When do I use the NEW keyword

[kenmare37]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum and fairly new to VBA. I am confused as to when and why I should use the NEW keyword. Most example of VBA code on the net show the use of the keyword. However I have written examples without using it and they seem to work. For example this code works:
***********************
'Load Outlook if it's running
Set OutlookApp = GetObject(, "Outlook.Application")
If Err <> 0 Then
'Outlook wasn't running, start it from code
Set OutlookApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
VarStarted = True
End If
If VARStarted Then
'If Outlook started from code, then close it
OutlookApp.Quit
End If
************************

but, if I look at samples from forums etc they all seem to use the new keyword e..g.
Set OutlookApp = New Outlook.Application
Can anyone explain why and which method is preferable
Many thanks
Ken

[shg]

1. Please edit your post to add code tags. If you don't know how, please consult the forum rules.

2. Your example is late binding: the object variable isn't set until run time. It's almost always preferable to use early binding, where the variable type is set at compile time. Among other things, it allows Intellisense to work, so that you can see the object methods and properties. The downside is that you need to set a reference to the object's library beforehand (Tools > References, (in this case) Microsoft Outlook xx.x Object Library).

Here's an example of early binding:

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