New Outlook AppleScript

Questions & Suggestions
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1

Hi KM community,
It seems that Support for AppleScript in the New Outlook for Mac is now available. Does anyone have some scripts or know where to find informations about this?

Thanks,
Bruno

2

Unless they made a metric shedload of other changes -- New Outlook probably still sucks, so I'm sticking to Old for now...

But it's very likely that they've re-implemented what was previously there (minus the still-missing features) so previous scripts/techniques are still valid. Is there something particular you are trying to do, or are just looking for general tips and tricks?

1 Like
3

The more relevant scritps for my workflows are send message to DevonThink, to Omnifocus creating tasks and download message.

I have already some but I get errors handling the messages.

Thanks for the help.

4

Here's a couple of send examples. The first will activate Outlook and leave the message open so you can check before sending:

set msgContent to "Hello World!"
set theAddress to "example@example.com"

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
	activate
	set theAccount to the first exchange account whose full name contains "Nige_S"
	set newMsg to make new outgoing message with properties {account:theAccount, subject:"Let's send an email!", plain text content:msgContent}
	make new recipient at newMsg with properties {email address:{address:theAddress}}
	open newMsg
end tell

This one will send in the background, without intervention:

set msgContent to "Hello World!"
set theAddress to "example@example.com"

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
	set theAccount to the first exchange account whose full name contains "Nige_S"
	set newMsg to make new outgoing message with properties {account:theAccount, subject:"Let's send an email!", plain text content:msgContent}
	make new recipient at newMsg with properties {email address:{address:theAddress}}
	send newMsg
end tell

As you can see, they follow the same general format -- make a new outgoing message, set its properties, open or send the message. I need the first account line because I have multiple Exchange accounts -- YMMV.

Do you mean "Save As..." to disk? This will save the selected message(s) to your Desktop folder:

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
	set selectedMsgs to the selection
	if class of selectedMsgs is not list then set selectedMsgs to {selectedMsgs}
	repeat with eachMsg in selectedMsgs
		save eachMsg in alias "Macintosh HD:Users:Nige_S:Desktop"
	end repeat
end tell

...but you'll have to change the alias path to suit your setup.

Note that these are quick hacks/edits for this post, so lack error-checking! Speaking of which...

Post a sample script and the error you are getting -- I'm sure someone can help.

5

Thanks @Nige_S

I get the following error in the New Outlook: "One or more messages must be selected."

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
	try
		set theSelection to the selected objects
		if theSelection is {} then error "One or more messages must be selected."
		
		tell application id "DNtp"
			if not (exists current database) then error "No database is in use."
			set theGroup to preferred import destination
		end tell
		
		repeat with theMessage in theSelection
			try
				set theSubject to subject of theMessage
				set theSender to sender of theMessage
				set theSender to (address of theSender) as string
				set theSource to source of theMessage
				set theDateReceived to time received of theMessage
				set theDateSent to time sent of theMessage
				if theSubject is equal to "" then set theSubject to pNoSubjectString
				
				set theCategories to {}
				set theList to (category of theMessage)
				repeat with theCategory in theList
					set theCategories to theCategories & (name of theCategory)
				end repeat
				set isFlagged to true
				if todo flag of theMessage is (not flagged) then set isFlagged to false
				set isUnread to is read of theMessage
				
				tell application id "DNtp"
					set theRecord to create record with {name:theSubject & ".eml", type:unknown, creation date:theDateSent, modification date:theDateReceived, URL:theSender, source:(theSource as string)} in theGroup
					if theCategories is not {} then
						set theTags to tags of theRecord
						set theTags to theTags & theCategories
						set tags of theRecord to theTags
					end if
					if isFlagged then set state of theRecord to true
					if isUnread then set unread of theRecord to true
					perform smart rule trigger import event record theRecord
				end tell
			end try
		end repeat
	on error error_message number error_number
		if the error_number is not -128 then display alert "Outlook" message error_message as warning
	end try
end tell```
6

Then -- and assuming you do have something selected in the Main window -- it looks like they haven't fully implemented AS yet. (This page suggests it is still in testing, not roll-out.)

Try the following in Script Editor/Debugger, with a message selected in Outlook:

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
   return the selected objects
end

...and:

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
   return the selection
end

What do you get for each?

7

I'm also stuck using Outlook here at work and have been looking for a way to add a keyboard shortcut that opens a saved search. No luck there b/c of the half-hearted AppleScript implementation. Anyway, your first script returns {} and the second missing value.

8

This does nothing

this returns the same error

9

Me too. But, unless work is preventing it for some reason, you can always knock it back to "Old" or "Legacy" Outlook to get back AppleScript support. How you do that depends, because they keep moving the option around the menus/settings -- probably to make it look like we all love the new version and don't want to go back.

I'm having no trouble accessing Shared Mailboxes etc when other people are using New Outlook, and the only annoyance is that I keep showing them how to do something in "Old" Outlook, only to find it's still missing (but promised "soon") in "New".

Looks like any news of the return of AS support was premature. But if it's in testing now, hopefully it'll be rolled out before too long.

2 Likes
10

hope so....

1 Like