[FAQ's: OD] How do I make a HotKey (shortcut keypress) in Outlook?

When you create custom Menu Items and Toolbar Buttons you may find yourself needing to associate a shortcut key or keypress sequence to invoke your custom click event. Using the RegisterHotkey API call as well as a few others you can make it work.

For ex: You added a custom menut item ...

"My Send Button (Ctl+Alt+S)"

When clicked, the menu will fire the click event when you set the .OnAction property of the menu item or sync up a WithEvents. The shortcut is different.

We use the RegisterHotKey API just as we would in any other programming language but we need a parent window handle and Outlook doesnt expose one to us from the Application object like it does in a few other Office Apps. Using the FindWindow API we can get the window handle and progress as usual.

The Application_MAPILogonComplete() event is where we need to start initializing. Then to clean up when Outlook closes we need to unhook the hotkey in the Application_Quit event.

Using this method and APIs we can assign shortcut keys or shortcut keypress sequences that can not be achieved in a menu editor.

For this example we will use "Ctl+Alt+S". This will also show that you can override the default shortcut hotkeys and replace them with your own event.


Outlook 2003 Or 2007 VBA:

vb Code:

'BEHIND CLASS MODULE: "ThisOutlookSession"
Option Explicit
'Copyright © 2007 by RobDog888 (VB/Office Guru™). All Rights reserved.
'
'Distribution: You can freely use this code in your own
'              applications provided that this copyright
'              is left unchanged, but you may not reproduce
'              or publish this code on any web site, online
'              service, or distribute as source on any
'              media without express permission.
Private Type POINTAPI
    x As Long
    y As Long
End Type
 
Private Type Msg
    hWnd As Long
    Message As Long
    wParam As Long
    lParam As Long
    time As Long
    pt As POINTAPI
End Type
 
Private Declare Function RegisterHotKey Lib "user32.dll" ( _
                        ByVal hWnd As Long, _
                        ByVal id As Long, _
                        ByVal fsModifiers As Long, _
                        ByVal vk As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function UnregisterHotKey Lib "user32" ( _
                        ByVal hWnd As Long, _
                        ByVal id As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function PeekMessage Lib "user32" Alias "PeekMessageA" ( _
                        lpMsg As Msg, _
                        ByVal hWnd As Long, _
                        ByVal wMsgFilterMin As Long, _
                        ByVal wMsgFilterMax As Long, _
                        ByVal wRemoveMsg As Long) As Long
                        
Private Declare Function WaitMessage Lib "user32" () As Long
 
Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32.dll" Alias "FindWindowA" ( _
                        ByVal lpClassName As String, _
                        ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
 
Private Const MOD_ALT = &H1
Private Const MOD_CONTROL = &H2
Private Const MOD_SHIFT = &H4
Private Const PM_REMOVE = &H1
Private Const WM_HOTKEY = &H312
 
Private mbCancel As Boolean
Private lHwnd As Long
 
Private Sub ProcessMessages()
    Dim Message As Msg
    'LOOP UNTIL MBCANCEL IS TRUE
    Do While Not bCancel
        'WAIT FOR MESSAGE
        WaitMessage
        'CHECK IF ITS A HOTKEY MESSAGE
        If PeekMessage(Message, lHwnd, WM_HOTKEY, WM_HOTKEY, PM_REMOVE) Then
            'INVOKE THE SEND MACRO OF THE SELECTED ITEM
            MsgBox "Ctl+Alt+S", vbOKOnly + vbInformation, "OD FAQ TEST"
        End If
        'RESUME THE OS PROCESSING OF OTHER MESSAGES
        DoEvents
    Loop
End Sub
 
Private Sub Application_MAPILogonComplete()
    Dim ret As Long
    mbCancel = False
    Dim iBuild As Integer
    'VERSION DETECTION FROM MY OUTLOOK FAQ:
    'http://vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=402020
    'GET THE MAJOR BUILD ONLY TO MAKE IT EASIER TO DETERMINE EXACT VERSION
    iBuild = Left$(Application.Version, InStr(1, Application.Version, ".") + 1)
    Select Case iBuild
        Case 7 To 10
            'sVersion = "97/98/2000/2002"
            MsgBox "Too Old! Just kidding." & vbNewline & _
            "I dont have the older versions to test with.", _
            vbOkOnly + vbInformation, "[FAQ's: OD] Outlook HotKey"
            Exit Sub
        Case 11, 12
            'sVersion = "2003/2007"
            lHwnd = FindWindow("rctrl_renwnd32", "Inbox - Microsoft Outlook")
        Case Else
            MsgBox "Too New!"
            Exit Sub
    End Select
    'NO NEED TO ERROR TRAP FOR THE OUTLOOK WINDOW SINCE THIS IS VBA CODE
    lHwnd = FindWindow("rctrl_renwnd32", "Inbox - Microsoft Outlook")
    'REGISTER THE HOTKEY SEQUENCE: Ctrl+Alt+S
    ret = RegisterHotKey(lHwnd, &HBFFF&, MOD_CONTROL Or MOD_ALT, vbKeyS)
    'PROCESS THE HOTKEY MESSAGES
    ProcessMessages
End Sub
 
Private Sub Application_Quit()
    mbCancel = True
    'UNREGISTER HOTKEY
    Call UnregisterHotKey(lHwnd, &HBFFF&)
End Sub