Remove Flags from Inbox Emails

January 30, 2012 by JP

In Don’t let senders flag message with Reminder for me there is a method for removing follow up flags from emails. Here I will present a VBA method (both manual and event-driven) for doing the same.

Personally, I dislike those follow up flags. The mere fact that an email was sent implies that some kind of response or follow up is being requested. A flag is just piling on. I will decide if and when to follow up on an email.

Manual / On Demand Method

This code may be run as needed to remove flags on existing emails in the default Inbox.

Sub RemoveFlags()
  Dim itms As Outlook.Items
  Dim msg As Outlook.mailItem
  Dim i As Long

  ' get default Inbox folder items
  Set itms = GetItems(GetNS(GetOutlookApp), olFolderInbox)

  For i = 1 To itms.count
    If TypeName(itms.Item(i)) = "MailItem" Then

      Set msg = itms.Item(i)
      ' remove flags
      With msg
        .FlagStatus = olNoFlag
        .FlagIcon = olNoFlagIcon
        .Save
      End With

    End If
  Next i
End Sub

This code should be placed in a standard module in Outlook's VBA editor (see Where do I put my Outlook VBA code for placement assistance).

Event Handler

Suppose you wanted to remove flags on all incoming emails automatically. Kudos to you for being brave. I started with the event handler found at Stock Event Code and produced this code:

Private WithEvents Items As Outlook.Items

Private Sub Application_Startup()
  Set Items = GetItems(GetNS(GetOutlookApp), olFolderInbox)
End Sub

Private Sub Items_ItemAdd(ByVal item As Object)
  On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

  Dim msg As Outlook.mailItem

  If TypeName(item) = "MailItem" Then
    Set msg = item
    With msg
      .FlagStatus = olNoFlag
      .FlagIcon = olNoFlagIcon
      .Save
    End With
  End If
ProgramExit:
  Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
  MsgBox Err.Number & " - " & Err.Description
  Resume ProgramExit
End Sub

This code should be placed in the ThisOutlookSession module in Outlook's VBA editor (see Where do I put my Outlook VBA code for placement assistance). Restart Outlook and then ask someone to send you an email with a follow up flag.

GetItems, GetNS and GetOutlookApp may be found on the Utility Functions page.