Do you have tasks to perform within Outlook that could benefit from automation? You may not have even considered that tasks within Outlook can be automated, but not only is this possible it’s also quite easy to do.
A few examples of things you may wish to automate:
- Splitting a large archive up into multiple smaller archives based on date
- Arranging a mailbox into sub-folders based on criteria
- Exporting emails in bulk from a folder to msg format
Microsoft allows automation through their own Outlook Object Model, however this has inbuilt security behaviour that can interfere with your automation. When using the Outlook Object Model you will often see pop-ups like the below which will pause your automation until an option is selected.
This security behaviour is detailed on the Microsoft website here.
A better option than using the Microsoft Outlook Object Model is to use Outlook Redemption by Dmitry Streblechenko which is available here. Outlook Redemption does not have the same security behaviour since it uses extended MAPI, meaning that your automation can flow without interruption. It also contains all the same functionality of the Microsoft Outlook Object Model in addition to new functions to perform common tasks. Once you make the switch from the Outlook Object Model to Redemption you’ll never be tempted to go back.
Outlook Redemption is a COM library that can be utilised in any programming language that can load COM libraries. Most modern programming languages can load COM libraries, so you can mostly likely use your favourite one to automate Outlook using Redemption.
Detailed manual pages and samples are available on the Redemption site to get you started. We have also found Dmitry to be very helpful when we encountered issues.
At Infratech Systems we have utilised Outlook Redemption to build our own in-house email migration and organisation tools. These tools have assisted us with migrating from non-exchange email platforms to on-premise and exchange online.
In conclusion if your looking to automate Outlook operations and tasks don’t waste your time with the Microsoft Outlook Object Model, use Redemption from the start and save yourself some effort.