Mass Export outlook letters with ConversationID - vba

Question

I need to extract all emails with standard outlook fields (from/to/subject/date, including category and most importantly, ConversationID) into Excel/csv.
I'm using MS Office 2016, no idea about version of Exchange server.
I tried several ways to do so on my mailbox:
1) exported data through standard outlook interface
2) exported data into MS access via standard export master
3) extracted data to MS PowerBI from MS Exchange directly
In all 3 cases I wasn't able to get ConversationID (PowerBI extract had some ID but it was not ConversationID)
Now I understand that it should be extracted through MAPI somehow, but I'm totally illiterate on this topic. Some searches advised to use special software for that, like Transcend, but it's obviously too expensive for one user :)
I also found VBA code to get data into Excel directly but it is not working for me:
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1739523
Also found this nice explanation what is ConversationID - might be helpful for others intrested in topic:
https://www.meridiandiscovery.com/how-to/e-mail-conversation-index-metadata-computer-forensics/

Answer 1

Here is some sample code to get you started, I already had something similar to your ask. The code is commented, but feel free to ask questions :)
Option Explicit
Public Sub getEmails()
On Error GoTo errhand:
'Create outlook objects and select a folder
Dim outlook As Object: Set outlook = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Dim ns As Object: Set ns = outlook.GetNameSpace("MAPI")
'This option open a new window for you to select which folder you want to work with
Dim olFolder As Object: Set olFolder = ns.pickFolder
Dim emailCount As Long: emailCount = olFolder.Items.Count
Dim i As Long
Dim myArray As Variant
Dim item As Object
ReDim myArray(4, (emailCount - 1))
For i = 1 To emailCount
Set item = olFolder.Items(i)
'43 is olMailItem, only consider this type of email message
'I'm assuming you only want items with a conversationID
'Change the logic here to suite your specific needs
If item.Class = 43 And item.ConversationID <> vbNullString Then
'Using an array to write to excel in one go
myArray(0, i - 1) = item.Subject
myArray(1, i - 1) = item.SenderName
myArray(2, i - 1) = item.To
myArray(3, i - 1) = item.CreationTime
myArray(4, i - 1) = item.ConversationID
End If
Next
'Adding headers, then writing the data to excel
With ActiveSheet
.Range("A1") = "Subject"
.Range("B1") = "From"
.Range("C1") = "To"
.Range("D1") = "Created"
.Range("E1") = "ConversationID"
.Range("A2:E" & (emailCount + 1)).Value = TransposeArray(myArray)
End With
Exit Sub
errhand:
Debug.Print Err.Number, Err.Description
End Sub
'This function is used to bypass the limitation of -
'application.worksheetfunction.transpose
'If you have too much data added to an array you'll get a type mismatch
'Found here - http://bettersolutions.com/vba/arrays/transposing.htm
Public Function TransposeArray(myArray As Variant) As Variant
Dim X As Long
Dim Y As Long
Dim Xupper As Long: Xupper = UBound(myArray, 2)
Dim Yupper As Long: Yupper = UBound(myArray, 1)
Dim tempArray As Variant
ReDim tempArray(Xupper, Yupper)
For X = 0 To Xupper
For Y = 0 To Yupper
tempArray(X, Y) = myArray(Y, X)
Next
Next
TransposeArray = tempArray
End Function