How can I count the selected items in Outlook?

Question

Outlook 2007 shows the total number of items in a folder on the status bar at the bottom.

When I select a group of e-mails the information on the status bar does not change.

How can I find out how many items are selected?

Solution 1

I just found out that if you select 5 or more items and press Enter then it shows a warning dialog which contains the number. Something like "Are you sure you want to open X items?" (the wording could be a bit different, not using English Outlook).

I can then just click "No" and they will not be opened.

Solution 2

Use the Count Selected Items Macro That website has all the information you need to count the number of selected items in Outlook 2007.

Quick Install

1. Download this code-file (countselected.zip) or copy the code below.
2. Open the VBA Editor (keyboard shortcut ALT+F11)

3. Extract the zip-file and import the CountSelected.bas file via File-> Import…
   If you copied the code, paste it into a new module.

4. Add a button for easy access to the macro.

5. Sign your code.

Macro code

The following code is contained in the zip-file referenced in the Quick Install. You can use the code below for review or manual installation.

Sub CountSelectedItems()
    Dim objSelection As Outlook.Selection
    Dim Result As Integer
    Set objSelection = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection
    Result = MsgBox("Number of selected items: " & _
      objSelection.Count, vbInformation, "Selected Items")
End Sub

Solution 3

I think the best you can do is create a temporary folder, move the selected emails into that folder, and see what the count is.

Then move them back again.

Solution 4

If all the items in the folder happen to be read, just mark the selected items as unread: Ctrl+U. The number of unread items will usually be shown next to the folder name. Afterwards mark the selected items as read again: Ctrl+Q.

View more solutions

Comments

[Siim K]

That's what I tried first but it involves a lot of waiting (copying) if the number of items is high and you need the information often :)

[Saulo Silva]

This method does not seem to work in Outlook 2010.

[Louis Yang]

@SauloSilva It works on Outlook 2010.

[Predrag Stojadinović]

It definitely doesn't work in MS Office 365 Version 2002... when I hit enter with selected more than 5 emails, it opens 2 of them.........