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Pick Contacts using VBA

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› Developer › Pick Contacts using VBA

Last reviewed on April 6, 2016     5 Comments

Use the following VBA code to create a contact picker to link contacts to tasks. You can change the code to allow for a manual pick of contacts folder, ie not hardcoded. If you have contacts stored in another folder, this change will make it easier to use.

Open Outlook's Folder Picker
To use a folder picker with other macros, use this code snippet to bring up the dialog:

Dim objApp As Application
Dim objNS As NameSpace
Dim objFolder As MAPIFolder

Set objApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set objNS = objApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set objFolder = objNS.PickFolder

Reconnect Links Macro

Sub ReconnectLinks()
    Dim objApp As Application
  Dim objNS As NameSpace
  Dim objFolder As MAPIFolder
  Dim colItems As Items
  Dim objItem As Object
  Dim colLinks As Links
  Dim objLink As Link
  Dim colContacts As Items
  Dim objContact As ContactItem
  Dim strFind As String
  Dim intCount As Integer
  Dim myFolder1 As MAPIFolder


  Set objApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
  Set objNS = objApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
  'set contacts folder
  Set myFolder1 = objNS.PickFolder
  'set tasks folder
  Set objFolder = objNS.PickFolder
  If TypeName(objFolder) <> "Nothing" Then
    'Set colContacts = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts).Items     
    Set colContacts = myFolder1.Items
    Set colItems = objFolder.Items
    For Each objItem In colItems

      Set colLinks = objItem.Links
      intCount = colLinks.Count
      If intCount > 0 Then
        For i = intCount To 1 Step -1
          Set objLink = colLinks.Item(i)
          On Error Resume Next

          If objLink.Item Is Nothing Then

            strFind = "[FullName] = " & AddQuotes(objLink.Name)
            Set objContact = colContacts.Find(strFind)

            If Not objContact Is Nothing Then
            ' remove the old link
            colLinks.Remove i
            ' add the replacement link
            colLinks.Add objContact
            End If
          End If
        Next
        If Not objItem.Saved Then
          objItem.Save
        End If
      End If
    Next
  End If

  Set objLink = Nothing
  Set colLinks = Nothing
  Set objItem = Nothing
  Set objItems = Nothing
  Set objFolder = Nothing
  Set objNS = Nothing
    Set objApp = Nothing
End Sub

Private Function AddQuotes(MyText) As String
    AddQuotes = Chr(34) & MyText & Chr(34)
End Function
Pick Contacts using VBA was last modified: April 6th, 2016 by Diane Poremsky
Post Views: 36

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  • To automatically add recipients to Contacts in Outlook using VBA
  • Choosing the Folder to Save a Sent Message In
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About Diane Poremsky

A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999, Diane is the author of several books, including Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginners Book. She also created 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.

Comments

  1. Jay says

    November 18, 2023 at 1:22 am

    I am use VBA to open word document, however ActiveDocument was not show.

    Reply
  2. DoraK says

    September 6, 2016 at 3:46 am

    hi Diane,

    could you please assist?

    I would like to link my contacts with their emails and see the emails within contact's form.

    (I use a custom form for my contacts, called: "0A-Contacts-text", which is stored into:"outlook:\\ΕΠΑΦΕΣ 1 ΦΕΒ 2015\*0 ΕΠΑΦΕΣ-new ALL.)".

    In this form i have put a nickname for each one contact, which matches with a custom field named: "PERSON" in each one email, into the folder: "outlook:\\**007-LIVESTOCK-final\*NEW-all in one folder"

    Reply
    • Diane Poremsky says

      January 19, 2017 at 3:47 pm

      If you use 2010 or up, enabling the people pane might be easier - it will show mssages to/from the contact in a small pane at the bottom of the contact, similar to the old Activites feature. Otherwise, you need to use find or restrict to look them up. The old Outlook view control might work too.

      Reply
  3. Claud says

    April 15, 2013 at 3:20 am

    Due to the problems with Links in 2013 will this solution work in office 2013?

    Reply
    • Diane Poremsky says

      April 15, 2013 at 6:27 am

      I haven't tested it yet, but I am assuming that it won't.

      Reply

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