Send Outlook Mail (2013) Not working

Question

I am writing a script that at the end will send an email with logs from a completed process. We use Outlook 2013 at work and I'm testing this on both outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010 with the same results.

The script will only generate a mailitem if Outlook is closed. If it is open it throws a bunch of errors. Anyone have an idea?

Here is the code:

############ Setup the outlook object#####

$outlook = New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application
$datestr = get-date -Format yyyyMM
$message = $outlook.CreateItem(0)

###### Create an email and add the logs as attachments ######

$toaddress1 = "nospam@example.com"
$msub = "Monthly load - logs attached $datestr" 
$message.Recipients.Add($toaddress1)  
$message.Subject = "$msub"  
$message.htmlbody = "See attached logs for this months file load<br><br>" 

$filepath = get-childitem  "c:\path\log" | ? {$_.PSISContainer -eq $false} | select -ExpandProperty fullname
    foreach($file in $filepath) {

$message.Attachments.Add($file)
$message.display()
  } 

Like I said, it works when Outlook is not open but with it open it generates the following errors from PowerShell:

New-Object : Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID
{0006F03A-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error:
80080005 Server execution failed (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80080005
(CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE)).
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:4 char:13
+ $message = (New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application)
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [New-Object], COMException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NoCOMClassIdentified,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewObjectCommand

Exception calling "CreateItem" with "1" argument(s): "The RPC server is
unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)"
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:7 char:1
+ $message = $outlook.CreateItem(1)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : COMException

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:13 char:1
+ $message.Recipients.Add($toaddress1)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:14 char:1
+ $message.Subject = "$msub"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], COMException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException

The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:15 char:1
+ $message.htmlbody = "Jeff attached are the logs from this months load ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], COMException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:20 char:1
+ $message.Attachments.Add($file)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:21 char:1
+ $message.display()
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], COMException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:20 char:1
+ $message.Attachments.Add($file)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:21 char:1
+ $message.display()
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], COMException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:20 char:1
+ $message.Attachments.Add($file)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At c:\scripts\mailtest.ps1:21 char:1
+ $message.display()
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], COMException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException

I went on MSDN and could not find any updated methods for Outlook.Application so it looks like I'm doing this right or maybe a better way? In this case Outlook is always going to be open in our environment.

Answer 1

I think that Outlook only allows a single instance to be running at any time, especially for a non-exchange mailbox (it locks the PST).

You might consider checking for a running instance, and then retrieving the instance instead of creating a new one. Maybe something like this:

if (Get-Process Outlook) {
    $outlook = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::GetActiveObject('Outlook.Application')
} else {
    $outlook = New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application
}

I haven't thoroughly tested this though.

Also, if Outlook is running under a different user account than this code, then it probably won't work anyway.