Microsoft KB Archive/239711

Knowledge Base

OL2000: How to Programmatically Update Company Names

Article ID: 239711

Article Last Modified on 11/23/2006

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q239711

SUMMARY

This article explains how you can use Outlook Visual Basic for Applications to change the company name for many contacts without having to manually open each contact. This solution is useful if a company changes its name and you have many contacts for that particular company.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

To create the Visual Basic for Applications macro, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.
2. In the Macro Name box, type ChangeCompanyName (without spaces), and then click Create. This starts the Visual Basic Editor and automatically creates a subroutine for you.

3. Type the following lines of code so that the Visual Basic for Applications procedure appears as follows:

   Sub ChangeCompanyName()
   
      Dim objContactsFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
      Dim objContacts As Outlook.Items
      Dim strOldCo As String
      Dim strNewCo As String
      Dim objContact As Object
      Dim iCount As Integer
   
      ' Specify which contact folder to work with
      Set objContactsFolder = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts)
      Set objContacts = objContactsFolder.Items
   
      ' Prompt for old and new company names
      strOldCo = InputBox("Enter the old company name.")
      strNewCo = InputBox("Enter the new company name.")
   
      iCount = 0
   
      ' Process the changes
      For Each objContact In objContacts
         If TypeName(objContact) = "ContactItem" Then
            If objContact.CompanyName = strOldCo Then
               objContact.CompanyName = strNewCo
               objContact.Save
               iCount = iCount + 1
            End If
         End If
      Next
      
      MsgBox "Number of contacts updated:" & Str$(iCount)
   
      ' Clean up
      Set objContact = Nothing
      Set objContacts = Nothing
      Set objContactsFolder = Nothing
   
   End Sub
                       

4. On the File menu, click Close and Return to Microsoft Outlook.

To use the macro, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.
2. Click the ChangeCompanyName macro, and then click Run.
3. Wait until a window appears telling you how many contacts have been updated.

Following are some additional notes to be aware of:

• It may take a while to process the items in the folder. While this happens, the mouse pointer does not change to an hourglass indicating Outlook is running the macro. The Outlook object model does not support changing the mouse pointer in this manner.
• You can assign the macro to a toolbar button if you use this functionality often. To do this, click View, point to Toolbars, and then click Customize. Change the Categories to Macros, and then drag the macro onto the toolbar. For more information about how to customize toolbars, please see online Help.

• The code above only works with the default Contacts folder. If you wish to have it work with any contacts folder you have selected, change the following line:

  Set objContactsFolder = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts)
                      

  to:

  Set objContactsFolder = Outlook.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder
                      

  If you are familiar with programming and want to use a specific contacts folder in a different location, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base for information on how to accomplish that:
  

  208520 OL2000: Programming Examples for Referencing Items and Folders

REFERENCES

For additional information about available resources and answers to commonly asked questions about Microsoft Outlook 2000 solutions, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

146636 OL2000: Questions About Custom Forms and Outlook Solutions

Additional query words: OutSol OutSol2000 vbscript

Keywords: kbhowto kbprogramming KB239711

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