MailItem

MailItem is a class in the Microsoft Outlook Object Model that represents an email message within Outlook. It is used for creating, reading, and manipulating mail items in the Outlook environment. Developers typically create a new mail item with a method like CreateItem and then configure its properties before sending or displaying it. MailItem objects can be accessed through folders, search results, or the Items collection of a mailbox.

Common properties of a MailItem include To, Cc, Bcc, Subject, Body, and HTMLBody, as well as SentOn and ReceivedTime for timestamp information. Other frequently used properties are SenderName, SenderEmailAddress, Importance, Read, and BodyFormat, which indicates whether the message is plain text, HTML, or RTF. The MailItem also exposes collections such as Attachments and Recipients, enabling programmatic management of attachments and recipient lists. The MessageClass or Class property can identify the item as a mail item among other item types in Outlook.

Key methods available on a MailItem include Save, Send, Display, and Close, as well as operations to Move or Copy the item. Convenience actions such as Reply, ReplyAll, and Forward are also provided to generate related messages based on the original mail item.

MailItem is primarily used in automation and add-ins within Outlook, via VBA, VSTO, or other COM-compliant languages. It should not be confused with .NET’s System.Net.Mail.MailMessage, which represents a different API for constructing email outside the Outlook object model.