OL98: How to Store Outlook Messages in a MS Access Database

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In order to store Outlook messages in a Microsoft Access table, you must first create the table, and then copy the messages from Outlook into the table.

Creating the Microsoft Access 97 Table

1. Start Microsoft Access and under "Create a New Database Using," click Blank Database and click OK.
   
   -or-
   
   With Microsoft Access running, click New Database on the File menu, and on the General tab, double-click Blank Database.
2. In the File Name box, type a file name, such as SentMail, and then click Create.
3. In the SentMail Database dialog box, click to select the Tables tab.
4. On the Insert menu, click Table.
5. In the New Table list, click Design View, and click OK.
6. In the first row of the "Table1: Table" in the Field Name field, type Messages.
7. Press the TAB key and from the Data Type list, select OLE Object.
8. In the second row Field Name, type Notes:.
9. Press the TAB key and from the Data Type list, select Text.
10. On File menu, click Save and in the Save As dialog box, click OK to save the Table1 table. If prompted to assign a primary key, click Yes.
11. Close the Design View window for the Table1 table by clicking the Close button in the upper-right corner of the window.

Copying Outlook Message Files into the Database

1. Start Outlook and open your Sent Items folder.
2. From the Messages view, drag a message to the Windows Desktop.
3. Using the right mouse button, click the message that you copied to the Desktop and on the shortcut menu, click Copy.
4. In Microsoft Access, open the Table1 table in the SentMail database.
5. Using your right mouse button, click the cell in row 1 of the Messages column and on the shortcut menu, click Paste. You should now see the word "Package" in the Message column.
6. Type appropriate text in the Notes column to remind you what message you copied.
7. Delete the copy of the message from the Windows Desktop.

Your message is now stored in a Microsoft Access 97 Database named SentMail. Whenever you want to open the Outlook 97 message from within the SentMail database, you can just double-click on the word package in the Messages column of the Table1 table.