OL98: How to Start Another Program from an Outlook Form

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The program you want to start must support Automation, because VBScript and the Outlook object model do not support any other methods of running programs other than using the CreateObject and GetObject methods.

In the following example, the Open event starts Microsoft Internet Explorer and opens the Microsoft Web home page. This example assumes that you have installed Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Follow these steps to create a mail form that opens the Microsoft Web home page:

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Mail Message.
2. On the Tools menu of the new mail message, point to Forms, and then click Design This Form.
3. On the Form menu, click View Code.
4. In the Script Editor, type the following code:

         Sub Item_Open()
            Set MyApp = Item.Application
            Set Web = MyApp.CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
            Web.Visible = TRUE
            Web.Navigate "www.microsoft.com"
         End Sub
   						

5. On the Script Editor File menu, click Close to return to the form.
6. On the Form menu, click Run This form.
   
   Once the form opens, Microsoft Internet Explorer automatically opens to the Microsoft Web home page.