How to automatically print attachments when emails arrive in Outlook?

Author Siluvia Last modified 2024-09-18

This tutorial demonstrates a method to combine a VBA script and an Outlook rule to help you automatically print attachments of certain emails when they arrive in Outlook.

Automatically print attachments when certain emails arrive

Step1: Create a script in Outlook

Step2: Build a rule to use the script

Automatically print attachments when certain emails arrive

Supposing, you want to print attachments of incoming emails from a certain sender automatically. You can do as follows to get it done.

Step1: Create a script in Outlook

Firstly, you need to create a VBA script in Outlook.

1. Launch your Outlook, press the Alt + F11 keys simultaneously to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. In the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window, double click on Project1 > Microsoft Outlook Objects > ThisOutlookSession to open the ThisOutlookSession (Code) window, and then copy the following code into this code window.

steps of auto printing attachments when emails arrive in Outlook

VBA code 1: Automatically print attachments (all types of attachments) when emails arrive

Sub AttachementAutoPrint(Item As Outlook.MailItem)
'Updated by Extendoffice 20230223
  Dim xFS As FileSystemObject
  Dim xTempFolder As String
  Dim xAtt As Attachment
  Dim xShell As Object
  Dim xFolder As Object, xFolderItem As Object
  Dim xFileName As String
  On Error GoTo xError
  If Item.Attachments.Count = 0 Then Exit Sub
  Set xFS = New FileSystemObject
  xTempFolder = xFS.GetSpecialFolder(TemporaryFolder)
  xTempFolder = xTempFolder & "\ATMP" & Format(Item.ReceivedTime, "yyyymmddhhmmss")
  If Not xFS.FolderExists(xTempFolder) Then
    MkDir (xTempFolder)
  End If
  Set xShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
  Set xFolder = xShell.NameSpace(0)
  For Each xAtt In Item.Attachments
    If IsEmbeddedAttachment(xAtt) = False Then
      xFileName = xTempFolder & "\" & xAtt.FileName
      xAtt.SaveAsFile (xFileName)
      Set xFolderItem = xFolder.ParseName(xFileName)
      xFolderItem.InvokeVerbEx ("print")
    End If
  Next xAtt
  Set xFS = Nothing
  Set xFolder = Nothing
  Set xFolderItem = Nothing
  Set xShell = Nothing
xError:
  If Err <> 0 Then
    MsgBox Err.Number & " - " & Err.Description, , "Kutools for Outlook"
    Err.Clear
  End If
Exit Sub
End Sub

Function IsEmbeddedAttachment(Attach As Attachment)
Dim xItem As MailItem
Dim xCid As String
Dim xID As String
Dim xHtml As String
On Error Resume Next
IsEmbeddedAttachment = False
Set xItem = Attach.Parent
If xItem.BodyFormat <> olFormatHTML Then Exit Function
xCid = ""
xCid = Attach.PropertyAccessor.GetProperty("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x3712001F")
If xCid <> "" Then
    xHtml = xItem.HTMLBody
    xID = "cid:" & xCid
    If InStr(xHtml, xID) > 0 Then
        IsEmbeddedAttachment = True
    End If
End If
End Function

Note: This code supports printing of all types of attachments received in emails. If you want to print only the specified type of attachment, such as pdf files, please apply the following VBA code.

VBA code 2: Automatically print the specified type of attachments when emails arrive

Sub AttachementAutoPrint(Item As Outlook.MailItem)
'Updated by Extendoffice 20230223
  Dim xFS As FileSystemObject
  Dim xTempFolder As String
  Dim xAtt As Attachment
  Dim xShell As Object
  Dim xFolder As Object, xFolderItem As Object
  Dim xFileType As String, xFileName As String
  On Error GoTo xError
  If Item.Attachments.Count = 0 Then Exit Sub
  Set xFS = New FileSystemObject
  xTempFolder = xFS.GetSpecialFolder(TemporaryFolder)
  xTempFolder = xTempFolder & "\ATMP" & Format(Item.ReceivedTime, "yyyymmddhhmmss")
  If Not xFS.FolderExists(xTempFolder) Then
    MkDir (xTempFolder)
  End If
  Set xShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
  Set xFolder = xShell.NameSpace(0)
  For Each xAtt In Item.Attachments
    If IsEmbeddedAttachment(xAtt) = False Then
      xFileName = xAtt.FileName
      xFileType = LCase$(Right$(xFileName, VBA.Len(xFileName) - VBA.InStrRev(xFileName, ".")))
      xFileName = xTempFolder & "\" & xFileName
      Select Case xFileType
        Case "pdf"   'change "pdf" to the file extension you want to print
          xAtt.SaveAsFile (xFileName)
          Set xFolderItem = xFolder.ParseName(xFileName)
          xFolderItem.InvokeVerbEx ("print")
      End Select
    End If
  Next xAtt
  Set xFS = Nothing
  Set xFolder = Nothing
  Set xFolderItem = Nothing
  Set xShell = Nothing
xError:
  If Err <> 0 Then
    MsgBox Err.Number & " - " & Err.Description, , "Kutools for Outlook"
    Err.Clear
  End If
  Exit Sub
End Sub

Function IsEmbeddedAttachment(Attach As Attachment)
Dim xItem As MailItem
Dim xCid As String
Dim xID As String
Dim xHtml As String
On Error Resume Next
IsEmbeddedAttachment = False
Set xItem = Attach.Parent
If xItem.BodyFormat <> olFormatHTML Then Exit Function
xCid = ""
xCid = Attach.PropertyAccessor.GetProperty("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x3712001F")
If xCid <> "" Then
    xHtml = xItem.HTMLBody
    xID = "cid:" & xCid
    If InStr(xHtml, xID) > 0 Then
        IsEmbeddedAttachment = True
    End If
End If
End Function

Notes:

1. Before applying this VBA code to print only the pdf file in the incoming emails, first you need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader and set it as the default pdf reader in your computer.

2. In the line Case "pdf", please change "pdf" to the file extension you want to print.

3. Go ahead and click Tools > References. In the popping up References – Project1 dialog box, check the Microsoft Scripting Runtime box, and then click the OK button.

4. Save the code and press the Alt + Q keys to close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

Note: Please make sure that the Enable all macros option is enabled in your Outlook. You can check this option by following the steps shown below.

Step2: Build a rule to use the script

After adding the VBA script in Outlook, you need to create a rule to use the script based on certain conditions.

1. Go to the Home tab, click Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts.

2. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, click the New Rule button to create a rule.

Tips: If you have added multiple email accounts to your Outlook, please specify an account in the Apply changes to this folder drop-down list where you want to apply the rule. Otherwise, it will be applied to the inbox of the currently selected email account.

3. In the first Rules Wizard dialog box, select Apply rule on messages I receive in the Step 1 box, and then click Next.

4. In the second Rules Wizard dialog box, you need to:

4.1) Specify one or more conditions in the Step 1 box according to your needs;

In this case, I want to print only the attachments in incoming emails from a specified sender. Here, I check the from people or public group box.

4.2) Click the underlined value in the Step 2 box to edit the condition;

4.3) Click Next. See screenshot:

5. In the third Rules Wizard dialog box, you need to configure as follows.

5.1) In the Step 1: Select action(s) section, check the run a script box;

5.2) In the Step 2 section, click the underlined text “a script”;

5.3) In the opening Select Script dialog box, click the name of the VBA code you added above, and then click OK;

5.4) Click the Next button. See screenshot:

Tips: If the “run a script” option is missing in your Rules Wizard, you can display it by following the method mentioned in this article: restore missing Run A Script pption in Outlook rule.

6. Then another Rules Wizard pops up asking for exceptions. You can select the exceptions if necessary, otherwise, click the Next button without any selections。

7. In the last Rules Wizard, you need to specify a name for the rule, and then click the Finish button.

8. Then it returns to the Rules and Alerts dialog box, you can see the rule you created listed inside, click the OK button to finish the whole settings.

From now on, when an email from the specified person is received, the attached files will be printed automatically.

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