Sample Access application for creating appointments in Outlook

Hello everyone,

I received several requests for my sample Access application for creating appointments in Outlook, so I am sharing it here.

The application

The application automatically opens the Action form. When you complete this form and click Add to Outlook, some VBA code in the application creates an appointment in Outlook based on the action data and checks the Added to Outlook setting.

The VBA code

Select Database Tools > Visual Basic to open the underlying VBA code. If needed, expand the Project folder:

And double click the Form_Actions object to display the VBA code:

Private Sub cmdAddToOutlook_Click()

    ' Only add an appointment to Outlook if it has not been done before.
    If Me.AddedToOutlook = False Then
        ' Declare objects for the Outlook application and an appointment that you can address programmatically
        Dim xOL As Outlook.Application, itmAppoint As Outlook.AppointmentItem
    
        ' Create the actual Outlook object and an object for the appointment to be added
        Set xOL = New Outlook.Application
        Set itmAppoint = xOL.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)
        
        ' Fill the appointment details and send it to Outlook
        With itmAppoint
            .Subject = Me.ActionDescription
            .Start = Me.ActionDate + Me.ActionTime
            .End = Me.ActionDate + Me.ActionTime + Me.ActionLength
            .Location = Me.ActionLocation
            .Save ' <- this actually sends the appointment to Outlook
        End With
        
        ' Remove the objects to keep memory clean
        Set itmAppoint = Nothing
        Set xOL = Nothing
        
        ' Set the checkbox
        Me.AddedToOutlook = True
        
        ' Requery the form to show all data changes
        Me.Requery
    End If
End Sub

Note

I set a reference to the Outlook Object Library from VBA, but if you receive an error that the reference is missing, follow these steps from VBA:

1. Select Tools > References...
2. Scroll to the Microsoft Outlook 16.0 Object Library item and select its checkbox. Your version may be different from 16.0 when you work with another Access version.
3. Click OK.
4. Try to add to Outlook again.