Outlook 2010 or 2013 Reoccuring Emails

[StuartR]

And have you added a digital signature to this macro?

[HansV]

Thank you. This means that you'll have to digitally sign your VBA code, otherwise it will be disabled.

Alternatively, select the option 'Enable all macros (not recommended; ...)'.

See Signing your own macros with SelfCert.exe for detailed instructions on creating a digital signature and applying it to your code.

[hlewton]

Thank you both. I am looking into that link to see if I can digitally sign that macro.

[hlewton]

I now have a digital signature on that recurring email appointment. I changed the reminder to 2 days and resaved the appointment so again tomorrow I should know if it now works.

After saving the appointment again I went back in to see if it kept the reminder at 2 days and the digital signature in the VBA code and all looks well. I also checked that macro security level setting again as the instructions in the link said to do and it too kept its setting, the same one as it had before. Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it will work.

Thanks for all the help.

[hlewton]

Well again it did not send any emails even though the reminder did pop up. I checked the appointment's VBA code to make sure it was still digitally signed and it was.

I always shutdown Outlook first before shutting off the computer and yesterday was no exception. After closing Outlook I got a dialog box asking something along the lines of did I want to save the VBA project and I choose Yes. Not sure what that was all about but it was the only thing that was not discussed here so I have no idea if that cause the problem or not but in any case no emails were sent.

[HansV]

I did some quick tests, and it worked without a hitch for me, both with a single e-mail address in the Location box, and with the name of an e-mail group in the Location box. The messages were sent, and received at the other end (I used some of my other e-mail accounts as recipients).

1) Are you sure that you placed the VBA code in the ThisOutlookSession module? It won't work if you place it in a standard module.

S0873.png

2) If that is OK, could you try placing a single e-mail address in the Location box, instead of the name of an e-mail group? It should work with a group - see above - but just to make sure.

[StuartR]

...After closing Outlook I got a dialog box asking something along the lines of did I want to save the VBA project and I choose Yes. Not sure what that was all about ...

I always get this message after I modify VBA code in Outlook. I don't know if this only happens if I have signed the code (because I always do sign my code).

[Rudi]

Its just a confirmation for saving the changes to the ThisOutlookSession module.
Similar to if you change the Personal Macro Workbook in Excel.

[HansV]

No, Outlook will always prompt you to save code if you have edited it, whether it's signed or not.

[hlewton]

I did some quick tests, and it worked without a hitch for me, both with a single e-mail address in the Location box, and with the name of an e-mail group in the Location box. The messages were sent, and received at the other end (I used some of my other e-mail accounts as recipients).

1) Are you sure that you placed the VBA code in the ThisOutlookSession module? It won't work if you place it in a standard module.

I am not at all sure about this. I think I did. I don't know what a standard module is. I am attaching a screenshot of what I see. I hope you can tell from it if I did it correctly. If not, can I delete it and start over?

Code.jpg

[HansV]

Yes, it's clear from the screenshot that you placed the code in the correct module: ThisOutlookSession.

It looks like you have all the ingredients in place, so it's puzzling that it doesn't work. Have you tried it yet with a single e-mail address in the Location box?

For testing purposes, you can create a non-recurring appointment (yet assign the category Send Schedule Recurring Email to it) that occurs, say, 20 minutes after now, with a reminder 15 minutes in advance. That way, you only have to wait 5 minutes for the reminder.

You can also try clicking in the line

Private Sub Application_Reminder(ByVal Item As Object)

and pressing F9 to set a breakpoint (the line will be highlighted in brown).
When the reminder pops up, the code should pause at the breakpoint.
If it doesn't, the code doesn't run at all, for whatever reason.

[hlewton]

Thanks, I'll do this step by step to see what is happening. I'll be back, I'm sure.

[hlewton]

Obviously I am doing something wrong. I created an appointment, placed my email address in the Location line, assigned the Send schedule recurring Email category to it. I made that category Red. It did not show up on today's calendar view at all but it did show up on the Outlook Today view. The reminder popped up but I got no email. Since it did not show up as red or any other color in the calendar view something must be wrong somewhere. My other test recurring email that we have been discussing did appear as red in the calendar view and it did that from day 1.

I'll create another appointment and try that "break" and see what happens there.

[hlewton]

I was wrong the appointment did show up in the calendar view. I am running the other test now. I ran one with the code not showing and nothing happened. I now have it open and will see what happens with the next appointment in a few minutes.

I'm getting too many posts so I thought I'd just edit this one.

Test 3 showed nothing, no email, no break in code that I could see but that is confusing to me. I put the break where you said but that is the first line of the code. If it did obey the break what should I have seen happen?

So is there a way to delete this VBA code and start over? I sure don't know what is going on but it looks, as Hans suggested, the code for whatever reason is not responding.

[hlewton]

Hans I noticed in your screen shot I see "Option Explicit" under Application. I do not have that on my VBA code. Should I and if so how do I get it?

[HansV]

In itself, it is a good idea to have Option Explicit at the top of all modules, but the code should work perfectly without it - its absence won't cause the code to fail.

See The importance of 'Option Explicit' for detailed info about Option Explicit, and why it is useful.

[hlewton]

I manually pot that Option Explicit in the VBA code as your link mentioned, ran another test with the break point in the BVA code, and still no email or any VBA editor or whatever popping up at the break. So can I somehow delete that module and start over? Unless you have a better idea but nothing seems to be working for me and I have found no way of deleting the VBA code. I could highlight it maybe and delete it, recopy the code but not sure that is the way to go if the entire module or whatever it is called can be deleted.

[HansV]

You cannot delete the ThisOutlookSession module - it is a fixed component of Outlook.

I don't see any point in deleting the code and re-inserting it. Your earlier screenshot shows that it is in the right place.

One other thing you could try, in Outlook itself:
- Select File > Options.
- Click Trust Center.
- Click Trust Center Settings...
- Click Macro Settings.
- Select the option "Enable all macros (...)" - you can always undo this later on.
- Click OK.
- Quit Outlook, wait 10 seconds or so, then restart Outlook.
- If you still have your test appointment, move it to 20 minutes after now, and set the appointment again to 15 minutes before start.
- Otherwise, create a new one.
- See what happens.

[hlewton]

We are starting to think alike except you have better suggestions. Before I got your last post I had tried all you suggested except exiting Outlook. It still did not send any email. I then did it again and exited Outlook, waited, and went back in, created a new appointment and received the email as I should. I then reset the macro security to what it was, exited Outlook, waited, went back in only this time I got a dialog box saying something along the lines of this macro security certificate had not been authenticated or something like that. I OK'd it, tried another appointment and it too sent me an email. I am going to now try it with a group name to see if that works as well. Things like this can drive one to drink, huh?

Thanks again.

[hlewton]

Just when I thought this was all done I have stumbled upon 2 more things I need to ask about.

First I mentioned about when opening Outlook after changing the macro security settings I got a dialog box and I choose to enable macros which made the emailing work. Well I had to close Outlook but when I opened it again I got the same dialog box as seen in the attachment. Will this dialog box be presented each time Outlook is opened or could I select the "Trust All Documents From This Publisher" to get around this popping up at every start of Outlook? I could test it but am a bit leery because I do not want to mess anything up now that it is working.

Enabled.jpg

Second question I have concerns the number of email address that can be included in a distribution list in Outlook 2010. From what I read it seems that the ideal amount is between 50 and 70 but apparently it depends on the size of the Outlook contact list as far as what is included in the contacts. I read, but can't seem to find it again, that one way to get around this may be to create a few distribution lists and use them as members of the distribution list that I want to email. I.E. say I want to email a distribution list named Group1 and I have 3 other distribution lists named Group2, Group3, and Group4. If when adding members to the Group1 distribution list I choose Group2, Group3, and Group4 to be part of that distribution list does that allow for more than the ideal 50 to 70 members?