Sorry more questions
what does this line do? Debug.Print " Move this mail: " & searchItems(i)
I put this below it and got a message box with the subject line
MsgBox (searchItems(i))



Great news niton. I can find the email with the search criteria I set, I can move the email to the right folder.

I will set about trimming the subject line so I just have my search criteria as at the moment I get the whole subject line. I then need to do something based on the subject line

If I can get my excel code to work in outlook wow what a result but I think I am going to need this outlook code to be converted to code that excel will work with.

tomorrow is another day and so I will have another go

niton, appreciate the help as I would still be floundering if it were not for you, thank you

smiler44