Adapted Word VBA code running very slowly in Outlook 2016

Question

I have some MS Word VBA which runs 10x more slowly when adapted to run within Outlook 2016. I'm hoping someone to help me identify why that might be the case. Tomalak developed the VBA code in this question (which deletes all but one duplicated paragraphs in a Word document) which I adapted to be able to be run on a Message in Outlook 2016. My adapted code is below:

Public Sub STRIPPER_RepeatedTextParasTomalakSimple()
' Add ref to Word Object library and
' MS Scripting Runtime in VBA Editor, Tools, References
Dim objInsp As Outlook.Inspector
Dim objDoc As Word.Document
Dim objWord As Word.Application
Dim Selection As Word.Selection

Set objInsp = Application.ActiveInspector
Set objDoc = objInsp.WordEditor
Set objWord = objDoc.Application
Set objSel = objWord.Selection

'------- Inserted Modifed Word VBA below ---------
  Dim p As Word.Paragraph        ' In Word VBA was '....As Paragraph'
  Dim d As New Scripting.Dictionary
  Dim t As Variant
  Dim i As Integer
  Dim StartTime As Single

  StartTime = Timer

  ' collect duplicates
  For Each p In objDoc.Paragraphs    ' In Word VBA was '...In ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
    t = p.Range.Text
    If _
        t <> vbCr Then
        If Not d.Exists(t) Then d.Add Key:=t, Item:=New Scripting.Dictionary
        d(t).Add Key:=d(t).Count + 1, Item:=p
    End If
  Next p

  ' eliminate duplicates
  objWord.ScreenUpdating = False     ' In Word VBA was 'Application.Screenupdating = False'

  For Each t In d
    For i = 1 To d(t).Count - 1
        d(t)(i).Range.Delete         ' This line is the bottleneck
      Next i
  Next t
  objWord.ScreenUpdating = True      ' In Word VBA was 'Application.Screenupdating = True'

MsgBox "This code ran successfully in " & Round(Timer - StartTime, 2) & " seconds", vbInformation
objUndo.EndCustomRecord
'------- End of Modifed Word VBA above ---------


End Sub

Hopefully it is clear that the section denoted 'Inserted Modified Word VBA' is the original Word VBA code with the 4 modifications indicated by remarks beginning 'In Word VBA was.....'. I also added the top section of the code 4xdims and 4xsets to allow the code to run in Outlook.

The original code runs perfectly in Word 2010 x86, and the modified code runs perfectly in Outlook 2016 x86. I am at a loss as to why when run in Outlook it should be so much slower. (In Outlook the Word 2016 Object Library and the MS Scripting Runtime have both been referenced)

[NB: To avoid any confusion I have also posted a question with a similar title on at EE. this relates to different code. If either post yields useful results I will cross-post in both venues.]

Code does not compile as objWord is an object an not a libary (that is Word) that contains the Paragraph class in Dim p As objWord.Paragraph. It should be Dim p As Word.Paragraph. I don't know why the code runs slower (if it does), but maybe the Word inspector in Outlook is slower? Try if is faster when you create a "real" Word instance copy the Text, remove the paragraphs and copy it back to outlook. — ComputerVersteher
Sorry, my pasting error. I have edited and made your correction. — Mike
Please avoid cross postings , experts-exchange.com/questions/29110029/… And why is the code not the same? — ComputerVersteher
The code runs at c 1/10th speed in Outlook 2016 compared to being run in Word 2010. At your suggestion I opened Word and created a new docx, then copied an email from Outlook into that Docx, then created a New Mail in Outlook, then copied the text from the Docx into the New Mail, then ran the code. No faster. — Mike
Anything else you are hiding? Make it clear that you use different Office versions (O2016/W2010) with bold chars! Bitness is x86 both? I different versions can have different execution time, but don't ask me why! And if cross posting share the link!! — ComputerVersteher

Buzzkillionair Buzzkillionair · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-18T12:12:23

This was answered in the comments by Ken White, however I wanted to add it as in answer in case this is ever asked again. Ken said

" The code executing in Word does not have the overhead of automating Word. The Outlook code has that overhead, because it's having to pass the work over to Word and wait for results. Code that does automation will never be as fast as code that operates directly. It takes less time for you to reach over and pick up a tool from your workbench yourself than it does for you to explain to someone else what tool you want and wait for them to hand it to you."

Adapted Word VBA code running very slowly in Outlook 2016

1 Answers