Can't Use Square Brackets to Sort User-defined Fields

ID: Q187554

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 98

SYMPTOMS

If you use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications or Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) to sort a collection of items based on a user- defined field, the items may not be sorted.

CAUSE

You used square brackets to delimit the name of the user-defined field.

WORKAROUND

Do not use square brackets around the user-defined field. Do not use the following syntax to sort a collection of items based on a user-defined field:

   MyItems.Sort "[Contact Type]", False

Instead, use the following syntax

   MyItems.Sort "Contact Type", False

where Contact Type is the name of a user-defined field.

STATUS

The Sort method is not designed to function with user-defined fields. Although the workaround described in this article works in all known cases, Microsoft does not support its use.

Also, this functionality may not exist in future versions of Outlook, raising the risk that your solution may not function correctly in the future.

MORE INFORMATION

This problem does not occur when using a standard, or pre-defined, Outlook field.

REFERENCES

For more information about creating solutions with Microsoft Outlook, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q180826
   TITLE     : OL98: Resources for Custom Forms and Programming

   ARTICLE-ID: Q182349
   TITLE     : OL98: Questions About Custom Forms and Outlook Solutions

Additional query words: OutSol OutSol98

Keywords          : kbdta OffVBS 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbpending

Last Reviewed: April 20, 1999