How To Get the Unread Message Count from an Outlook Folder

MORE INFORMATION

The code below uses a recursive routine to iterate through a mail folder to produce a list of all its sub-folders and a count of corresponding unread messages. The data is then displayed in the Visual Basic Immediate Window. The code takes advantage of the UnReadItemCount property of the Outlook MAPIFolder object.

1. Open a Standard EXE project in Visual Basic.
2. Select References from the Project menu.
3. Select "Microsoft Outlook 8.0 Object Library" (msoutl8.olb), and click OK.
4. Select Project1 Properties on the Project menu and set the Startup Object to "Sub Main".
5. Select Add Module from the Project menu to add a module to the project.
6. Add the following sample code to Module1:
   
   NOTE: Modify the FOLDER_TO_OPEN constant as appropriate.

   Sample Code

   Option Explicit
   
      Private Sub Main()
         Dim olMAPI As Outlook.NameSpace
         Dim Folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
         Const FOLDER_TO_OPEN = "Mailbox - John Doe"   'Modify as appropriate
   
         Set olMAPI = GetObject("", "Outlook.Application") _
                                 .GetNamespa   ce("MAPI")
         Call PrintFolderNames(olMAPI.Folders(FOLDER_TO_OPEN), "->")
         Set olMAPI = Nothing
      End Sub
   
      Sub PrintFolderNames(tempfolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, a$)
         Dim i As Integer
         If tempfolder.Folders.Count Then
            Debug.Print a$ & " " & tempfolder.Name & "  ";
            Debug.Print tempfolder.UnReadItemCount
            For i = 1 To tempfolder.Folders.Count
              Call PrintFolderNames(tempfolder.Folders(i), a$ & "->")
            Next i
         Else
            Debug.Print a$ & " " & tempfolder.Name & "  ";
            Debug.Print tempfolder.UnReadItemCount
         End If
      End Sub
   
   					

7. Run the program.

RESULT: The unread message count for the folder FOLDER_TO_OPEN appears in the Immediate Window.