Knowledge Base

OL97: Remove Method Does Not Remove Attachments

Article ID: 285989

Article Last Modified on 2/12/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Outlook 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q285989

SYMPTOMS

You use the Remove method to programmatically remove an attachment from an item, but the attachment is not actually deleted from the Attachments collection.

CAUSE

The Remove method was not fully implemented in the Outlook object model.

WORKAROUND

Instead of using the Remove method, use the Delete method of the Attachment object.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

Open an existing item that has one or more attachments.

Run the following Outlook automation code from Microsoft Visual Basic, or Visual Basic for Applications in another Microsoft Office program, making sure to reference the Microsoft Outlook 8.0 Object Library:

Sub RemoveAttachments()

   Dim app As Outlook.Application
   Dim itm As Object
   Dim atts As Attachments

   Set app = New Outlook.Application
   Set itm = app.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
   Set atts = itm.Attachments

   While atts.Count > 0
       atts.Remove 1
   Wend

   itm.Save

   Set atts = Nothing
   Set itm = Nothing
   Set app = Nothing

End Sub

Note that the attachments appear to be deleted.
Close, and then reopen the item.

Result: The attachments are still there.

REFERENCES

For additional information about creating solutions with Microsoft Outlook, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

166368 OL97: Resources for Custom Forms and Programming

170783 OL97: Questions About Customizing or Programming Outlook

Additional query words: OutSol OutSol97

Keywords: KB285989

Microsoft KB Archive/285989

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