Excel and Outlook Helpers

Various modules for automating tasks in Excel and Outlook desktop applications

Tested On

1. Windows 7 Professional
2. Outlook 2016
3. Excel 2016
4. Python 3.5.2

email_attachment_export.py

Module for exporting attachments from Outlook desktop application. I found myself needing to automate the process of downloading email attachments so I could import data contained in attachments into a SQL database. I created this module to help with that process.

Requirements

• os
• win32com.client
• datetime

Notes

• Use to download attachments from Outlook email messages
• If no path is specified, attachments will be downloaded to the Downloads folder
• Emails containing attachments can be searched for by the following:
• keywords in the subject line
• date received
• day received relative to the current day
• Export filenames can be altered before export occurs

excel_refresh.py

Module for refreshing data connections in Excel. I use this for refreshing data in Excel workbooks in place of manually opening the workbook, clicking on refresh all, and then saving. I also found that simply using the RefreshAll workbook method sometimes resulted in not all data being updated.

Requirements

• os
• sys
• win32com.client
• time

Notes

• If not using Excel 2016, change or remove the gencache.EnsureModule( '{00020813-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}', 0, 1, 9 ) line
• To ensure all data is updated as expected, data is refreshed in a specified order based on connection and type of data

email_data_from_query.py

Module for running a sql query, saving results to a file, attaching file to Outlook email tempate, and sending email. This seems to be a common task for me, so I created this module to automate the process.

Requirements

• os
• win32com.client
• sql_stuff (one of my other modules)

Notes

• After setting up sql_stuff, this module only requires paths to a .sql file, .msg email template, and file path for the to-be created data file