How to get Outlook appointments from a given date in Excel

Question

I want to display Outlook Calendar appointments from a given date in a MessageBox. Unfortunately the code I am using does not show any appointments for today. If i change my code to sfilter = "[Start] >= '" & startDate & "' " then i get todays appointments with all future appointments for other dates. I want to only show appointments for the specified date.

The date selection is from a UserForm called cmDates.srtDate.Value

sFilter is the variable I am using the hold the date filter throughout the code

Code

Public Function getOutlookAppointments() As String
    Dim oOutlook              As Object
    Dim oNS                   As Object
    Dim oAppointments         As Object
    Dim oFilterAppointments   As Object
    Dim oAppointmentItem      As Object
    Dim bOutlookOpened        As Boolean
   ' Dim rslt                  As String
    Dim sfilter               As String
    Dim startDate             As Date
    Dim displayText As String
    Dim start As Date
    Const olFolderCalendar = 9

    On Error Resume Next
    Set oOutlook = GetObject(, "Outlook.Application")    'Bind to existing instance of Outlook
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then    'Could not get instance of Outlook, so create a new one
        Err.Clear
        Set oOutlook = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
        bOutlookOpened = False    'Outlook was not already running, we had to start it
    Else
        bOutlookOpened = True    'Outlook was already running
    End If
    On Error GoTo Error_Handler
    DoEvents

    Set oNS = oOutlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")
    Set oAppointments = oNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderCalendar)
    startDate = cmDates.srtDate.value
    'Apply a filter so we don't waste our time going through old stuff if we don't need to.
    sfilter = "[Start] = '" & startDate & "' "
    Set oFilterAppointments = oAppointments.Items.Restrict(sfilter)

    For Each oAppointmentItem In oFilterAppointments
     getOutlookAppointments = getOutlookAppointments & oFilterAppointments.Count & " appointment(s) found" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & oAppointmentItem.Subject & vbCrLf & oAppointmentItem.start & vbCrLf & oAppointmentItem.End & vbCrLf & vbCrLf

      'displayText = displayText & oAppointmentItem.Subject

    Next

    MsgBox prompt:=getOutlookAppointments, _
    Title:="Appointments for"


    If bOutlookOpened = False Then    'Since we started Outlook, we should close it now that we're done
        oOutlook.Quit 'There seems to be a delay in this action taking place, but does eventually take place
    End If

Error_Handler_Exit:
    On Error Resume Next
    Set oAppointmentItem = Nothing
    Set oFilterAppointments = Nothing
    Set oAppointments = Nothing
    Set oNS = Nothing
    Set oOutlook = Nothing
    Exit Function

Error_Handler:
    MsgBox "The following error has occured" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
           "Error Number: " & Err.Number & vbCrLf & _
           "Error Source: GetFutureOutlookEvents" & vbCrLf & _
           "Error Description: " & Err.Description _
           , vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "An Error has Occured!"
    Resume Error_Handler_Exit

    outlookDates = False
End Function

Answer 1

Your restriction should have two parts - Start > today's midnight , and Start < tomorrow's midnight . You only have the first part.

Also keep in mind that if you want instances of the recurring activities (and not just the master appointments), you need to use the Items.IncludeRecurrences property - see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/outlook.items.includerecurrences

Answer 2

There are several aspects:

1. To retrieve all Outlook appointment items from the folder that meets the predefined condition, you need to sort the items in ascending order and set the IncludeRecurrences to true. You will not catch recurrent appointments if you don't do this before using the Restrict method!
2. Microsoft doesn't recommend using the Count property in case you set the IncludeRecurrences property. The Count property may return unexpected results and cause an infinite loop.
3. Although dates and times are typically stored with a Date format, the Find and Restrict methods require that the date and time be converted to a string representation. To make sure that the date is formatted as Microsoft Outlook expects, use the Format function available in VBA. So, you must specify the date in the format which Outlook understand.

     Format(youDate, "ddddd h:nn AMPM")

For example, here is a sample VB.NET code:

Imports System.Text
Imports System.Diagnostics
' ...
Private Sub RestrictCalendarItems(folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder)
    Dim dtEnd As DateTime = New DateTime(DateTime.Now.Year, DateTime.Now.Month, _
                                         DateTime.Now.Day, 23, 59, 0, 0)
    Dim restrictCriteria As String = "[Start]<=""" + dtEnd.ToString("g") + """" + _
                                     " AND [End]>=""" + DateTime.Now.ToString("g") + """"
    Dim strBuilder As StringBuilder = Nothing
    Dim folderItems As Outlook.Items = Nothing
    Dim resultItems As Outlook.Items = Nothing
    Dim appItem As Outlook._AppointmentItem = Nothing
    Dim counter As Integer = 0
    Dim item As Object = Nothing
    Try
        strBuilder = New StringBuilder()
        folderItems = folder.Items
        folderItems.IncludeRecurrences = True
        folderItems.Sort("[Start]")
        resultItems = folderItems.Restrict(restrictCriteria)
        item = resultItems.GetFirst()
        Do
            If Not IsNothing(item) Then
                If (TypeOf (item) Is Outlook._AppointmentItem) Then
                    counter = counter + 1
                    appItem = item
                    strBuilder.AppendLine("#" + counter.ToString() + _
                                          " Start: " + appItem.Start.ToString() + _
                                          " Subject: " + appItem.Subject + _
                                          " Location: " + appItem.Location)
                End If
                Marshal.ReleaseComObject(item)
                item = resultItems.GetNext()
            End If
        Loop Until IsNothing(item)
        If (strBuilder.Length > 0) Then
            Debug.WriteLine(strBuilder.ToString())
        Else
            Debug.WriteLine("There is no match in the " _
                             + folder.Name + " folder.")
        End If
    catch ex As Exception
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
    Finally
        If Not IsNothing(folderItems) Then Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folderItems)
        If Not IsNothing(resultItems) Then Marshal.ReleaseComObject(resultItems)
    End Try
End Sub

You may find the following articles helpful:

• How To: Use Restrict method in Outlook to get calendar items
• How To: Retrieve Outlook calendar items using Find and FindNext methods