MATLAB: Retrieve a specific folder in outlook

actxserverMATLABoutlook

Hi,
First time using outlook COM in Matlab. No id where I did wrong in the following code. Basically I'd like to get a specific email from a sub-folder in the inbox called 'Important Infor’.
outlook.GetNamespace('mapi').GetDefaultFolder('olFolderInbox')
Folders is null so I cannot retrieve the folder 'Important Infor’.
>> outlook = actxserver('Outlook.Application');
>> MyFolder = outlook.GetNamespace('mapi').GetDefaultFolder('olFolderInbox').Folders('Important Infor')
Index exceeds matrix dimensions.
Thanks a lot in advance!

Best Answer

You need to be aware of two things:
1. olFolderInbox should be the integer 6.
2. Indexing into VBA collections such as Folders() using a string is not supported via COM. You'll have to loop through the items and find the one with the right name. Loop through using the Items property of the collection.
Here's how I got the body for a particular email in Outlook. This gets the oldest email in my inbox. I'll show this in stages to see how the tree structure is built up.
First start with
outlook = actxserver('Outlook.Application');
Then
outlook.GetNamespace('mapi').Folders(1).Item(2) %returns my Mailbox
outlook.GetNamespace('mapi').Folders(1).Item(2).Folders(1).Item(2); %returns my Inbox
outlook.GetNamespace('mapi').Folders(1).Item(2).Folders(1).Item(2).Item(1).Item(1); %returns the oldest email in my Inbox
outlook.GetNamespace('mapi').Folders(1).Item(2).Folders(1).Item(2).Item(1).Item(1).Body; %Returns the body of this message
This is by no means straightforward and the hierarchy will depend upon how you have configured Outlook. The code here should provide a good starting point, though.
Good luck,
Eric
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