OL98: Can't Use Square Brackets to Sort User-defined Fields (187554)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 98

This article was previously published under Q187554

SYMPTOMS

If you programmatically 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

Correct
Use the following syntax

MyItems.Sort "Contact Type", False

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

Incorrect
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

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

IMPORTANT: In Microsoft Outlook 2000, the Outlook Visual Basic Reference (Vbaoutl9.chm) explicitly states that the Sort method does not support user-defined fields.

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

REFERENCES

For more information about creating solutions with Microsoft Outlook 98, please click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

180826 OL98: Resources for Custom Forms and Programming

182349 OL98: Questions About Custom Forms and Outlook Solutions

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	7/31/2001
Keywords:	kbbug kbprogramming KB187554