Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell

The VBA Editor in Outlook

We’ve seen the syntax and structure of the VBA language, and we’ve hit some high points in Outlook’s object model. Now we can explore how you actually enter code and make Outlook do useful things for you. Like the other Office applications, Outlook uses the Visual Basic Editor as its development environment.

To launch the editor, select Tools → Macro → Visual Basic Editor, or hit Alt+F11. You should see something similar to Figure 18-3.

Figure 18-3. The Visual Basic Editor in Outlook

Macro Security and Digital Signatures

After you’ve written some macros or event handlers in your VBA project, you’ll get a macro security warning when you start Outlook. This happens with other Office applications, and is a good safeguard. But sometimes being safe can be a bit annoying.

You could just set your macro security level to Low in the Tools → Macro → Security → Security Level tab, but this would open an undesirable security hole. Fortunately, there’s a better way: a personal digital signature.

A digital signature allows you to sign your VBA code so that only you can run it. Having a digital signature lets you crank that macro security setting all way up to High, at which level only your macros can be run in your Outlook session.

To create a digital signature, you’ll need Digital Signature for VBA Projects installed. This component is included on the Office 2000 CD, and can ...