You need to create custom Visual Basic for Applications code or a COM add-in to do this. For additional information about how to do this, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 231174 OL2000: How to Open a Form from a Toolbar Button Start another program or display a Web page from an Outlook form

You can use the CreateObject method in VBScript to automate an OLE-aware program. For additional information about this issue, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 206719 OL2000: How to Start Another Program from an Outlook Form 231927 OL2000: How to Display a Web Page in an Outlook Form VBA, COM Add-ins, and Automation Difference between VBScript and Visual Basic for Applications, which one to use

Outlook custom forms use Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) as they did in previous versions of Outlook. However, Outlook now provides support for Visual Basic for Applications at the application level, meaning that you can run macros from the main Outlook toolbars or menus and that code can function outside of the scope of an item. Most of the additions to the Outlook object model were added to support this new application-level programming model. For example, there are many new events that enables custom code to run when certain things happen in Outlook, such as when you receive new mail, or if the user clicks a different item in a folder. Your code can also run much like a batch process, where you click a toolbar button and a macro retrieves data from a folder and then updates information in a public folder. Visual Basic for Applications and COM add-ins both give the ability to create program-level code, which one to use? Visual Basic for Applications in Outlook was designed primarily to create personal solutions. The main advantage to using Visual Basic for Applications in that you can quickly create a solution to fit your needs. COM add-ins are typically the better choice if you want to distribute your solution. However, COM add-ins generally require a greater investment in development time. Also, if you need to develop a COM add-in, it is often easier to develop and debug the solution by using Visual Basic for Applications. Then, when the Visual Basic for Applications code is functioning as you want it to, you can typically move the code into the COM add-in framework with very few changes. Recording macros

Although Outlook now includes Visual Basic for Applications, the Outlook object model does not provide functionality that supports recording macros. For additional information about not being able to record macros, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 234690 OL2000: Unable to Record Macros in Outlook Integrating Outlook into another program?

You can use automation to programmatically control Outlook from another custom program. For additional information about automating Outlook, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 201096 OL2000: How to Automate Outlook from Another Program Where Visual Basic for Applications project stored and distributed

Outlook Visual Basic for Applications code is stored in a single file called VBAproject.otm, and Outlook Visual Basic for Applications is not designed to be distributed. For additional information about how to use Visual Basic for Applications projects in Outlook, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 229911 OL2000: Managing and Distributing Outlook Visual Basic for Applications Projects 224874 OL2000: Code Does Not Work After You Distribute a Visual Basic for Applications Project Start developing a COM add-in

For additional information about how to develop COM add-ins, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 230225 OL2000: How to Create a COM Add-in for Outlook COM add-in causes Outlook to stop responding (hang).

Your COM add-in may be causing a Visual Basic run-time error to occur, and this may be causing a problem with Outlook. Because of this limitation of COM add-ins, use error trapping throughout your COM add-in code to trap any potential run-time errors. For additional information about this issue, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 208316 OL2000: All Potential COM Add-in Run-Time Errors Should Be Trapped COM add-in causes Outlook to not quit.

Your COM add-in is most likely not releasing Explorer or Inspector objects, and this causes Outlook to not quit. For additional information on this issue, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 208332 OL2000: You Cannot Fully Quit Outlook When You Use a COM Add-in The Object Model and Other General Questions Third-party solutions

The Slipstick Systems Web site provides a comprehensive summary of add-ins and utilities. For more information about these add-ins, view the following Slipstick Web site: http://www.slipstick.com/addins/index.htm The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products. Effect Outlook E-mail Security Update may have on solutions

As a developer, you should fully understand the implications of the Outlook E-mail Security Update. For additional information about the security update and links to other resources that are related to the update, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 262701 OL2000: Developer Information About the Outlook E-mail Security Update Referring to a particular Outlook folder or a particular item in a program. Create a new folder or item

Outlook provides many ways to programmatically access and manipulate items and folders. For additional information about how to work with folders and items, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 208520 OL2000: Programming Examples for Referencing Items and Folders Limitations

Outlook does not support a full object model, such as those in Word or Microsoft Excel, so what you are trying to do may not be possible. Also, there may be other Outlook design considerations or limitations that may prevent you from using the approach that you want to create a solution. For additional information about this, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 266428 OL2000: Custom Forms and Programming Limitations Search for items and folders in a program based on the contents of a field

You cannot programmatically use the Find or Advanced Find features in Outlook, but you can use the Find method in the Outlook object model to retrieve a single item based on the contents of one or more fields.
You can also use the Restrict method to retrieve a set of items that match certain criteria. For additional information about how to use the Find/ and Restrict methods, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 201081 OL2000: Using Find and Restrict to Retrieve Items The above applies to:

• Microsoft Outlook 2000