Outlook Activities

Version: 1.0.5  ·  ID: zoan-packages-outlook  ·  Author: Zoan Software

The Outlook package automates Microsoft Outlook desktop: sending emails, reading the inbox, downloading attachments, moving messages between folders, replying and deleting. It is ideal for mail-based processes: reading orders that arrive by email, downloading attached invoices, sending notifications, classifying messages. Because it works with the accounts Outlook already has configured, you need no servers, ports or passwords in the playbook.

Requires Outlook installed and configured

These activities drive the Outlook desktop client (through COM) using the accounts already configured on the machine. On the computer where the robot runs:

• Microsoft Outlook must be installed with a mail profile that has at least one account. If Outlook is not open, it starts in the background.
• It usually needs an active user session (attended mode or an agent with an interactive session).
• The robot and Outlook must run at the same elevation level: a robot running as administrator cannot use a non-elevated Outlook (and vice versa).

If you need to send/read mail without Outlook (through a generic SMTP/IMAP server), use the SMTP/IMAP package.

Account and session (optional)

Most activities work directly, with no previous steps: they use Outlook’s default account. For example, an Outlook Get Emails on its own reads your Inbox. In that mode, each activity opens and releases its own connection to Outlook.

If you need a specific account (not the default one) or will run several operations in a row efficiently, open a session with Outlook Connect:

Outlook Connect   account = "support@company.com"
 └─ body:
      Outlook Get Emails   folder = "Inbox"   → output: emails
      ... process ...

Inside the body, activities inherit the session (and its account) automatically, and it closes by itself at the end. Without body, Outlook Connect returns the session as a variable and you close it with Outlook Close.

Folders

The folder and targetFolder parameters accept a path with / for subfolders ("Inbox/Processed"). The first segment can be:

• An English alias of a well-known folder: inbox, sent, drafts, deleted, junk, outbox (case-insensitive).
• The name Outlook shows in your language: "Bandeja de entrada/Procesados" in a Spanish Outlook, "Sent Items".
• Any other name: it is looked up as a subfolder of the Inbox ("Customers" = Inbox/Customers).

Names are compared case-insensitively. If a segment does not exist, the error says at which level of the path it failed and how many subfolders the parent folder has.

With a session that has an account

If the session was opened with a specific account and Outlook finds its mailbox, the path is resolved from the root of that mailbox: write the folder name exactly as Outlook shows it (for example "Inbox/Processed" in an English Outlook, "Bandeja de entrada/Procesados" in a Spanish one). If that account’s mailbox is not found, the rules above apply to the default mailbox.

The EntryID flow

The central pattern of this package: Outlook Get Emails returns a list of emails (ZoanMail). Each email has a unique identifier, its EntryID, available as .Id. The other activities (save attachments, move, mark, delete, reply) receive that entryId to know which email to act on.

Outlook Get Emails   folder = "Inbox"   unreadOnly = true   → output: emails
For Each   items = emails   itemVariable = email
 └─ activities:
      Outlook Get Attachments   entryId = email.Id   outputDir = "C:/attachments"   → output: files
      Outlook Mark Read         entryId = email.Id
      Outlook Move Email        entryId = email.Id   targetFolder = "Inbox/Processed"

What each email contains (ZoanMail)

Property	Type	Value in Outlook
.Id	string	The message EntryID.
.Subject	string	Subject ("" if empty).
.From	string	Sender address. For internal Exchange senders, Outlook may return the internal address instead of the SMTP one.
.To / .Cc	string[]	Recipients as Outlook shows them (names or addresses), split into a list.
.Bcc	string[]	Always empty.
.Body	string	Plain-text body.
.IsHtml	bool	Always false (the body is delivered as plain text).
.SentAt	DateTime	Date and time the message was received.
.IsRead	bool	true if read.
.Attachments	ZoanAttachment[]	Always empty: to get attachments use Outlook Get Attachments.

The full type is in Data types › ZoanMail.

Activities

Session (optional)

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Outlook Connect	outlook-connect	ZoanOutlookSession	Opens a session (specific account / several operations)
Outlook Close	outlook-close	—	Closes an open session

Send and reply

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Outlook Send Email	outlook-send	—	Sends an email
Outlook Reply	outlook-reply	—	Replies to an email

Read

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Outlook Get Emails	outlook-get-emails	List<ZoanMail>	Reads emails from a folder
Outlook Get Attachments	outlook-get-attachments	List<string>	Saves the attachments of an email

Organize

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Outlook Mark Read	outlook-mark-read	—	Marks an email as read/unread
Outlook Move Email	outlook-move-email	—	Moves an email to another folder
Outlook Delete Email	outlook-delete-email	—	Sends an email to Deleted Items

Next steps

• Outlook Get Emails — read the inbox.
• Outlook Send Email — send emails.
• Data types › ZoanMail — the properties of an email.
• SMTP/IMAP — alternative without Outlook installed.