VBA download attachments from mails since certain date

Question

I am trying to write simple code to download outlook attachments and save them in disk folder. I have found one that works very well. However, I need to add another If so that only email SINCE certain date are saved. I am trying to use ReceivedTime property and date variable (defined as rec_date). Unfortunately, I keep getting error 438:

Here is my code:

Option Explicit

Private Sub btn_extractemails_Click()

Dim OlApp As Object
Dim OlMail As Object
Dim OlItems As Object
Dim OlFolder As Object
Dim j As Integer
Dim strFolder As String
Dim rec_date As Date

 

Set OlApp = GetObject(, "Outlook.Application")

If Err.Number = 429 Then
    Set OlApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
End If


strFolder = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Extract_test"
rec_date = #8/17/2022#

Set OlFolder = OlApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").Folders("Folder1").Folders("Folder2").Folders("Folder3") '

Set OlItems = OlFolder.Items
OlItems.Sort "[ReceivedTime]"

For Each OlMail In OlItems

If OlMail.ReceivedTime >= rec_date Then
    If OlMail.Attachments.Count > 0 Then
        For j = 1 To OlMail.Attachments.Count
            OlMail.Attachments.Item(j).SaveAsFile strFolder & "\" & OlMail.Attachments.Item(j).Filename
       Next j
   End If
End If
Next

 

Set OlFolder = Nothing
Set OlItems = Nothing
Set OlMail = Nothing
Set OlApp = Nothing

 
End Sub

According to debugger the If OlMail.ReceivedTime >= rec_date Then is the line that gives the error. I wanted to keep my code as simple as possible but any working solution is welcome.

What might be important to note: this error appears even when I do simple some_date_variable = OlMail.ReceivedTime (same for .SentOn) in my code.

have you tried making your `recdate` a date time? `dd/mm/yyyy 00:00:00` — Nathan_Sav, Aug 23 '22 at 12:45
I don't think those are the answers. I am doing something wrong: it appears `OlMail` does not have either `ReceivedTime` or `SentOn` property. The error appears even if i try to store it like a variable: `some_date_variable = OlMail.ReceivedTime` (same for `.SentOn`). I think something is wrong with the way certain objects are named, but can`t figure oue what. — Alexandros, Aug 23 '22 at 14:20
Intellisense won't show for these as you've defined them as object. — Nathan_Sav, Aug 23 '22 at 15:11
Verify that the object is a mailitem before attempting to return mailitem properties. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78924/when-is-a-mailitem-not-a-mailitem — niton, Aug 23 '22 at 15:41

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 23 '22 at 16:16

Your code is assuming there can be only MailItem objects in the folder. A ReportItem object for one does not expose the ReceivedTime property.

You must first check that the Class property (all OOM objects expose it) equals 43 (OlObjectClass.olMail).

Secondly, do not loop through all items in a folder checking for a condition, let the store provider do the work - use Find/FindNext or Restrict with a restriction like "[ReceivedTime] > '8/17/2022' "

VBA download attachments from mails since certain date

1 Answers1