VBA Outlook Rule call subroutine to save to disk

Question

I completely lost my VBA touch, anyone that can help, I greatly appreciate it. For outlook desktop I want to a rule that automatically moves item to a folder, marks it as read and calls a script. ( I managed to do that )

How to enable script in outlook 2016: https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/rules/outlooks-rules-and-alerts-run-a-script/ For the subroutine to be seen by Rule Wizard, the argument must by type MailItem.

The script I want to run, is to save the message identified by the rule to disk as a txt file, and for that I am using:

In the module "ThisOutlookSession" the following code ( found it on Outlook VBA macro for saving emails copies in a local folder ) :

Public Sub SaveToDiskScript(Item As Outlook.MailItem)

Const olMsg As Long = 0 '0=Text format (.txt) -> https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/outlook.olsaveastype

    Dim m As MailItem
    Dim savePath As String


    Set m = Item

    savePath = "C:\Users\im.a.pretty.user\Desktop\StorageFolder\"
    savePath = savePath & m.Subject & Format(Now(), "yyyy-mm-dd-hhNNss")
    savePath = savePath & ".txt"


    m.SaveAs savePath, olMsg


End Sub

Thank you

[What Do You Mean "It Doesn't Work"?](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/147616/what-do-you-mean-it-doesnt-work) 1) It does nothing. 2) It moves the item but does not save. 3) There is a file permission error. Consider describing the rule. — niton, Nov 15 '22 at 11:15
Set a breakpoint to verify the rule calls the code. To test further https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5029141/debugging-an-outlook-2007-script-fired-by-a-rule/58049467#58049467 — niton, Nov 15 '22 at 18:50
There is likely a mistake in the rule. Regardless a rule with a move may lose the reference to the item and not save the attachment. One alternative is [ItemAdd on the inbox with the move in the code, after the save.](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28052041/moving-outlook-message-with-specific-subject-to-subfolders) A second alternative is ItemAdd on the subfolder with the move in the rule. — niton, Nov 16 '22 at 22:59

Eugene Astafiev · Answer 1 · 2022-11-15T11:50:17.613

0

The file path passed to the SaveAs method of the MailItem class is built based on the Subject line which may contain forbidden symbols:

savePath = "C:\Users\im.a.pretty.user\Desktop\StorageFolder\"
savePath = savePath & m.Subject & Format(Now(), "yyyy-mm-dd-hhNNss")
savePath = savePath & ".txt"

I'd recommend checking whether it contains any forbidden symbols before, see What characters are forbidden in Windows and Linux directory names? for more information.

Also you may try to specify a different folder without dots in the file path.

edited Nov 15 '22 at 11:50

answered Nov 15 '22 at 09:43

Eugene Astafiev

47,483
3
24
45

hi, thank you for the suggestion, I have removed the m.Subject part and changed location to "C:\folder\" but it still doesnt work – PancakeSlapper Nov 15 '22 at 11:35
What path did you specify exactly? – Eugene Astafiev Nov 15 '22 at 11:50
savePath="C:\folder\" – PancakeSlapper Nov 15 '22 at 18:19
The system drive requires admin privileges, try choosing another disk. – Eugene Astafiev Nov 15 '22 at 18:20
Try to set a breakpoint and run your macro to see what errors could be thrown. For example, you may get the currently selected item in Outlook and pass it to the method. The Selection property of the Explorer class can be used for that. – Eugene Astafiev Nov 15 '22 at 18:22

VBA Outlook Rule call subroutine to save to disk

1 Answers1