HOWTO: Get the Unread Message Count from an Outlook Folder

• Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation, Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
• Microsoft Outlook 97

SUMMARY

The following code sample demonstrates how to determine the count of all unread messages on a per folder basis for all folders grouped under a specified Microsoft Outlook folder. The sample assumes that the Microsoft Outlook mail client is installed.

MORE INFORMATION

The code below uses a recursive routine to iterate through a mail folder to produce a list of all its sub-folders and a count of corresponding unread messages. The data is then displayed in the Visual Basic Immediate Window. The code takes advantage of the UnReadItemCount property of the Outlook MAPIFolder object.

1. Open a Standard EXE project in Visual Basic.



2. Select References from the Project menu.



3. Select "Microsoft Outlook 8.0 Object Library" (msoutl8.olb), and click OK.



4. Select Project1 Properties on the Project menu and set the Startup Object to "Sub Main".



5. Select Add Module from the Project menu to add a module to the project.



6. Add the following sample code to Module1:
   
   NOTE: Modify the FOLDER_TO_OPEN constant as appropriate.




Sample Code

Option Explicit

   Private Sub Main()
      Dim olMAPI As Outlook.NameSpace
      Dim Folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
      Const FOLDER_TO_OPEN = "Mailbox - John Doe"   'Modify as appropriate

      Set olMAPI = GetObject("", "Outlook.Application") _
                              .GetNamespa   ce("MAPI")
      Call PrintFolderNames(olMAPI.Folders(FOLDER_TO_OPEN), "->")
      Set olMAPI = Nothing
   End Sub

   Sub PrintFolderNames(tempfolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, a$)
      Dim i As Integer
      If tempfolder.Folders.Count Then
         Debug.Print a$ & " " & tempfolder.Name & "  ";
         Debug.Print tempfolder.UnReadItemCount
         For i = 1 To tempfolder.Folders.Count
           Call PrintFolderNames(tempfolder.Folders(i), a$ & "->")
         Next i
      Else
         Debug.Print a$ & " " & tempfolder.Name & "  ";
         Debug.Print tempfolder.UnReadItemCount
      End If
   End Sub
 

7. Run the program.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbnokeyword kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpVBDB
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,6.0,97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto