Deleting inline attachments

Question

I'm trying to search selected emails and delete the attachments. I did a bit of research and ended up going with the Word.Document route.

I had a previous tidbit of code that deleted all the attachments but was leaving behind a dotted line box that said the image wasn't available.

I'm trying to mesh the two as this one below does not delete attachments but only the inline shapes.

Code that deletes inline images:

Sub DeleteAllAttachmentsFromSelectedMessages()
Dim selectedItems As Selection
Dim messageObject As Object
Dim documentsObject As Object
Dim shp As InlineShape
Dim doc As Object
Dim shpRange As Object
Const wdInlineShapePicture As Long = 3
Const wdInlineShapesEmbeddedOLEObject As Long = 1

' Set reference to the Selection.
Set selectedItems = ActiveExplorer.Selection

For Each messageObject In selectedItems
    Set doc = messageObject.GetInspector.WordEditor
    ' doc.UnProtect
    For Each shp In doc.InlineShapes
        Select Case shp.Type
            Case wdInlineShapePicture, wdInlineShapesEmbeddedOLEObject
                Set shpRange = doc.Range(shp.Range.Characters.First.Start, shp.Range.Characters.Last.End)
                shpeRange.Text = "Attachment Removed" ' Replace shape with text
            Case Else
                ' Other shapes not supported yet
        End Select
    ' doc.Protect
    messageObject.Save
    Next
Next

MsgBox "Attachments were removed.", vbOKOnly, "Message"

Set selectedItems = Nothing
Set messageObject = Nothing
Set documentsObject = Nothing
Set shp = Nothing
Set doc = Nothing
Set shpRange = Nothing
End Sub

For the code I was using to delete all attachments:

Sub DeleteAllAttachmentsFromSelectedMessages()
Dim attachmentsObject As Attachments
Dim selectedItems As Selection
Dim messageObject As Object
Dim attachmentCount As Long

Set selectedItems = ActiveExplorer.Selection

For Each messageObject In selectedItems
    Set attachmentsObject = messageObject.Attachments

    attachmentCount = attachmentsObject.Count

    While attachmentCount > 0
        attachmentsObject(1).Delete
        attachmentCount = attachmentsObject.Count
    Wend

    messageObject.Save

Next

MsgBox "Attachments were removed.", vbOKOnly, "Message"

Set attachmentsObject = Nothing
Set selectedItems = Nothing
Set messageObject = Nothing
End Sub

Answer 1

Many years ago, I investigated inline attachments. My recollection is that different email packages handled them in very different ways so it is impossible to give explicit instructions.

The basic problem is that you are deleting the attachment but not the command to display it within the body of the email.

Select some of these emails and run the macro below. It creates a file on the desk top named DemoExplorer,txt containing selected properties of the emails. Within the Html body you will find something like this:

<img width=2112 height=1186 style='width:22.0in;height:12.3541in'
     id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D22C6F.05449B60">

You must delete this IMG element to remove the image from the Html body.

Public Sub DemoExplorer()

  ' Outputs selected properties of selected emails to a file.

  ' Technique for locating desktop from answer by Kyle:
  ' http://stackoverflow.com/a/17551579/973283

  ' Needs reference to Microsoft Scripting Runtime if "TextStream"
  ' and "FileSystemObject" are to be recognised

  ‘ Coded by Tony Dallimore

  Dim AttachCount As Long
  Dim AttachType As Long
  Dim FileOut As TextStream
  Dim Fso As FileSystemObject
  Dim Exp As Outlook.Explorer
  Dim InxA As Long
  Dim ItemCrnt As MailItem
  Dim NumSelected As Long
  Dim Path As String

  Path = CreateObject("WScript.Shell").specialfolders("Desktop")

  Set Fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
  Set FileOut = Fso.CreateTextFile(Path & "\DemoExplorer.txt", True)

  Set Exp = Outlook.Application.ActiveExplorer

  NumSelected = Exp.Selection.Count

  If NumSelected = 0 Then
    Debug.Print "No emails selected"
  Else
    For Each ItemCrnt In Exp.Selection
      With ItemCrnt
        FileOut.WriteLine "--------------------------"
        FileOut.WriteLine "From: " & .SenderName
        FileOut.WriteLine "Subject: " & .Subject
        FileOut.WriteLine "Received: " & Format(.ReceivedTime, "dMMMyy h:mm:ss")
        FileOut.WriteLine "Text: " & Replace(Replace(Replace(.Body, vbLf, "{lf}"), vbCr, "{cr}"), vbTab, "{tb}")
        FileOut.WriteLine "Html: " & Replace(Replace(Replace(.HtmlBody, vbLf, "{lf}"), vbCr, "{cr}"), vbTab, "{tb}")
        AttachCount = .Attachments.Count
        FileOut.WriteLine "Number of attachments: " & AttachCount
        For InxA = 1 To AttachCount
          AttachType = .Attachments(InxA).Type
          FileOut.WriteLine "Attachment " & InxA
          FileOut.Write "  Attachment type: "
          Select Case AttachType
            Case olByValue
              FileOut.WriteLine "By value"
            Case olEmbeddeditem
              FileOut.WriteLine "Embedded item"
            Case olByReference
              FileOut.WriteLine "By reference"
            Case olOLE
              FileOut.WriteLine "OLE"
            Case Else
              FileOut.WriteLine "Unknown " & AttachType
          End Select
          ' I recall PathNasme giving an error for some types
          On Error Resume Next
          FileOut.WriteLine "  Path: " & .Attachments(InxA).PathName
          On Error GoTo 0
          FileOut.WriteLine "  File name: " & .Attachments(InxA).FileName
          FileOut.WriteLine "  Display name: " & .Attachments(InxA).DisplayName
          ' I do not recall every seeing a parent but it is listed as a property
          ' but for some attachment types it gives an error
          On Error Resume Next
          FileOut.WriteLine "  Parent: " & .Attachments(InxA).Parent
          On Error GoTo 0
          FileOut.WriteLine "  Position: " & .Attachments(InxA).Position
        Next
      End With
    Next
  End If

  FileOut.Close

End Sub