Handling Errors when Opening Outlook Attachments

Back in 2013 when I returned to using Outlook as an email client (new job, prior job used Google Apps), I was sprucing up some old code. I have two problems with the code on that page; one I’m solving here and one I don’t know how to solve yet.

The first problem is when someone sends me two attachments. I want to open the first, but have no interest in the second. Most recently this problem manifests itself as an invoice and a packing list. I need the invoice, but I don’t need the packing list. Alt+3 (this macro is third on my QAT) opens the last attachment first, so I’m stuck opening the packing list, closing it, then opening the invoice. In practice, I open it the old fashioned way (Shft+Tab, Home, Ctrl+Shft+RightArrow, Menu, O). Go ahead and try it. You know you want to. The Menu key is the key between Alt and Ctrl on the right side of my keyboard. Even if I concentrate really hard on the first attachment, the code still opens them just like a programmed. I don’t have a solution for this.

The second problem is when someone sends me an attachment with no file extension or some bullshit file extension. I get a text file with a .success extension from a website telling me my upload worked. I’m not sure if they’re just being clever or if there is some other significance, but I do know that Windows, and more specifically WScript.Shell, doesn’t know how to open it. I had some code that checked for no extension and opened it in Notepad++, but recently changed it to handle any unknown file extension.

Public Sub DisplayAttachment(olAtt As Attachment, sFile As String, sPath As String)
        
    Dim oShell As Object
    Dim miNew As MailItem
    
    On Error GoTo ErrHandler
    
    If olAtt.Type = olEmbeddeditem Then
        Set miNew = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").OpenSharedItem(sPath & sFile)
        miNew.Display
    Else
        sFile = GetShortFileName(sPath & sFile)
        Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
        oShell.Run sFile
    End If

ErrExit:
    Exit Sub
    
ErrHandler:
    Select Case Err.Number
        Case -2147023741
            oShell.Run "C:\PROGRA~1\NOTEPA~1\NOTEPA~1.EXE" & Space(1) & sFile
        Case Else
            MsgBox Err.Number & vbNewLine & Err.Description
    End Select
    
    Resume ErrExit
End Sub

Public Sub DisplayAttachment(olAtt As Attachment, sFile As String, sPath As String)

Dim oShell As Object

Dim miNew As MailItem

On Error GoTo ErrHandler

If olAtt.Type = olEmbeddeditem Then

Set miNew = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").OpenSharedItem(sPath & sFile)

miNew.Display

Else

sFile = GetShortFileName(sPath & sFile)

Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

oShell.Run sFile

End If

ErrExit:

Exit Sub

ErrHandler:

Select Case Err.Number

Case -2147023741

oShell.Run "C:\PROGRA~1\NOTEPA~1\NOTEPA~1.EXE" & Space(1) & sFile

Case Else

MsgBox Err.Number & vbNewLine & Err.Description

End Select

Resume ErrExit

End Sub

Good ol’ error handling. If WScript.Shell can’t open the file, it throws error -2147023741, better known as

Automation error. No application is associated with the specified file for this operation.

1	Automation error. No application is associated with the specified file for this operation.

When that happens, it opens the file in Notepad++. That may not always be the best choice, but usually is. Happy keyboarding.

2 thoughts on “Handling Errors when Opening Outlook Attachments”

Gruff999 says:

February 12, 2015 at 5:06 am

Opening the first attachment. The order of the attachments on the mail seems to be affected by, literally, the order in which the sender has highlighted them using either Ctrl-click or selecting one then shift-selecting the second (Im selecting two files then using Send To > Mail Recipient).
I guess youd need a tailored approach depending on the message originator, then selecting by file size or name.

Unless they could automated the email preparation their side to ensure the invoice always comes first.
Dick Kusleika says:

February 12, 2015 at 8:00 am

It may not be a terrible idea to simply show a listbox of all the attachments when there’s more than one.