# Using Ruby to read outlook message stores

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-to-read-outlook-message-stores/55224>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 18, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-to-read-outlook-message-stores/55224 "2006-03-18T02:23:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ksader)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-to-read-outlook-message-stores/55224/1 "2006-03-18T02:23:25Z")

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Does anyone know of a way to use Ruby to look at Outlook email stores?

I’ve google’d for this and found no useful links.

thanks,

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**Author:** ![ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ksader)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-to-read-outlook-message-stores/55224/2 "2006-03-18T02:41:29Z")

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Keith S. wrote:

> Does anyone know of a way to use Ruby to look at Outlook email stores?
> 
> I’ve google’d for this and found no useful links.

I’ve written a few scripts that connect to the CDO Exchange message  
store using win32ole talking to Microsoft Outlook. If you read through  
some basic MSDN docs on the CDO API then you just wrap these in Ruby  
win32ole calls. If you want I can post a sampling here. It might be a  
little lengthy. It deals with Outlook Contacts…

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**Author:** ![ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ksader)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-to-read-outlook-message-stores/55224/3 "2006-03-18T02:44:30Z")

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Below is an URL to one thread I posted to awhile back regarding this  
subject. It contains some specifics that might be useful. I used such a  
setup to have a host PC serving up CDO contact data via XMLRPC calls to  
various non-Microsoft clients, such as wifi ARM Linux PDA’s. That way  
various non-Outlook clients could still access message stores.

> **[ActiveState Community](https://community.activestate.com)**
>
> Community support for users of the ActiveState Platform.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@ksader](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ksader)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-to-read-outlook-message-stores/55224/4 "2006-03-18T03:11:43Z")

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Keith S. wrote:

> Does anyone know of a way to use Ruby to look at Outlook email stores?

This may help:

[http://www.jamesbritt.com/index.rb/Development@Outlook\_Appointments\_with\_Ruby.txt](http://www.jamesbritt.com/index.rb/Development@Outlook_Appointments_with_Ruby.txt)

–  
James B.

“Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally  
for machines to execute.”

- H. Abelson and G. Sussman  
(in "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs)