I want to create a keyboard-shortcut-triggered macro for Outlook that
does the following:

Move one or several highlighted messages in my inbox to a folder
called "archived inbox" when pressing CTRL-Q.

Thank you.


Marc

Hi marcfestnws,

Here's something that'll get you pretty close. Can you live with Alt-M
rather than Ctrl-Q?

In Outlook, hit Alt-F11 to open the VBA editor. Create a new module
and drop this code in:

Public Sub MoveToArchive()
Dim Inbox As MAPIFolder, Archive As MAPIFolder, Msg As MailItem

    Set Inbox = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
    Set Archive = Inbox.Folders("Archived Inbox")
    
    For Each Msg In ActiveExplorer.Selection
       Msg.Move Archive
    Next Msg
End Sub

You'll need to modify the line beginning "Set Archive = " to conform
to where you've put the Archived Inbox folder. In this example it's a
folder in the Inbox. If it's a top-level folder, use
Set Archive = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").Folders("Archived Inbox")
and if it's several levels down, use (for example)
Set Archive = Inbox.Folders("Old Stuff").Folders("Mail").Folders("Archived Inbox")

You can step through it in the debugger to make sure it's working correctly.

Now you need to put it on your toolbar. Save your VBA project and
close the VBA editor. In Outlook, select Tools and then Customize.
Select the Commands tab in the dialog box and select "Macros" in the
Categories box. You should see something like "Project1.MoveToArchive"
in the Commands box. Drag it somewhere on your menu bar with all the
other buttons. You'll get a horrible button displaying the default
icon and the full name including the project name. You can use the
"Modify Selection" button to fix the name and to change the icon (or
set it to display as text only if you don't want any icon; but you
can't set it to default because we need the text).

Note that you can modify the details at any future time by opening the
Customize dialog, selecting "Macros" in Categories and the macro item
in Commands, and then (without closing the dialog box) clicking on the
button in the toolbar to which you have assigned the macro.

Now here comes the tricky part. Since Outlook, unlike basically every
other Office application, doesn't let you assign your own keyboard
shortcuts, all we can do is assign a menu accelerator by adding a & in
the name. I've tested it using the name of "&Move To Archive" (the
accelerator key is whatever follows the & symbol, so in this case the
shortcut is Alt-M; make sure you don't use one that conflicts with one
of the top-level menus). This is all under the Modify Selection popup
menu.

Information on this method of getting keyboard shortcuts was found by
a Google search on 'assign "keyboard shortcuts" Outlook'. The rest was
done by experimentation.

Let us know how it goes!

Hello manuka - 

Thank you for trying to help. 

When I try to debug the code I get the following message: "The macros
in this project are disabled. Please refer to thge online help or
documentation of the host application to determine how to enable
macros."

How do I enable the macros?

Also, the "archived inbox" folder seems to be inside a folder called
"Mailbox - Marc Fest", so I used this line:

Set Archive = Inbox.Folders("Mailbox - Marc Fest").Folders("archived inbox")

Thanks again for helping with this.

Marc.

Damn! Stupid mental note filing system - I meant to tell you about the
security bit but obviously forgot. You'll need to change your security
settings in Outlook: go to Tools > Macro > Security and change the
setting to Medium. (Then close Outlook down and restart it.) Then the
first time in each session you run the macro you'll get a dialog box
asking you whether to allow it to run, whereas on the defult setting
it's disabled. (Don't change the security setting to Low as this wil
allow any code to run without informing you and make you susceptible
to spreading viruses.)

On the folder location, what you have is correct if the "Mailbox -
Marc Fest" folder is a folder inside your main Inbox folder. Is that
the case?

Cheers, manuka-ga

You may need a certificate if running XP w/SP2.

To create one;

From the Start Menu, in [Microsoft Office / Microsoft Office Tools]
click [Digital Certificate for VBA Projects].

Create a dummy certificate for your own use and save it.

From within the [Tools] menu inside of VBA, select [Digital Signiture]
and reference the certificate you made.

Save your project and reload the application, Outlook in this case.

Creating the certificate solved the problems with the disabled macro.

Now there's just a VBA run-time error left. You can see the error
message, the offending line in the script, and my Outlook InBox
structure at www.2q.com/ga .

Can you tell what's wrong? Thank you!

Best,
Marc

Manuka - here's the code that worked out for me eventually:

Sub MoveToArchive()

Dim myFolders As Outlook.Folders
Dim Inbox As MAPIFolder, Archive As MAPIFolder, Msg As MailItem
Set myOutlook = Outlook.Application
Set myNameSpace = myOutlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set myFolders = myNameSpace.Folders
Set myNameSpace = myOutlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")
    Set Inbox = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
    Set Archive = myFolders("Mailbox - Marc Fest").Folders("archived inbox")
    
    For Each Msg In ActiveExplorer.Selection
       Msg.Move Archive
    Next Msg

End Sub

Thanks to all the comments above! I've got this macro working now and
it's a timesaver.  Thanks again!