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0042001f"
Const To1 As String = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0e04001f"
Const To2 As String = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0e03001f"

strDASLFilter = "((""" & From1 & """ CI_STARTSWITH '" & strFrom & "' OR """ & From2 & """ CI_STARTSWITH '" & strFrom & "')" & _
" OR (""" & To1 & """ CI_STARTSWITH '" & strFrom & "' OR """ & To2 & """ CI_STARTSWITH '" & strFrom & "' OR """ & To1 & """ CI_STARTSWITH '" & strTo & "' OR """ & To2 & """ CI_STARTSWITH '" & strTo & "' ))"

Debug.Print strDASLFilter

Dim strScope As String
strScope = "'Inbox', 'Sent Items'"
    
Dim objSearch As Search
Set objSearch = Application.AdvancedSearch(Scope:=strScope, Filter:=strDASLFilter, SearchSubFolders:=True, Tag:="SearchFolder")

'Save the search results to a searchfolder
objSearch.Save (strTo)

Set objSearch = Nothing

Exit Sub

Err_SearchFolderForSender:
MsgBox "Error # " & Err & " : " & Error(Err)

End Sub

Create a search folder for categories

This version of the macro creates a search folder using two categories creates a search folder using two categories. If there are more than two assigned, it uses just the first two categories (which in Outlook is the last two categories you assigned.)

If a message has more than two assigned, that message will be found as the search filter looks for category1 and category2; we can't tell it to only use those two. In the example below, the search folder that is created will find the messages with the third macro

Sub SearchFolderForCategories()

On Error GoTo Err_SearchFolderForSender

Dim strCat1 As String
Dim strCat2 As String

' get the name & email address from a selected message
Dim oMail As Outlook.MailItem
Set oMail = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)

 arr = Split(oMail.Categories, ",")
    If UBound(arr) >= 0 Then

' Check for Category
    For i = 0 To UBound(arr)
    strCat1 = arr(0)
    strCat2 = Trim(arr(1))
    Next
    End If

Dim strDASLFilter As String

strDASLFilter = "(" & """urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords""" & "= '" & strCat1 & "' AND " & """urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords""" & "= '" & strCat2 & "')"

Debug.Print strDASLFilter

Dim strScope As String
strScope = "'Inbox', 'Sent Items'"
    
Dim objSearch As Search
Set objSearch = Application.AdvancedSearch(Scope:=strScope, Filter:=strDASLFilter, SearchSubFolders:=True, Tag:="SearchFolder")

'Save the search results to a searchfolder
objSearch.Save (oMail.Categories)

Set objSearch = Nothing

Exit Sub

Err_SearchFolderForSender:
MsgBox "Error # " & Err & " : " & Error(Err)

End Sub

Delete the Search folder

To delete the search folder you created using the code above, you can use a macro such as this one.

This is a tweaked version of the macro at (Less Than) Portable Search Folders.

Sub DeleteSearchFolder()

    Dim CommonViewsEID As String
    Dim CommonViewsEIDString As String
    Dim CommonViewsFolder As Folder
    Dim ACTable As Table
    Dim oRow As Row
    Dim SFDefinitionEID As String
    Dim SFDefinitionItem As StorageItem

Dim strFilter As String
Dim oMail As Outlook.MailItem
 
Set oMail = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)
strFilter = oMail.SenderName

        
CommonViewsEID = Session.DefaultStore.PropertyAccessor.GetProperty("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x35E60102")
    CommonViewsEIDString = Session.DefaultStore.PropertyAccessor.BinaryToString(CommonViewsEID)
    Set CommonViewsFolder = Session.GetFolderFromID(CommonViewsEIDString)
    
    Set ACTable = CommonViewsFolder.GetTable("[Subject] = '" & strFilter & "'", olHiddenItems)
    
    Set oRow = ACTable.GetNextRow()
    
    If (Not (oRow Is Nothing)) Then
        SFDefinitionEID = oRow("EntryID")
        Set SFDefinitionItem = Session.GetItemFromID(SFDefinitionEID)
        SFDefinitionItem.Delete
    End If

End Sub

Searching other fields

You can search any Outlook field if you know the field name and filter code to use. The easiest way to find out what you need to replicate a filter is to create a filter in Outlook then check the SQL tab.

You can use the httpmail and mailheader namespace schemas for some fields, but some search queries, such as the sender's actual email address, need the mapi property tag.

The httpmail and mailheader schemas are listed on the following pages at MSDN: urn:schemas:httpmail: Namespace and urn:schemas:mailheader: Namespace.

To pick up a value from a different Outlook field, change the field name in
strFilter = oMail.SenderEmailAddress and change the search string used in strDASLFilter

This long filter covers the common search fields.

strDASLFilter = """urn:schemas:httpmail:fromname"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " + _ 
"OR ""urn:schemas:httpmail:textdescription"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " + _ 
"OR ""urn:schemas:httpmail:displaycc"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""urn:schemas:httpmail:displayto"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""urn:schemas:httpmail:subject"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""urn:schemas:httpmail:thread-topic"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/received_by_name"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/id/{00062008-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/8586001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/id/{00062008-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/85a4001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/id/{00062041-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/8904001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " + "OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0e03001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0e04001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0042001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " + "OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0044001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' " +  _ 
"OR ""http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x0065001f"" LIKE '%" & strFilter & "%' "