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Programmatically access Outlook contacts

This example finds all contacts whose last names contain a specified search string.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to VSTO Add-in projects for Outlook. For more information, see Features available by Office application and project type.

Example

private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    AccessContacts("Na");
}

private void AccessContacts(string findLastName)
{
    Outlook.MAPIFolder folderContacts = this.Application.ActiveExplorer().Session.
        GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderContacts);
    Outlook.Items searchFolder = folderContacts.Items;
    int counter = 0;
    foreach (Outlook.ContactItem foundContact in searchFolder)
    {
        if (foundContact.LastName.Contains(findLastName))
        {
            foundContact.Display(false);
            counter = counter + 1;
        }
    }
    MessageBox.Show("You have " + counter +
        " contacts with last names that contain "
        + findLastName + ".");
}

Compile the code

This example requires:

  • Contacts whose last names contain the string "Na" (for example, Tzipi Butnaru) in the Contacts folder.

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