How Can I Search The Outlook (2010) Global Address List For A Name?

I have a list of names, some of them complete, some truncated. I would like to search the Outlook address list for matches for these names. The closest I have come is this Python c

Solution 1:

Problem solved!

Thanks to Dmitry'sanswers I could produce this minimal Python code which demonstrates what I wanted to achieve:

from __future__ import print_function
import win32com.client

search_string = 'Doe John'

outlook = win32com.client.gencache.EnsureDispatch('Outlook.Application')
recipient = outlook.Session.CreateRecipient(search_string)
recipient.Resolve()
print('Resolved OK: ', recipient.Resolved)
print('Is it a sendable? (address): ', recipient.Sendable)
print('Name: ', recipient.Name)

ae = recipient.AddressEntry
email_address = Noneif'EX' == ae.Type:
    eu = ae.GetExchangeUser()
    email_address = eu.PrimarySmtpAddress

if'SMTP' == ae.Type:
    email_address = ae.Address

print('Email address: ', email_address)

Solution 2:

Your code above deals with the contacts in the default Contacts folder. If you want to check if a given name is in Outlook (either as a contact or in GAL), simply call Application.Session.CreateRecipient followed by Recipient.Resolve. If the call returns true, you can read the Recipient.Address and various other properties.

Solution 3:

The method in @Prof.Falken's solution doesn't always work when there are multiple matches for the search string. I found another solution, which is more robust as it uses exact match of the displayname.

It's inspired by How to fetch exact match of addressEntry object from GAL (Global Address List).

import win32com.client

search_string = 'Doe John'

outlook = win32com.client.gencache.EnsureDispatch('Outlook.Application')
gal = outlook.Session.GetGlobalAddressList()
entries = gal.AddressEntries
ae = entries[search_string]
email_address = Noneif'EX' == ae.Type:
    eu = ae.GetExchangeUser()
    email_address = eu.PrimarySmtpAddress

if'SMTP' == ae.Type:
    email_address = ae.Address

print('Email address: ', email_address)