Application Object

Microsoft Outlook Visual Basic

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Application Object

Application

Represents the entire Microsoft Outlook application. This is the only object in the hierarchy that can be returned by using the CreateObject method or the intrinsic Visual Basic GetObject function.

The Outlook Application object has several purposes:

  • As the root object, it allows access to other objects in the Outlook hierarchy.
  • It allows direct access to a new item created by using CreateItem, without having to traverse the object hierarchy.
  • It allows access to the active interface objects (the explorer and the inspector).

Using the Application Object

When you use Automation to control Microsoft Outlook from another application, you use the CreateObject method to create an Outlook Application object.

The following Visual Basic for Application example starts Microsoft Outlook (if it's not already running) and opens the default Inbox folder.

Set myOlApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set myNameSpace = myOlApp.GetNameSpace("MAPI")
Set myFolder= _
    myNameSpace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
myFolder.Display
		

The following Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) example uses the Application object to create and open a new contact.

Set myOlApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set myItem = myOlApp.CreateItem(olContactItem)
myItem.Display