IT Gang - A place for tips and tricks

I just found a great post that helped me solve a problem I was having for a long time: how to download inline pictures from an Outlook (2003 in my case) message. If the images are attached, you can just select them all (using the SHIFT key) and copy/paste them in your desired location. But what do you do when you have the images inline (embedded) in the message? Check out the post below. In just 2-3 minutes you will have your problem solved!

I liked the article so much because it is very strait-forward. So I did not do any modifications to it. You can find the original post here: http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/saveembeddedpictures.htm

I also found a $20 solution for this problem (http://www.ope2000.com/product.htm), so thank you Internet! Here goes:

You’ve probably come across this at least once; You receive a nicely HTML formatted message with embedded pictures so the sender can tell the story with the pictures and when you try to save the pictures you can only save them as a bmp-file. Or; you receive a fun e-mail with an animated gif-file and when you try to save it you can only save or copy it as a bmp-file which will of course break the animation.

This How To article explains how you can save the embedded pictures in their original file format.

• Make sure the Visual Basic editor is installed
• Create macro
• Create a button for the macro
• Using the macro

Make sure the Visual Basic editor is installed

Since we are going to create a macro from code you must have the Visual Basic editor installed (which is the default). If you don’t have it installed you can install it by Control Panel-> Add/Remove Programs-> select your Office version-> button change. Now setup will start. Here you choose for Add or Remove Features-> Select “Choose advanced customization of applications” (Outlook 2003). In the list you get expand Microsoft Office-> Office Shared Features-> Visual Basic for Applications and set it to Run form My Computer. Press “Update” to install. You might need to insert your CD during setup.

This is where you can find the Visual Basic Editor when you have it installed

Create Macro

As I already provide you with the code, creating the macro is easy. The code has been tested with Outlook 2003 on Windows XP and Outlook 2007 on Windows Vista but should work on previous versions as well.

We start up the Visual Basic Editor by going to Tools-> Macro-> Visual Basic Editor. This will open a new screen. Choose Insert-> Module to create a new module dedicated to this macro. Select the newly created module in the left pane and rename it to “SaveAttachments” by changing the Properties value in the pane underneath. Copy and paste the code below to the module.

Private Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS As Long = &H1 Private Const BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN As Long = &H2 Private Const BIF_RETURNFSANCESTORS As Long = &H8 Private Const BIF_BROWSEFORCOMPUTER As Long = &H1000 Private Const BIF_BROWSEFORPRINTER As Long = &H2000 Private Const BIF_BROWSEINCLUDEFILES As Long = &H4000 Private Const MAX_PATH As Long = 260 Function BrowseFolder(Optional Caption As String, _ Optional InitialFolder As String) As String Dim SH As Shell32.Shell Dim F As Shell32.Folder Dim WshShell As Object Set SH = New Shell32.Shell Set F = SH.BrowseForFolder(0&, Caption, BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS, InitialFolder) Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") If Not F Is Nothing Then 'Special folders don't always return their full path that is why we check the title first Select Case F.Title Case "Desktop" BrowseFolder = WshShell.SpecialFolders("Desktop") Case "My Documents" BrowseFolder = WshShell.SpecialFolders("MyDocuments") Case "My Computer" MsgBox "Invalid selection", vbCritical + vbOKOnly, "Error" Exit Function Case "My Network Places" MsgBox "Invalid selection", vbCritical + vbOKOnly, "Error" Exit Function Case Else BrowseFolder = F.Items.Item.Path End Select End If 'Cleanup Set SH = Nothing Set F = Nothing Set WshShell = Nothing End Function Sub SaveAttachment() 'Get all selected items Set MyOlApplication = CreateObject("Outlook.Application") Set MyOlNameSpace = MyOlApplication.GetNamespace("MAPI") Set MyOlSelection = MyOlApplication.ActiveExplorer.Selection 'Make sure at least one item is selected If MyOlSelection.Count = 0 Then Response = MsgBox("Please select an item first", vbExclamation, MyApplName) Exit Sub End If 'Make sure only one item is selected If MyOlSelection.Count > 1 Then Response = MsgBox("Please select only one item", vbExclamation, MyApplName) Exit Sub End If 'Retrieve the selected item Set MySelectedItem = MyOlSelection.Item(1) 'Retrieve all attachments from the selected item Dim colAttachments As Outlook.Attachments Dim objAttachment As Outlook.Attachment Set colAttachments = MySelectedItem.Attachments 'Here makes the user the folder selection Dim FolderPath As String FolderPath = BrowseFolder("Select a folder") If FolderPath = "" Then Response = MsgBox("Please select a folder. No items were saved", vbExclamation, MyApplName) Exit Sub End If 'Save all attachments to the selected location with a date and time stamp of message to generate a unique name Dim DateStamp As String Dim MyFile As String For Each objAttachment In colAttachments MyFile = objAttachment.FileName DateStamp = Format(MySelectedItem.CreationTime, " - yyyymmdd_hhnnss") intPos = InStrRev(MyFile, ".") If intPos > 0 Then MyFile = Left(MyFile, intPos - 1) & DateStamp & Mid(MyFile, intPos) Else MyFile = MyFile & "DateStamp" End If objAttachment.SaveAsFile (FolderPath & "\" & MyFile) Next 'Cleanup Set objAttachment = Nothing Set colAttachments = Nothing Set MyOlApplication = Nothing Set MyOlNameSpace = Nothing Set MyOlSelection = Nothing Set MySelectedItem = Nothing End Sub
Click in the area above and press CTR+A to select all. Press CTRL+C to copy the code

The code copied in the Visual Basic Editor.

Important!
Since this macro also uses Windows functionality to prompt you for a folder location we must add the reference to the project. To do this choose Tools-> References… and select Microsoft Shell Controls And Automation. After this press OK.

Now we debug the code by choosing Debug-> Compile Project1. You shouldn’t be getting errors if you’ve done everything correctly.
If you do get errors retrace your steps and also verify that any previous code you might have in ThisOutlookSession is correct. Debug until you’ve solved the errors (the code provided works correctly without any modifications).

To be able to run the code without setting your macro security level to medium I recommend that you sign your code which is a very easy process and only takes a minute.

Create a button for the macro

You can run the macro through Tools-> Macros… -> select the SaveAttachment macro and then press Run. However the easiest way to access and use the macro is to create a button for it. Since the macro works on the selected item we can create the button in the main Outlook window. Follow the instructions below to create a button.

1. Set the Toolbar in edit mode by going to View-> Toolbars-> Customize…
2. Select the tab Commands
3. In the Categories column select Macros
4. In the Commands toolbar click on Project1.SaveAttachment and hold down the mouse button.
5. Drag the icon to a location on the Toolbar so the pointer will loose the cross and release the mouse button to drop it in that location
6. Right click the icon to change the name and to assign it a button image you like (if you want to learn more about editing Toolbar buttons click here)
7. Press Close to leave edit mode

The Save Attachments icon in the Toolbar. Curious what my Running Man icon does?

Using the macro

Alright, now that we’ve gone through all the trouble we can finally save all types of embedded pictures in their original file format. To do this you select the message that contains the embedded pictures. When you click on the Save Attachments button you’ll save all attachments with a date and time stamp to a folder of choice. Note that it doesn’t save blocked attachments.

Say good-bye to converting bmp-s back to jpg-s and broken gif-s!

The Tasks application built into Pocket PCs lets you enter and organize the things you have to do. It can also remind you when they need to be done.

Tasks on touch screen Pocket PC devices

• To create a new Task, tap Start >Programs >Tasks and then tap the New button (Windows Mobile 6: Menu >New Task). You can enter the subject, priority, start and due dates, categories, and detailed notes about the Task. When you are done, tap OK.
• To edit an existing Task, tap it in the Tasks list and tap the Edit button. You can change any of the above-mentioned information.
• To delete a Task, tap and hold it in the list view and select Delete Task from the pop-up menu.
• To mark a Task as completed, tap the check box to the left of the Task name in the list view. You can also do this by editing the Task and changing the Status field.
• To set a Task reminder, open a new Task or edit Task screen, tap the Reminder field, and select "Remind me" from the drop-down menu. By default, you will receive a reminder at 8:00 AM on the due date. You can change the date and time in this field. To set a reminder for a Task, you must first set a due date. (Time not available on pre-Windows Mobile 5 devices).
• To change the display options, go to the Tasks list view and tap Menu >Options (pre-Windows Mobile 5: Tools >Options). Then check the appropriate boxes in this screen to show start and due dates for each Task, show the Tasks entry bar, and set reminders for every new item you enter.
• To Sort and Filter Tasks (Windows Mobile 5 and 6), go to the Tasks list view, tap Menu, and select Sort By or Filter from the pop-up menu. Sort By lets you sort the list by status, priority, subject, start date, and due date. Filter lets you display Recently Viewed tasks, Active Tasks, Completed Tasks, and Tasks with a particular category assigned to them (see "How to set up and use Outlook Mobile categories" in the Using section).
• To Sort and Filter Tasks (pre-Windows Mobile 5), go to the Tasks list view and tap the small sort arrow in the upper-right corner of the screen below the X button. Then select the sort options from the drop-down menu. To Filter the Tasks list, tap the small filter arrow in the upper-left corner of the screen below the title bar, and select the filtering options from the drop-down menu.
• To display Tasks on your Today screen, go to Start >Settings >Today, select the Items tab, and make sure the Tasks entry is selected. You can further specify which Tasks are displayed by tapping on the Options button.

You can do all the above operations similar on the PC. Edit, delete, sort, filter tasks, and even assign it to somebody (via email).

Tasks on Desktop PC devices (NOTE: Tasks is an Outlook component. All the steps below assume you have Outlook installed and opened on your PC. These steps were tested on Outlook 2003)

• To create a new Task, maximize Outlook and click on the Tasks tab in the left bar. Then, you can click on the New Task button (same spot where New Email button is in the Mail tab). You can enter the subject, priority, start and due dates, categories, and detailed notes about the Task. When you are done, click Save and Close.

The fun part about Tasks is that you can synchronize your Pocket PC with your Desktop PC. This way you can have all the information you need with you when you are not in your main office. You need Active Sync for this purpose.

That's all folks. Happy tasking!