Copy message body with formatting from Outlook to Word.

microsoft.public.office.developer.outlook.vba

20 Mar 2009 9:30 PM

wpilgri88

I am new to Outlook VBA (experienced with Excel) and am trying to
develop a custom print style for Outlook 2003 as layed out in MS Press
"Outlook 2003 Inside Out" Chapter 26.

I've made a word document template with several text fields that I am
populating with information from VBA. It works pretty slick except
for the fact that the message body is being copied from Outlook to
Word as simple text using the .Body property. This looks pretty bad
when there is formatting (tables, etc) in the email.

I am struggling to find a method to copy the message body from an
outlook message item into a word field including the formatting. I am
fumbling with the .WordEditor property but getting nowhere. Can
someone please shed some light on how I can accomplish the copying
with formatting task?

Thank You

23 Mar 2009 1:08 PM

Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]

WordEditor is a Word.Document object. It only applies if WordMail is being
used, otherwise it's null.

The HTMLBody property of the item will have all the formatting, but it's
HTML that includes formatting tags in addition to the actual text. You can
grab HTMLBody, but that also includes all sorts of header information and
other HTML that you may or may not want to capture. If you don't want that
stuff you need to get HTMLBody as a string value and parse it using string
functions to only use the parts between the <body> </body> tags.

One method that can be used is to take the item and save it using the SaveAs
method as an HTML file. You can then open that file using Word, as a
separate Document object, and manipulate things that way.

One other thing to bear in mind is the capacity of whatever field you are
using to place the data from the item into Word. A large amount of text may
be more than the capacity of whatever you are using as the marker for that
data.

--
Ken Slovak
[MVP - Outlook]
http://www.slovaktech.com
Author: Professional Programming Outlook 2007.
Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options.
http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm

<wpilgr***@gmail.com> wrote in message

Show quoteHide quote

news:8e129634-4fa5-46dc-851d-c8393669adb8@j3g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
>I am new to Outlook VBA (experienced with Excel) and am trying to
> develop a custom print style for Outlook 2003 as layed out in MS Press
> "Outlook 2003 Inside Out" Chapter 26.
>
> I've made a word document template with several text fields that I am
> populating with information from VBA. It works pretty slick except
> for the fact that the message body is being copied from Outlook to
> Word as simple text using the .Body property. This looks pretty bad
> when there is formatting (tables, etc) in the email.
>
> I am struggling to find a method to copy the message body from an
> outlook message item into a word field including the formatting. I am
> fumbling with the .WordEditor property but getting nowhere. Can
> someone please shed some light on how I can accomplish the copying
> with formatting task?
>
> Thank You

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23 Mar 2009 2:45 PM

wpilgri88

On Mar 23, 7:08 am, "Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]"
<kenslo***@mvps.org> wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

> WordEditor is a Word.Document object. It only applies if WordMail is being
> used, otherwise it's null.
>
> The HTMLBody property of the item will have all the formatting, but it's
> HTML that includes formatting tags in addition to the actual text. You can
> grab HTMLBody, but that also includes all sorts of header information and
> other HTML that you may or may not want to capture. If you don't want that
> stuff you need to get HTMLBody as a string value and parse it using string
> functions to only use the parts between the <body> </body> tags.
>
> One method that can be used is to take the item and save it using the SaveAs
> method as an HTML file. You can then open that file using Word, as a
> separate Document object, and manipulate things that way.
>
> One other thing to bear in mind is the capacity of whatever field you are
> using to place the data from the item into Word. A large amount of text may
> be more than the capacity of whatever you are using as the marker for that
> data.
>
> --
> Ken Slovak
> [MVP - Outlook]http://www.slovaktech.com
> Author: Professional Programming Outlook 2007.
> Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options.http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm
>
> <wpilgr***@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:8e129634-4fa5-46dc-851d-c8393669adb8@j3g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
>
> >I am new to Outlook VBA (experienced with Excel) and am trying to
> > develop a custom print style for Outlook 2003 as layed out in MS Press
> > "Outlook 2003 Inside Out" Chapter 26.
>
> > I've made a word document template with several text fields that I am
> > populating with information from VBA. It works pretty slick except
> > for the fact that the message body is being copied from Outlook to
> > Word as simple text using the .Body property. This looks pretty bad
> > when there is formatting (tables, etc) in the email.
>
> > I am struggling to find a method to copy the message body from an
> > outlook message item into a word field including the formatting. I am
> > fumbling with the .WordEditor property but getting nowhere. Can
> > someone please shed some light on how I can accomplish the copying
> > with formatting task?
>
> > Thank You

Well, I got something working over the weekend for RTF format email.
This is not an elegant or polished solution but it works well for me.

Sub PrintCustomMessageFormat()
'Modification to Outlook 2003 Inside Out Code sample

'Set up objects
    Dim strTemplate As String
    Dim objWord As Word.Application
    Dim objDocs As Word.Documents
    Dim objWordDocEditor As Word.Document
    Dim mybklist As Word.Bookmarks

    Dim objApp As Application
    Dim objItem As MailItem
    Dim objFolder As MAPIFolder 'WP
    Dim objNS As NameSpace

    Dim folderName As String
    Dim strAttachments As String
    'Create a Word document and current message item object
    Set objApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")

    Set objNS = objApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
    'Check to ensure Outlook item is selected

    If TypeName(objApp.ActiveInspector) = "Nothing" Then
        MsgBox "Message not open. Exiting", vbOKOnly + vbInformation,
"Outlook Inside Out"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    Set objItem = objApp.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
    'WP: Add to get current folder
    Set objFolder = objApp.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder

    folderName = objFolder.FolderPath
    If objItem.Attachments.Count <> 0 Then
        For Each Attachment In objItem.Attachments
                strAttachments = strAttachments + Attachment.FileName
+ vbCrLf

        Next
    End If

    Set objWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
    strTemplate = "r:\EmailCustomPrintFormat2.dot"
    Set objDocs = objWord.Documents
    objDocs.Add strTemplate
    Set mybklist = objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks
    'Fill in the form
    objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Subject").Select
    objWord.Selection.TypeText CStr(objItem.Subject)

    objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("From").Select
    objWord.Selection.TypeText CStr(objItem.SenderName)
    objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("DateSent").Select
    objWord.Selection.TypeText CStr(objItem.SentOn)
    objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Received").Select
    objWord.Selection.TypeText CStr(objItem.ReceivedTime)
    objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("To").Select
    objWord.Selection.TypeText CStr(objItem.To)

    objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("folderName").Select
    objWord.Selection.TypeText CStr(folderName)

    objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Attachments").Select
    objWord.Selection.TypeText strAttachments

    objWord.Visible = True

    If objItem.GetInspector.EditorType = olEditorWord Then
        'Word format email so try to copy with formatting
        'http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=31
        'http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212682
        Set objWordDocEditor = objItem.GetInspector.WordEditor
        objWordDocEditor.Range.Copy
        objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Body").Select
        'objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Body").Range.InsertAfter
(vbCrLf)
        ' overwrites whole doc objWord.ActiveDocument.Range.Paste
        objWord.Selection.Paste
        'objWord.Selection.FormattedText = objWordDocEditor.Range
    Else
        objWord.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Body").Select
        objWord.Selection.TypeText objItem.Body

    End If

    If MsgBox("Continue?", vbYesNo, "Continue") = vbYes Then

        'Print and exit
        objWord.PrintOut Background:=True
        'Process other system events until printing is finished
        While objWord.BackgroundPrintingStatus
            DoEvents
        Wend
    End If

    objWord.Quit SaveChanges:=wdvbaDoNotSaveChanges

    'WP additions
    Set objWord = Nothing
    Set objApp = Nothing

End Sub