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AutoFormatRule Object

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Outlook Developer Reference

Represents a formatting rule used by a View object to determine how to format Outlook items displayed within that view.

Version Information
 Version Added:  Outlook 2007

Remarks

Use the Add method or the Insert method of the AutoFormatRules collection to create a new formatting rule for the following objects:

Built-In and Custom Formatting Rules

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 provides a set of built-in formatting rules that can be disabled but cannot be removed or reordered. Custom formatting rules, defined either programmatically or by user action, cannot be moved above or between built-in formatting rules. Use the Standard property to determine whether a formatting rule is built-in or custom.

Applying Formatting Rules

Formatting rules are checked and applied against each Outlook item, in the order in which they are contained within the AutoFormatRules collection. Use the Enabled property to enable or disable a formatting rule, the Filter property to define the conditions an Outlook item must meet to be formatted by the formatting rule, and the Font property to specify the format to be applied by the formatting rule.

Example

The following Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) example enumerates the AutoFormatRules collection for the current TableView object, disabling any custom formatting rule contained by the collection.

Visual Basic for Applications 
  Private Sub DisableCustomAutoFormatRules()
    Dim objTableView As TableView
    Dim objRule As AutoFormatRule
    
    ' Check if the current view is a table view.
    If Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentView.ViewType = olTableView Then
    
        ' Obtain a TableView object reference to the current view.
        Set objView = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentView
        
        ' Enumerate the AutoFormatRules collection for
        ' the table view, disabling any custom formatting
        ' rule defined for the view.
        For Each objRule In objView.AutoFormatRules
            If Not objRule.Standard Then
                objRule.Enabled = False
            End If
        Next
        
        ' Save and apply the table view.
        objView.Save
        objView.Apply
    End If
End Sub

See Also