.RTFBody property for a mail item is returning error

[mlewis]

Hi,



I currently have a macro that creates personalised Emails i.e. Dear John, and then sends them out to a recipient list which it reads from a CSV file (it does other stuff as well but this is the lead into my problem). I want the Email body to come up in a specific format with a company logo, I have created the Email body with word and saved it as both HTML and RTF format, the HTML format does not display correctly as all of the logo's etc are saved as separate files on my PC and are not sent with the mail so I thought I would try it with RTF as all of the data is saved in a single file.

I have created the below macro to try and test just sending the RTF but it comes back with "Run-time error Method 'RTFBody of object _MailItem' failed". I have tried converting it but the array it is stored in is already a string so it should be the right type. Any ideas?

Sub RTF_email()

    Dim EmailHTMLFile As Integer
    Dim EmailHTMLFilePath As String
    Dim newFileContents As String
    Dim OutApp As Object
    Dim OutMail As Object


    EmailHTMLFilePath = "D:\Stuff\Email template.rtf"
    EmailHTMLFile = FreeFile()
    Open EmailHTMLFilePath For Input As #EmailHTMLFile

    'Reading the Email contents into an array which e are going to use and manipulate from here
    newFileContents = Input$(LOF(EmailHTMLFile), #EmailHTMLFile)
    Close #EmailHTMLFile


       Set OutApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
       Set OutMail = OutApp.CreateItem(0)

       ' Change the mail address and subject in the macro before you run this procedure.
       'On Error Resume Next
       With OutMail
        .to = "mlw@sierrawireless.com"
        .CC = ""
        .BCC = ""
        .Subject = "Test Email"
        .BodyFormat = 3
        .RTFBody = newFileContents
        
        .Display
       End With
        
End Sub

Regards

Matt

[gmayor]

Stick with HTML format as that is widely supported. There are issues with creating Outlook objects from other Office applications and kindly fellow Microsoft MVP Ben Clothier has produced an excellent function that determines if Outlook is available and opens it properly. If you don't use that function, then be prepared to manually start Outlook and Get that running application instead of creating a new one. I have assumed that Outlook is present, so have not included error trapping against that omission.

HTML format and Word formats are different from one another, but you should be able to get images from the document body into the message body using the following code to create the message. Here the source is the activedocument open in Word. If you are using some other document then open it and set it as the oSource document.

Option Explicit
'Ben Clothier - http://www.rondebruin.nl/win/s1/outlook/openclose.htm
#Const LateBind = True

Const olMinimized As Long = 1
Const olMaximized As Long = 2
Const olFolderCalendar As Long = 9
Const olFolderContacts As Long = 10
Const olFolderDrafts As Long = 16
Const olFolderInbox As Long = 6
Const olFolderOutbox = 4
Const olFolderSentMail = 5
Const olFolderTasks = 13

#If LateBind Then

Public Function OutlookApp( _
       Optional WindowState As Long = olMinimized, _
       Optional Folder As Long = olFolderInbox, _
       Optional ReleaseIt As Boolean = False _
       ) As Object
Static o As Object
#Else
Public Function OutlookApp( _
       Optional WindowState As Outlook.OlWindowState = olMinimized, _
       Optional Folder As Long = olFolderInbox, _
       Optional ReleaseIt As Boolean _
       ) As Outlook.Application
Static o As Outlook.Application
#End If
    On Error GoTo ErrHandler

    Select Case True
        Case o Is Nothing, Len(o.Name) = 0
            Set o = GetObject(, "Outlook.Application")
            If o.Explorers.Count = 0 Then
InitOutlook:
                'Open inbox to prevent errors with security prompts
                o.Session.GetDefaultFolder(Folder).Display
                o.ActiveExplorer.WindowState = WindowState
            End If
        Case ReleaseIt
            Set o = Nothing
    End Select
    Set OutlookApp = o

ExitProc:
    Exit Function
ErrHandler:
    Select Case Err.Number
        Case -2147352567
            'User cancelled setup, silently exit
            Set o = Nothing
        Case 429, 462
            Set o = GetOutlookApp()
            If o Is Nothing Then
                Err.Raise 429, "OutlookApp", "Outlook Application does not appear to be installed."
            Else
                Resume InitOutlook
            End If
        Case Else
            MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & ": " & Err.Description, vbCritical, "Unexpected error"
    End Select
    Resume ExitProc
    Resume
End Function

#If LateBind Then
Private Function GetOutlookApp() As Object
#Else
Private Function GetOutlookApp() As Outlook.Application
#End If
    On Error GoTo ErrHandler
    Set GetOutlookApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
ExitProc:
    Exit Function
ErrHandler:
    Select Case Err.Number
        Case Else
            'Do not raise any errors
            Set GetOutlookApp = Nothing
    End Select
    Resume ExitProc
    Resume
End Function

Sub CreateMessage()
Dim OutApp As Object
Dim olInsp As Object
Dim outMail As Object
Dim wdDoc As Document
Dim oSource As Document
Dim oRng As Range
    Set oSource = ActiveDocument 'the document with the message format
    oSource.Range.Copy
    Set OutApp = OutlookApp()
    Set outMail = OutApp.createitem(0)
    With outMail
        .to = "mlw@sierrawireless.com"
        .Subject = "Test Email"
        .BodyFormat = 2
        Set olInsp = .GetInspector
        Set wdDoc = olInsp.WordEditor
        Set oRng = wdDoc.Range
        oRng.PasteAndFormat (wdFormatOriginalFormatting)
        .Display
    End With
lbl_Exit:
    Set OutApp = Nothing
    Set olInsp = Nothing
    Set oSource = Nothing
    Set wdDoc = Nothing
    Set oRng = Nothing
    Exit Sub
End Sub

[mlewis]

Gmayor,

Thanks for the response. When I do this I do manually have Outlook open so this is not a problem, so to date I have been using the above macro but with HTMLBody rather than RTFBody and specifying the basic htm file (rather than the RTF one). Given this in my code how would I point to the graphic so that it is included, I cannot figure it out from your code.

FYI I am running the overall macro with a different word document as the current item as this is being watermarked, saved as a PDF and then attached to the Email which the HTML document is then being used as the body of the mail (and I change the addressee within this HTML doc to personalise it).

Regards

Matt

[gmayor]

Outlook may be open but your code creates another Outlook application

Set OutApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")

If you want to take advantage of the open Outlook you must use the Outlook application that is open. Your code doesn't do that. The code I posted will ensure only one version of Outlook is used and it will open or access it so that it can be used to create the message. The line I isolated above does not do that.

You can't use an existing watermark in your message body as watermarks are set in the header footer story range and e-mails do not support header/footers.

Create you message as a Word document. The macro will copy the complete body of the active document, including any graphics anchored to the body story range to the message. If your graphics are anchored to the header/footer range, bring them out to the document body and then the macro can copy them.

[mlewis]

Gmayor,

Sorry maybe I wasn't clear, the watermarked document is the attachment which is saved as a PDF and from which I run the macro. The Email body (separate file(s) on the drive) just needs to have a company logo and the addressee changed, so the key bit I need is how to include the company logo in the Email body.

Regards

Matt

[gmayor]

Read the last sentence of my last messaage again.

[mlewis]

Sorry for the delay, I have been distracted, thanks for the posting I almost have it working now.

Regards

Matt