Possible to use Access to manage a folder in Outlook

[diberlee]

Hi,

My manager wants to be able to implement a kind of punch card system for managing staff time. I'm thinking we could make a database that links to a folder in Outlook. Staff will be able to send an email to the inbox saying that they are, for example, going on a break at 10:50, and then another at 11:05 saying they have returned and are back to work.

This would probably add up to around 500 emails per day with the number of staff we have, so I don't want to have to keep all the emails to be able to add up break times etc.

I'll be extracting the timestamps, name, break description etc from the email and storing them in another table. What I would like to know is whether Access would then be able to delete the email from the inbox (or modify it in some way to reflect it has been accounted for), or whether this would have to be a manual task?

Regards
Duane

 

[diberlee]

So I was playing around with a table linked to an email folder and realised that deleting the record in Access will delete the associated email, but seemingly only if the folder is not open in Outlook at the time.

So I need to refine my question to: Can I reliably delete an email from within Access knowing that the folder may be open in Outlook by several people at a time?

Cheers
Duane

 

[diberlee]

Does anybody have any experience with this?