Is it possible to record macros in Outlook? 1

[Andrzejek]

Everybody says: “No. Outlook does not have a macro recording feature.”
or “there is NO macro recording capability in Outlook. You can not record macros in Outlook, period.”
or “macro recording is not possible with Outlook”

ChatGPT disagrees and says:
Yes, it is possible to record macros in Microsoft Outlook. Macros can automate repetitive tasks, such as sending emails, creating appointments, or performing custom actions. To record a macro in Outlook, you can use the Developer tab, which can be enabled in the Ribbon by going to File > Options > Customize Ribbon and checking the Developer option. Then, you can [blue]click on the Record Macro button in the Developer tab[/blue] and follow the prompts to perform the actions you want to automate. Once you stop the macro recording, you can save the macro and assign it to a button or keyboard shortcut for easy access.

My Outlook does not have a Record Macro button on the Developer tab :-(

Is ChatGPT pulling my leg

---- Andy

"Hmm...they have the internet on computers now"--Homer Simpson

 

[Mike Lewis]

Andy,

I'm seeing the same as you. On the Developer tab, there is a Macro button which opens the usual Macros dialogue. But I don't see an option to record a macro.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[kjv1611]

Oh how I wish Chat-GPT were right!

Thanks for sharing, regardless.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[strongm]

>Is ChatGPT pulling my leg

Yes.

Sure, Outlook can USE macros, just cannot record them ...

 

[combo]

I found sites where people claim that Outlook 2010 had this functionality, however MVPs excluded this in reply. If Chad-GPT read them...

combo

 

[strongm]

>I found sites where people claim that Outlook 2010 had this functionality

Indeed. I blame MS technical articles such as "Getting Started with VBA in Office 2010" for this - an article which clearly states that it

Applies to: Microsoft Word 2010 | Microsoft Outlook 2010 | Microsoft Access 2010 | Microsoft Excel 2010 | Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 | Microsoft Publisher

and has a big section on the Developer tab and recording macros. You have to read quite carefully to note that a single line says "Another button on the Developer tab in Word and Excel is the Record Macro button" (the inference being that it does not appear in the other apps)

So anyone doing a quick google about macro capability in Outlook 2010 would very likely assume that macro recording was available. And I'm pretty sure that a LLM tool would not be able to make the necessary inference.

But as someone who spent a chunk of his working day automating Outlook for financial institutions back in the 1990s, I can confirm that Outlook has never had a macro recorder.

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Have you looked at Autoit to do what you want?

https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/

Or something like robotask, or even powershell?

General Geek

 

[Mike Lewis]

Yes, there are alternatives to macro recording such as Autoit. But I wonder if the reason that Andy specifically wants to record a macro within Outlook is to examine the resulting VBA code and to adapt it for use with an Automation client (I do that sort of thing a lot). If that wasn't the case, he could simply code the macro by hand, as Outlook definitely supports the normal VBA editing features.

Just a thought.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[Andrzejek]

No, I was just trying to help Moss100 with his issue in thread705-1824074 and I thought if I create a macro in Outlook, that will give me code to start with. I do that in Excel all the time.
I guess he finally did use ChatGPT to create the code, and I hope it worked for him.

---- Andy

"Hmm...they have the internet on computers now"--Homer Simpson