Outlook 2019 Automatically move email after assigning category

[Black_Square]

Hi,

I have created a folder in which I would like emails to be automatically moved after i have assigned them a specific category. There appears to be a rule to do this, although after setting it, it only works when I run the rule myself after setting it up. I assume that this has something to do with it being a client side rule (the only client side rule i have), but given it is an standard type of rule their must be somewhay of getting it to work with 365 exchange server.

thanks in advance.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

It's not so much a client-side - server-side issue, but when or how the rules run. They only run when mail arrives, either into Outlook desktop Inbox (client rule) or when they hit the mailbox on the server (server rule).

If you want something to happen automatically when you do something, you need to use VBA.
I don't have an exact example of what you need but have this to show the method - it watches for the item change event then does something.

Create a Task when a Message is Flagged

Use the ItemChange event to run a macro when an Outlook item is changed. In this example, a task is created when the Quick Click Flag is clicked.

www.slipstick.com

 

[Diane Poremsky]

ETA: the last sample watches for categories to be added, but it forwards the message. Doing the same to move it fairly easy.

Code from here

Macro to Move or Copy an Outlook message to another folder

A user had this question: I want to do the following: Copy a message from one public folder to another public folder Mark the original message as read

www.slipstick.com

   Dim objDestFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder 
    Dim objCopy As Outlook.MailItem
    
    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
' Set the destination folder
 ' move to a subfolder of the Inbox
   Set objDestFolder = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).Folders("Subfolder")

 ' copy and move first
     Set objCopy = Item.Copy
      objCopy.Move objDestFolder
' to move
' Item.Move objDestFolder

 

[Black_Square]

Hey, that's really helpful - thank you. So if im undertanding this correctly, the rule only works for email that i receive that have already been categorised? - that now makes sense. I've never played with macros before so will have a play. I'm sure ChatGPT can draft something for me!

 

[Black_Square]

Here is ChatGPTs code:

Sub CategorizeAndMoveEmail()
Dim olApp As Outlook.Application
Dim olNamespace As Outlook.Namespace
Dim olInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder
Dim olItems As Outlook.Items
Dim olMail As Outlook.MailItem
Dim olDestFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder

' Set the category, folder, and flag information
Dim category As String
category = "YourCategoryName"

Dim folderName As String
folderName = "DestinationFolderName"

Dim flagStatus As OlFlagStatus
flagStatus = olFlagMarked

' Initialize Outlook objects
Set olApp = Outlook.Application
Set olNamespace = olApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set olInbox = olNamespace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
Set olItems = olInbox.Items

' Loop through each item in the Inbox folder
For Each olMail In olItems
' Check if the item is a mail item
If TypeOf olMail Is Outlook.MailItem Then
' Check if the mail item meets your criteria (e.g., subject, sender, etc.)
If olMail.Subject = "YourCriteria" Then
' Assign category
olMail.Categories = category

' Find or create the destination folder
On Error Resume Next
Set olDestFolder = olInbox.Folders(folderName)
On Error GoTo 0

If olDestFolder Is Nothing Then
' Create the destination folder if it doesn't exist
Set olDestFolder = olInbox.Folders.Add(folderName)
End If

' Move the email to the destination folder
olMail.Move olDestFolder

' Add flag to the email
olMail.FlagStatus = flagStatus

' Save changes
olMail.Save
End If
End If
Next olMail

' Clean up objects
Set olItems = Nothing
Set olInbox = Nothing
Set olNamespace = Nothing
Set olApp = Nothing
End Sub