Application.AdvancedSearch Method

Outlook Developer Reference

Performs a search based on a specified DAV Searching and Locating (DASL) search string.

Syntax

expression.AdvancedSearch(Scope, Filter, SearchSubFolders, Tag)

expression   A variable that represents an Application object.

Parameters

Name Required/Optional Data Type Description
Scope Required String The scope of the search. For example, the folder path of a folder. It is recommended that the folder path is enclosed within single quotes. Otherwise, the search might not return correct results if the folder path contains special characters including Unicode characters. To specify multiple folder paths, enclose each folder path in single quotes and separate the single quoted folder paths with a comma.
Filter Optional Variant The DASL search filter that defines the parameters of the search.
SearchSubFolders Optional Variant Determines if the search will include any of the folder's subfolders.
Tag Optional Variant The name given as an identifier for the search.

Return Value
A**Search** object that represents the results of the search.

Remarks

You can run multiple searches simultaneously by calling the AdvancedSearch method in successive lines of code. However, you should be aware that programmatically creating a large number of search folders can result in significant simultaneous search activity that would affect the performance of Outlook, especially if Outlook conducts the search in online Exchange mode.

The AdvancedSearch method and related features in the Outlook object model do not create a Search Folder that will appear in the Outlook user interface. However, you can use the Save method of the Search object that is returned to create a Search Folder that will appear in the Search Folders list in the Outlook user interface.

To specify multiple folders for the Scope parameter, use a comma character between each folder path and enclose each folder path in single quotes. For default folders such as Inbox or Sent Items, you can use the simple folder name instead of the full folder path. For example, the following two lines of code represent valid Scope parameters:

Visual Basic for Applications
  Scope = "'Inbox', 'Sent Items'"
Visual Basic for Applications
  Scope = "'" & Application.Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).FolderPath _
    & "','" & Application.Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderSentMail).FolderPath & "'"

The Filter parameter can be any valid DASL query. For additional information on DASL queries, see Filtering Items. Note that you cannot use a JET query for the Filter parameter of Advanced Search. If Instant Search is enabled on a store that contains a folder specified in the Scope parameter, you can use Instant Search keywords to improve the performance of your search. If you use Instant Search keywords and Instant Search is not enabled, Outlook will return an error and your search will fail.

Example

The following Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) example searches the Inbox for items with subject equal to Test and displays the names of the senders of the e-mail items returned by the search. The AdvancedSearchComplete event procedure sets the boolean blnSearchComp to True when the search is complete. This boolean variable is used by the TestAdvancedSearchComplete() procedure to determine when the search is complete. The sample code must be placed in a class module such as ThisOutlookSession, and the TestAdvancedSearchComplete() procedure must be called before the event procedure can be called by Outlook.

Visual Basic for Applications
  Public blnSearchComp As Boolean

Private Sub Application_AdvancedSearchComplete(ByVal SearchObject As Search) Debug.Print "The AdvancedSearchComplete Event fired" If SearchObject.Tag = "Test" Then m_SearchComplete = True End If

End Sub

Sub TestAdvancedSearchComplete() Dim sch As Outlook.Search Dim rsts As Outlook.Results Dim i As Integer blnSearchComp = False Const strF As String = "urn:schemas:mailheader:subject = 'Test'" Const strS As String = "Inbox"
Set sch = Application.AdvancedSearch(strS, strF, “Test”) While blnSearchComp = False DoEvents Wend Set rsts = sch.Results For i = 1 To rsts.Count Debug.Print rsts.Item(i).SenderName Next End Sub

The following Microsoft Visual Basic/Visual Basic for Applications example uses the AdvancedSearch method to create a new search. The parameters of the search, as specified by the

Filter

argument of the AdvancedSearch method, will return all items in the Inbox and Sent Items folders where the Subject phrase-matches or contains "Office". The user's Inbox and Sent Items folders are specified as the scope of the search and the SearchSubFolders property is set to True. When the search is complete, the GetTable method is called on the Search object for performant enumeration of search results.

Visual Basic for Applications
  Public m_SearchComplete As Boolean

Private Sub Application_AdvancedSearchComplete(ByVal SearchObject As Search) If SearchObject.Tag = "MySearch" Then m_SearchComplete = True End If End Sub

Sub TestSearchForMultipleFolders() Dim Scope As String Dim Filter As String Dim MySearch As Outlook.Search Dim MyTable As Outlook.Table Dim nextRow As Outlook.Row m_SearchComplete = False 'Establish scope for multiple folders Scope = "'" & Application.Session.GetDefaultFolder( _ olFolderInbox).FolderPath _ & "','" & Application.Session.GetDefaultFolder( _ olFolderSentMail).FolderPath & "'" 'Establish filter If Application.Session.DefaultStore.IsInstantSearchEnabled Then Filter = Chr(34) & "urn:schemas:httpmail:subject" _ & Chr(34) & " ci_phrasematch 'Office'" Else Filter = Chr(34) & "urn:schemas:httpmail:subject" _ & Chr(34) & " like '%Office%'" End If Set MySearch = Application.AdvancedSearch( _ Scope, Filter, True, "MySearch") While m_SearchComplete <> True DoEvents Wend Set MyTable = MySearch.GetTable Do Until MyTable.EndOfTable Set nextRow = MyTable.GetNextRow() Debug.Print nextRow("Subject") Loop End Sub

See Also