Powershell script for replying to email-CodePudding

I am trying to reply to emails using PowerShell, and the code below works successfully, but it doesn't show the original message I'm responding to:

Add-Type -assembly "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook"
Add-type -assembly "System.Runtime.Interopservices"

try {
$outlook = [Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::GetActiveObject('Outlook.Application')
$outlookWasAlreadyRunning = $true
}
catch {
    try {
    $Outlook = New-Object -comobject Outlook.Application
    $outlookWasAlreadyRunning = $false
    }
    catch {
        write-host "You must exit Outlook first."
        exit
    }
}

$namespace = $Outlook.GetNameSpace("MAPI")

$inbox = $namespace.GetDefaultFolder([Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlDefaultFolders]::olFolderInbox)

$Folder = $inbox.Folders | where-object { $_.name -eq "Folder name" }

$mails = $Folder.Items | Where-Object {$_.Subject -like "This is the subject"}

foreach($mail in $mails) {
    $reply = $mail.ReplyAll()
    $reply.body = "TEST BODY"
    $reply.save()
    
    $inspector = $reply.GetInspector
    $inspector.display()
}

CodePudding user response：

First of all, there is no need to iterate over all items in the folder checking the subject property:

$mails = $Folder.Items | Where-Object {$_.Subject -like "This is the subject"}

Use the Find/FindNext or Restrict methods of the Items class to get only items that correspond to your conditions. Read more about these methods in the following articles:

As for the message body, in the code it is replaced with a plain text:

$reply.body = "TEST BODY"

To preserve the original message body you need to add your content right after the opening <body> tag and use the HTMLBody property instead. The Body property contains a plain text.

Also there is no need to get an inspector if you need to display the item after. Use the Display method of the MailItem class directly.

CodePudding user response：

The reason your reply is not showing is because you're creating your reply with $reply = $mail.ReplyAll() and then replacing the body of that email in this line $reply.body = "TEST BODY"

If you wish to retain the existing email, I'd use the Insert method on the body string like so:

foreach($mail in $mails) {
    $reply = $mail.ReplyAll()
    $text = "TEST BODY`r`n"

    # Insert our desired text at position 0 of the existing string content
    $reply.body = $reply.body.Insert(0, $text)
    $reply.save()
    
    $inspector = $reply.GetInspector
    $inspector.display()
}

If you're working with HTML-based emails, you'll probably want to update the HTMLBody field instead, so replace

$reply.body = $reply.body.Insert(0, $text)

with this

$reply.HTMLBody = $reply.HTMLBody.Insert(0, $text)