VBA to format selected text in Outlook

Question

I want to highlight text in an email and format it to font consolas and indent it once.

I have tried this but get an error:

Sub Code()

    Selection.Font.Name = "Consolas"
    Selection.Paragraphs.Indent

End Sub

Run-time error '429':

ActiveX component can't create object

Answer 1

You can use WordEditor to edit selected text in mail:

Private Sub Code()

    ' Mail must be in edit mode - compose, reply, forward
    ' If reading mail then under Actions | Edit Message

    ' Select some text

    Dim objDoc As Object
    Dim objSel As Object

    Set objDoc = ActiveInspector.WordEditor
    Set objSel = objDoc.Windows(1).Selection

    objSel.Font.name = "Consolas"
    objSel.Paragraphs.Indent

End Sub

Code with validations:

Sub FormatSelection()

    ' With extra validation for troubleshooting

    ' Code in Outlook

    ' Mail must be in edit mode - compose, reply, forward
    ' If reading mail then under Actions | Edit Message

    ' Select some text

    Dim myInspector As Inspector
    Dim myObject As Object
    Dim myItem As mailItem

    Dim myDoc As Word.Document
    Dim mySelection As Word.Selection

    Set myInspector = ActiveInspector

    If myInspector Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "No inspector. Open a mailitem and select some text."
        GoTo ExitRoutine
    End If

    If myInspector.EditorType <> olEditorWord Then
        'https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vba/outlook-vba/articles/oleditortype-enumeration-outlook
        '  olEditorWord / 4 / Microsoft Office Word editor
        Debug.Print "EditorType: " & myInspector.EditorType
        MsgBox "Editor is not Microsoft Office Word editor"
        GoTo ExitRoutine
    End If

    ' Probably not needed. EditorType should be enough
    'If myInspector.IsWordMail = False Then
    '    MsgBox "myInspector.IsWordMail = False"
    '    GoTo ExitRoutine
    'End If

    On Error Resume Next
    Set myObject = myInspector.currentItem
    On Error GoTo 0

    If myObject Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "Open a mailitem and select some text."
        GoTo ExitRoutine
    End If

    If myObject.MessageClass = "IPM.Note" Then
        'Should be equivalent to If myObject.Class = olMail Then

        Set myItem = myObject

        Set myDoc = myInspector.WordEditor

        Set mySelection = myDoc.Application.Selection
        Debug.Print "Selected text is: " & mySelection
        MsgBox "Selected text is: " & vbCr & vbCr & mySelection

        mySelection.Font.name = "Consolas"
        mySelection.Paragraphs.Indent

    Else

        MsgBox "Not a mailitem. Open a mailitem and select some text."
        GoTo ExitRoutine

    End If

ExitRoutine:

    Set myInspector = Nothing
    Set myObject = Nothing
    Set myItem = Nothing

    Set myDoc = Nothing
    Set mySelection = Nothing

End Sub