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UserProperties.Add method (Outlook)

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Creates a new user property in the UserProperties collection.

Syntax

expression.Add (Name, Type, AddToFolderFields, DisplayFormat)

expression A variable that represents a UserProperties object.

Parameters

Name Required/Optional Data type Description
Name Required String The name of the property. The maximum length is 64 characters. The characters, '[', ']', '_' and '#', are not permitted in the name.
Type Required OlUserPropertyType The type of the new property.
AddToFolderFields Optional Boolean True if the property will be added as a custom field to the folder that the item is in. This field can be displayed in the folder's view. False if the property will be added as a custom field to the item but not to the folder. The default value is True.
DisplayFormat Optional Long Specifies how the property will be displayed in the Outlook user interface. This parameter can be set to a value from one of several different enumerations, determined by the OlUserPropertyType constant specified in the Type parameter. For more information on how Type and DisplayFormat interact, see DisplayFormat Property.

Return value

A UserProperty object that represents the new property.

Remarks

You can define custom properties by calling either the UserProperties.Add method for an Outlook item or folder, or the UserDefinedProperties.Add method for a folder.

You can create a property of a type that is defined by the OlUserPropertyType enumeration, except for the following types: olEnumeration, olOutlookInternal, and olSmartFrom.

To set for the first time a property created by the UserProperties.Add method, use the UserProperty.Value property instead of the SetProperties and SetProperty methods of the PropertyAccessor object.

If you want to view a custom property on an item, you must use the UserProperties.Add method to create that property. Custom properties created by the PropertyAccessor are not supported in a custom view.

You cannot add custom properties to Office document items such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. You will receive an error when you try to programmatically add a user-defined field to a DocumentItem object.

Example

This VBA example creates a new ContactItem object and adds "LastDateSpokenWith" as a custom property.

Sub AddUserProperty() 
 Dim myItem As Outlook.ContactItem 
 Dim myUserProperty As Outlook.UserProperty 
 
 Set myItem = Application.CreateItem(olContactItem) 
 Set myUserProperty = myItem.UserProperties _ 
 .Add("LastDateSpokenWith", olDateTime) 
 myItem.Display 
End Sub

This VBA example creates a new ContactItem object and adds "Details" as a user property. The value is set by changing the Value property of the UserProperty object.

Sub AddUserProperty() 
 Dim myItem As Outlook.ContactItem 
 Dim myUserProperty As Outlook.UserProperty 
 
 Set myItem = Application.CreateItem(olContactItem) 
 Set myUserProperty = myItem.UserProperties _ 
 .Add("Details", olText) 
 myUserProperty.Value = "Neighbor" 
 myItem.Display 
End Sub

See also

UserProperties Object

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