VBA, MS Outlook, Folder Item - vba

Question

I want to implement an VBA application, which uses the selected object (E-mail, task, folder).
My try with Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(i_item) seems to return only mails, tasks, calender entries or notes but never an folder (e.g. 'Inbox\').
When the user selects an e-mail, and then starts the VBA macro, the solution Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(i_item) delivers the desired results.
However, if the last item picked by the Outlook user was an folder (e.g. 'Sent Mails'). And the VBA makro started afterward, than the macro should recive the Folder Item (without additional user interaction). This is currently not the case. The code above still delivers the e-mail, or task.
How do I check, if the last selection was on an folder (not an e-mail, etc)?
How do I access the Folder item?
If this is not possible I will switch back to Pickfolder (like proposd by Darren Bartrup-Cook) but this is not me prefred solution.

Answer 1

I want to get the selected folder in order to change its icon, so our code is somehow the same.
I noticed that Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(i_item) it is not perfect, since it throws an exception for empty folders or on calendar etc.
So I use Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder.DefaultMessageClass (Application.ActiveExplorer.NavigationPane.CurrentModule.Name or Application.ActiveExplorer.NavigationPane.CurrentModule.NavigationModuleType) in order to figure out where I actually am.
By that approach it is easy to get current selected folder
Dim folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
Dim folderPath As String, currItemType As String
Dim i As Integer
currItemType = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder.DefaultMessageClass
If currItemType = "IPM.Note" Then 'mail Item types https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff861573.aspx
Set folder = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder
folderPath = folder.Name
Do Until folder.Parent = "Mapi"
Set folder = folder.Parent
folderPath = folder.Name & "\" & folderPath
Loop
Debug.Print folderPath
End If
haven't got an problem with it yet. In your case, you can store the selection in a global variable, so you always know which folder was selected last.

Answer 2

This procedure will ask you to select the folder.
If you interrupt the code and examine the mFolderSelected or MySelectedFolder then you should be able to work something out:
Public Sub Test()
Dim MySelectedFolder As Variant
Set MySelectedFolder = PickFolder
End Sub
Public Function PickFolder() As Object
Dim oOutlook As Object 'Outlook.Application
Dim nNameSpace As Object 'Outlook.Namespace
Dim mFolderSelected As Object 'Outlook.MAPIFolder
On Error GoTo ERROR_HANDLER
Set oOutlook = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set nNameSpace = oOutlook.GetNameSpace("MAPI")
Set mFolderSelected = nNameSpace.PickFolder
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'The commented out code will return only email folders. '
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
If Not mFolderSelected Is Nothing Then
' If mFolderSelected.DefaultItemType = 0 Then
Set PickFolder = mFolderSelected
' Else
' Set PickFolder = Nothing
' End If
Else
Set PickFolder = Nothing
End If
Set nNameSpace = Nothing
Set oOutlook = Nothing
On Error GoTo 0
Exit Function
ERROR_HANDLER:
Select Case Err.Number
Case Else
MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & vbCr & _
" (" & Err.Description & ") in procedure PickFolder."
Err.Clear
End Select
End Function
NB: This was written to be used in Excel and has late binding - you'll need to update it to work in Outlook (no need to reference Outlook for a start).