Can only send email via Outlook if Outlook is open

14

I want to use send emails via Outlook as described here. It works fine as long as I have already opened Outlook. So for example if Outlook is minimized and I execute my code, then I can send an email just fine. But if Outlook is closed, then I get an exception:

{System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80004004): Operation aborted (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004004 (E_ABORT))
   at Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook._MailItem.get_Recipients()
   at OutlookExample.Form1.btnSendEmail_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Users\abc\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\OutlookExample\OutlookExample\Form1.cs:line 28}

Here is the code:

using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

...

private void btnSendEmail_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        Outlook.Application oApp = new Outlook.Application();
        Outlook.MailItem oMsg = Outlook.MailItem)oApp.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem);
            oMsg.HTMLBody = "Hello, here is your message!";
            oMsg.Subject = "This is a test message";
            Outlook.Recipients oRecips = (Outlook.Recipients)oMsg.Recipients;
            Outlook.Recipient oRecip = (Outlook.Recipient)oRecips.Add("rhr@sonlinc.dk");
            oRecip.Resolve();
            oMsg.Send();
            oRecip = null;
            oRecips = null;
            oMsg = null;
            oApp = null;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString());
    }
}

Why doesn't this work?

Edit: Here is the solution

using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

...

private void btnSendEmail_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        Outlook.Application oApp = new Outlook.Application();

        // These 3 lines solved the problem
        Outlook.NameSpace ns = oApp.GetNamespace("MAPI");
        Outlook.MAPIFolder f = ns.GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox);
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000); // test

        Outlook.MailItem oMsg = Outlook.MailItem)oApp.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem);
            oMsg.HTMLBody = "Hello, here is your message!";
            oMsg.Subject = "This is a test message";
            Outlook.Recipients oRecips = (Outlook.Recipients)oMsg.Recipients;
            Outlook.Recipient oRecip = (Outlook.Recipient)oRecips.Add("rhr@sonlinc.dk");
            oRecip.Resolve();
            oMsg.Send();
            oRecip = null;
            oRecips = null;
            oMsg = null;
            oApp = null;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString());
    }
}
c#
outlook-2010
asked on Stack Overflow Jul 4, 2012 by Kasper Hansen • edited Feb 24, 2017 by Friedrich Kölbel

2 Answers

14

The following code has reliably worked for months for me:

            app = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application();
            Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.NameSpace ns = app.GetNamespace("MAPI");
            f = ns.GetDefaultFolder(OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox);
            Thread.Sleep(5000); // a bit of startup grace time.

if outlook was open it uses it, if not its opened it. Of course, if your outlook requires you to login, your code wont allow for that. Some systems make it difficult for you to auto login.

answered on Stack Overflow Jul 4, 2012 by BugFinder
13

I didn't like the idea to use Thread.Sleep for 5 seconds, so I've found another solution, that worked for me:

All you need is get Inspector object for newly created MailItem

Outlook.Application oApp = new Outlook.Application();
Outlook.MailItem oMsg = (Outlook.MailItem)oApp.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem);
Outlook.Inspector oInspector = oMsg.GetInspector;

Answer was published in Google groups originally for Outlook 2007 (but it worked for me with Outlook 2010)

answered on Stack Overflow Jan 29, 2014 by Woodman • edited Dec 12, 2019 by Woodman

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