Conversation ID of Outlook emails

Each email in Outlook has a Conversation ID associated with it that allows it to be related to other messages in the same thread. The ID is a 44 alphanumeric code. You can use this Visual Basic code in Outlook to get the Conversation ID of an email you have selected in Outlook:

Sub GetConvID()

Dim obj As Object Dim msg As Outlook.MailItem

Set obj = GetCurrentItem

If TypeName(obj) = "MailItem" Then Set msg = obj MsgBox msg.ConversationID End If

End Sub

Function GetCurrentItem() As Object ' returns reference to current item, either the one ' selected (Explorer), or the one currently open (Inspector)

Select Case True Case IsExplorer(Application.ActiveWindow) Set GetCurrentItem = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1) Case IsInspector(Application.ActiveWindow) Set GetCurrentItem = ActiveInspector.CurrentItem End Select

End Function Function IsExplorer(itm As Object) As Boolean IsExplorer = (TypeName(itm) = "Explorer") End Function Function IsInspector(itm As Object) As Boolean IsInspector = (TypeName(itm) = "Inspector") End Function

1. Simply enter Visual Basic in Outlook by pressing ATL + F11, and then create a new module in the Project list by right clicking on the Modules folder and selecting Insert . . . Module.

2. Paste the code in and then press the play button and choose GetConvID

3. I message box will appear like this one showing the Conversation ID.

Thanks to Jimmy Pena for posting this code here.

Getting rid of your deleted emails in Outlook

Most Windows users are aware that once an email is deleted from his or her Inbox or Sent Items, the message can still be recovered from the Deleted Items folder. The email will remain in the Deleted Items folder until a user manually deletes it or when exiting if user agrees to the commonly seen Outlook prompt to empty the Deleted Items folder.

Not everyone is aware that even after messages are deleted from the Deleted Items folder they can still be recovered. In Outlook 2016, if you select the Deleted Items folder and click on the Folder tab, in the 'Clean Up' section you'll see the option to 'Recover Deleted Items'. This option will be activated if you are using an Exchange server account, but not if you're working with a .pst file. The 'Recovered Deleted Items' feature is also available in many past versions of Outlook.

Emails will kept available for recovery by 14 days by default with a system using Exchange 2016 (see the documentation on this at this Microsoft web page). [Unlike email messages, calendar entries are retained by default up to 120 days. See the Microsoft documentation on this point here. ] The maximum length of time that deleted items can be retained in Exchange 2016 is 24,855 days (which works out to more than 68 years - let's hope hope the MS Office monopoly doesn't last that long.) - See the MS TechNet posting on this point here.

Editing Outlook's AutoComplete Email Address List

The folks at Nirsoft have another great free program that you can put to use to help solve everyday problems in the office. NK2Edit can be used to review and edit the file (with the extension .nk2) that Outlook uses to store email addresses that will be automatically entered when a user enters the first few letters of a person's name or email address. Given how central email is to conducting work in a law office, or any office, this little tech feature must be one of the most noticeable and widely used tools around. An attorney you're working for may know nothing about macros for Outlook, or the advanced searched tools available in the Exchange server but she or he has surely noticed the email address autofill feature, and likely occasionally been stymied by it.

Download Nirsoft's NK2Edit application here, and use it to:

1. Add new email addresses to the autofill list, either individually or by scanning sent or received emails - see the icons on the upper tool bar with plus signs.

2. Change how addresses already in the list appear, by simply right clicking on any one entry in the Table mode and choosing Properties.

3. Change the order in which names appear as the user types in letters. In order to do this, you just need to change the 'weight' assigned to anyone email address. See the column circled in red in the screen grab below, which shows the weight.

The higher an address's weight, the higher its order in the autofill list. However in order to edit the assigned weights you need to run a script from Windows command prompt. In a text file, enter a script in this format:

if EmailString Contain "@edrm.net" set weight 1000000

. . . you can use any high number in place of 1,000,000. Then save this file as a text file on your C drive, in a folder you can make easy reference to. Go back to the folder in which you saved the NK2Edit executable files, press CTRL + SHIFT, and RIGHT CLICK, and then enter this in the command prompt:

NK2Edit.exe /script "c:\hello\myscript.txt" "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache\Stream_Autocomplete_0_FBF73DA0129ACD42A241F953CDBE1222.dat"

The last reference is to a .dat file which Outlook 2016 apparently uses in place of an .nk2 file, but if you are using an earlier version of Outlook this path should lead to the .nk2 file itself.

4. Import a list of new addresses from a .csv file - see Action . . . Add Records From Simple csv File

5. Change the maximum number of addresses that can be added to the list. Go to the Help menu and select Set Outlook AutoComplete Limit.

Be sure to back-up the .nk2 file before beginning to edit it, and save your changes before exiting the application.