Creating Linked Notes in Outlook 2007

Scenario.

You want the ability to have a note linked to an Outlook message.  The note might contain a list of actions to take prior to responding to the message, contacts to make to collect information for a response, your thoughts on the message, or any action/detail you want to have tied to that message.  Outlook has the ability to create notes, but not to link them to a message.  Unlike other Outlook item types (e.g. appointments, tasks) which have a body field for notes, messages only have the message body.  Of course you could edit the message body and place your notes there, but that means they become part of the message and will be sent with the message if you forget to remove them.  Or you could create a note and embed a link to it in the message.  That requires a number of extra steps and as with having the notes in the message itself you will probably want to remove the link before sending the message.  Another option is to turn the message into a task.  That's fine if you want it to appear as a task, but may not work well if you simply want to have some notes associated with the message.  

Solution.

Linked Notes Manager, the code presented in this article, gives you the ability to create a note linked to a message.  Once created, a linked note will pop up every time you open the message it's linked to.  A note can be added to/removed from  messages without regard to whether they are opened or closed.  Linked notes are stored in a separate sub-folder under Notes.  In addition to editing or deleting a note, you can also add a column to any Outlook view to see which items have a linked note.  

Requirements.

Linked Notes Manager requires Outlook 2007.

Instructions.

1. Adding the Code to Outlook

a.  Start Outlook.
b.  Click Tools > Macro > Visual Basic Editor (ALT+F11).
c.  If not already expanded, expand Microsoft Office Outlook Objects, then expand Class Modules.
d.  Right-click on Class Modules and select Insert > Class Module
e.  Look in the Properties panel.
f.   Change the name of the new class module to LinkedNotesManager.
g.  Copy the code in the snippet below and paste it into the right-hand pane of the VB Editor window.
h.  Edit the code as needed.  I included comments wherever something needs to or can change.

Option Explicit
                      
                      '*** Constants
                      Const CLASSNAME = "Linked Notes Manager"
                      Const VERSION = "v1.0"
                      Const LINKEDNOTEFOLDER = "Linked Notes"
                          'The name of the folder that the linked notes will go in'
                      Const LINKPROPERTY = "LinkedNote"
                          'The name of the item property containing the link to the note'
                      Const FORCEONTOP = False
                          'True | False'
                          'If True, the notes will appear on top of the linked item'
                          'If False, the note appears behind the linked item'
                      Const msoControlButton = 1
                      Const msoButtonIconAndCaption = 3
                      
                      '*** Class variables
                      Private WithEvents olkApp As Outlook.Application, _
                              WithEvents olkInspectors As Outlook.Inspectors, _
                              olkInspector As Outlook.Inspector, _
                              olkNotesFolder As Outlook.Folder
                      
                      Private Sub Class_Initialize()
                          On Error Resume Next
                          Set olkNotesFolder = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderNotes).Folders(LINKEDNOTEFOLDER)
                          If TypeName(olkNotesFolder) = "Nothing" Then
                              Set olkNotesFolder = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderNotes)
                              Set olkNotesFolder = olkNotesFolder.Folders.Add(LINKEDNOTEFOLDER, olFolderNotes)
                          End If
                          Set olkApp = Application
                          Set olkInspectors = olkApp.Inspectors
                          On Error GoTo 0
                      End Sub
                      
                      Private Sub Class_Terminate()
                          Set olkApp = Nothing
                          Set olkInspectors = Nothing
                          Set olkInspector = Nothing
                          Set olkNotesFolder = Nothing
                      End Sub
                      
                      Private Sub olkApp_ItemContextMenuDisplay(ByVal CommandBar As Office.CommandBar, ByVal Selection As Selection)
                          Dim objButton As Object, _
                              olkItem As Object, _
                              bolLinked As Boolean
                          Set objButton = CommandBar.Controls.Add(msoControlButton)
                          If Selection.Count = 1 Then
                              Set olkItem = Selection.Item(1)
                              If olkItem.Class = olMail Then
                                  bolLinked = IsLinked(olkItem)
                                  With objButton
                                      .Style = msoButtonIconAndCaption
                                      .Caption = IIf(bolLinked, "Remove", "Add") & " Linked Note"
                                      .Parameter = Selection.Item(1).EntryID
                                      .FaceId = IIf(bolLinked, 348, 347)
                                      .OnAction = IIf(bolLinked, "Project1.ThisOutlookSession.RemoveLinkedNote", "Project1.ThisOutlookSession.AddLinkedNote")
                                  End With
                              End If
                          End If
                      End Sub
                      
                      Private Sub olkInspectors_NewInspector(ByVal Inspector As Inspector)
                          Dim olkMsg As Outlook.MailItem, _
                              olkNote As Outlook.NoteItem, _
                              olkProp As Outlook.UserProperty
                          On Error Resume Next
                          If Inspector.CurrentItem.Class = olMail Then
                              Set olkMsg = Inspector.CurrentItem
                              Set olkProp = olkMsg.UserProperties.Find(LINKPROPERTY, True)
                              If TypeName(olkProp) = "UserProperty" Then
                                  Set olkNote = Session.GetItemFromID(olkProp.Value)
                                  If TypeName(olkNote) <> "Nothing" Then
                                      olkNote.Display FORCEONTOP
                                  Else
                                      MsgBox "The note linked to this item could not be found.", vbInformation + vbOKOnly, CLASSNAME
                                  End If
                              End If
                          End If
                          Set olkMsg = Nothing
                          Set olkNote = Nothing
                          Set olkProp = Nothing
                          On Error GoTo 0
                      End Sub
                      
                      Private Function IsLinked(ByRef olkItem As MailItem) As Boolean
                          Dim olkProp As Outlook.UserProperty
                          Set olkProp = olkItem.UserProperties.Find(LINKPROPERTY)
                          If TypeName(olkProp) = "Nothing" Then
                              IsLinked = False
                          Else
                              If olkProp.Value = "" Then
                                  IsLinked = False
                              Else
                                  IsLinked = True
                              End If
                          End If
                      End Function
                      
                      Public Sub AddNoteToMsg()
                          Dim olkMsg As Object, _
                              olkNote As Outlook.NoteItem, _
                              olkProp As Outlook.UserProperty
                          On Error Resume Next
                          Select Case TypeName(Application.ActiveWindow)
                              Case "Explorer"
                                  Set olkMsg = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection(1)
                              Case "Inspector"
                                  Set olkMsg = Application.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
                          End Select
                          If olkMsg.Class = olMail Then
                              Set olkNote = olkNotesFolder.Items.Add()
                              olkNote.Body = "Linked to: " & olkMsg.Subject
                              olkNote.Save
                              Set olkProp = olkMsg.UserProperties.Add(LINKPROPERTY, olText)
                              olkProp.Value = olkNote.EntryID
                              olkMsg.Save
                              olkNote.Display
                          End If
                          Set olkProp = Nothing
                          Set olkNote = Nothing
                          Set olkMsg = Nothing
                          On Error GoTo 0
                      End Sub
                      
                      Public Sub DeleteNoteFromMsg()
                          Dim olkMsg As Outlook.MailItem, _
                              intIndex As Integer
                          On Error Resume Next
                          Select Case TypeName(Application.ActiveWindow)
                              Case "Explorer"
                                  Set olkMsg = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection(1)
                              Case "Inspector"
                                  Set olkMsg = Application.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
                          End Select
                          If olkMsg.Class = olMail Then
                              For intIndex = 1 To olkMsg.UserProperties.Count
                                  If olkMsg.UserProperties.Item(intIndex).Name = LINKPROPERTY Then
                                      olkMsg.UserProperties.Remove intIndex
                                      olkMsg.Save
                                  End If
                              Next
                          End If
                          On Error GoTo 0
                          Set olkMsg = Nothing
                      End Sub
                      

Select all Open in new window

i.  Double-click on the ThisOutlookSession module at the top of the Project panel.
j.  Copy the code in the snippet below and paste it into the right-hand pane of the VB Editor window.  If yu already have code in ThisOutlookSession, then instead of simply copying and pasting you will have to integrate this code into that you already have.

Private objLNM As LinkedNotesManager
                      
                      Private Sub Application_Quit()
                          Set objLNM = Nothing
                      End Sub
                      
                      Private Sub Application_Startup()
                          Set objLNM = New LinkedNotesManager
                      End Sub
                      
                      Sub AddLinkedNote()
                          objLNM.AddNoteToMsg
                      End Sub
                      
                      Sub RemoveLinkedNote()
                          objLNM.DeleteNoteFromMsg
                      End Sub
                      

Select all Open in new window

k.  Click the diskette icon on the toolbar to save the changes
l.  Close the VB Editor
m.  Click Tools > Trust Center.
n.  Select Macro Security.
o.  For this code to work macro security must be set to one of the three bottom options, one of the lower two if the code is not signed.

2. Restarting Outlook

a.  Close Outlook.
b.  Restart Outlook.
c.  When Outlook restarts you should see a pop-up dialog-box titled "Microsoft Office Outlook Security Notice" warning that ThisOutlookSession contains macros and asking if you want to enable or disable them.  For this solution to work you must select "Enable Macros".  This box will be displayed each time Outlook starts.

3. Using Linked Notes Manager

Creating notes.  You can create a linked note in two ways.  First, without opening a message, right-click on it and select "Add Linked Note".  Second, with a message open onscreen, click the Developer tab, then click Macros and select "ThisOutlookSession.AddLin kedNote".  No matter which approach you took, a yellow Outlook note should appear onscreen with the title of the message you're linking it to already filled in.  Add whatever you want to the note and then close it.  The next time you open the message the note will open with it.  

Removing notes.  There are two ways to remove a note.  First, without opening the message, right-click on it and select "Remove Linked Note".   Second, with a message open onscreen, click the Developer tab, then click Macros and select "ThisOutlookSession.Remove LinkedNote ".  When removing a note the code does not delete the actual note.  Instead, it removes the linking property leaving the note intact in case you want to keep it.  Notes are kept in the folder named "Linked Notes" under Outlook's default Notes folder.

Viewing notes.  Each time you open a message with a linked note the note opens too.  You can edit the note, add to it, or simply ignore it.  Notes do not close when the message closes, so you will need to remember to close the notes window separately.

Links to Other BlueDevilFan Articles

1. Extending Outlook Rules via Scripting
2. Importing and Exporting Outlook 2007 Categories
3. Outlook 2007 Corporate Categories System
4. Automatically Printing/Saving Emails/Attachments in Outlook
5. Avoiding Blank Subject Lines in Outlook
6. Never Again Forget to Add that Attachment to your Outlook Email
7. Enhancing Outlook 2007 Meeting Reminders