Replace entire subject line

[jomili]

I have a macro I made a few years ago, which replaces a value in the subject lines of all emails you've selected. The code is below. I ran into a snag this morning, and am at a loss as to how to work around it. My macro was already working if I want to replace a value with nothing; in that case, for "nothing" I just leave the field blank. But today I ran into a situation where I wanted to replace the full subject line with a different value. Putting an Asterisk in the Text to Replace causes the macro to replace nothing, and putting nothing in the Text to Replace also causes no replacement. How would I tell me macro to replace ALL of the subject line?

Sub ReplaceInSubjectline()
'Inspiration http://www.excelforum.com/outlook-programming-vba-macros/1114327-change-each-subject-line-in-selection.html?
'Replaces anything in Subject Line with anything or nothing
Dim mySubject As String
Dim MyOlSelection As Object
Dim myOlExp As Outlook.Explorer
Dim myOlSel As Outlook.Selection
Dim X As Long
Dim RepWhat As String
Dim RepWith As String
Dim iReply As Integer
    
    RepWhat = InputBox(Prompt:="What text do you want to replace?", _
    Title:="ENTER YOUR TEXT TO REPLACE", Default:="Type String to Replace")
    If RepWhat = "Type String to Replace" Then Exit Sub
    If RepWhat = vbNullString Then
        iReply = MsgBox(Prompt:="You didn't put a value to replace." & vbCrLf & _
        "To replace the entire subject line, Click YES" & vbCrLf & _
        "To exit this macro, click NO", _
        Buttons:=vbYesNo + vbQuestion, Title:="REPLACE ENTIRE SUBJECT LINE?")
        If iReply = vbNo Then Exit Sub
    End If
        
    RepWith = InputBox(Prompt:="OK, we're replacing " & RepWhat & ".  " & vbcrlof & _
    "What text do you want to replace it with?", _
    Title:="ENTER YOUR REPLACEMENT TEXT", Default:="Type what you want to appear")
    If RepWith = "Type what you want to appear" Then Exit Sub
    If RepWith = vbNullString Then
        iReply = MsgBox(Prompt:="You didn't put a replacement text." & vbCrLf & _
        "To replace with Nothing, Click YES" & vbCrLf & _
        "To exit this macro, click NO", _
        Buttons:=vbYesNo + vbQuestion, Title:="REPLACE WITH NOTHING?")
        If iReply = vbNo Then Exit Sub
    End If
        
    Set myOlExp = Application.ActiveExplorer
    Set myOlSel = myOlExp.Selection    'The big selection
    
    For X = 1 To myOlSel.Count
        Set MyOlSelection = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection(X)  ' Select email
        mySubject = Replace(MyOlSelection.Subject, RepWhat, RepWith)
        MyOlSelection.Subject = mySubject
        MyOlSelection.Save
    Next X
    
ExitRoutine:
    Set myOlExp = Nothing
    Set myOlSel = Nothing
    Set MyOlSelection = Nothing
    
End Sub

[Norie]

As far as I know VBA Replace doesn't work with wildcards, so if you've put '*' as the value you want to replace then replace is going to try and find the literal string '*'.

[jomili]

I agree, but knowing that still doesn't help with "How would I tell me macro to replace ALL of the subject line? "

[Norie]

Check if RepWhat is '*' and if it is replace the entire subject line with RepWith.

If RepWhat = "*" Then
    mySubject = RepWith
End If

[jomili]

Good solution! I can work with that one. Thanks!

[jomili]

Whoops, almost forgot to post my updated macro. I try to make it habit to post the final solution (or at least MY final solution) in case someone else needs it.

Sub ReplaceInSubjectline()
'Inspiration http://www.excelforum.com/outlook-programming-vba-macros/1114327-change-each-subject-line-in-selection.html?
'Replaces anything in Subject Line with anything or nothing
Dim mySubject As String
Dim MyOlSelection As Object
Dim myOlExp As Outlook.Explorer
Dim myOlSel As Outlook.Selection
Dim X As Long
Dim RepWhat As String
Dim RepWith As String
Dim iReply As Integer
    
    RepWhat = InputBox(Prompt:="What text do you want to replace?", _
    Title:="ENTER YOUR TEXT TO REPLACE", Default:="Type String to Replace")
    If RepWhat = "Type String to Replace" Or RepWhat = vbNullString Then Exit Sub
    If RepWhat = "*" Then
        RepWhat = "the Entire Subject Line"
        
    RepWith = InputBox(Prompt:="OK, we're replacing " & RepWhat & ".  " & vbcrlof & _
    "What text do you want to replace it with?", _
    Title:="ENTER YOUR REPLACEMENT TEXT", Default:="Type what you want to appear")
    If RepWith = "Type what you want to appear" Then Exit Sub
    If RepWith = vbNullString Then
        iReply = MsgBox(Prompt:="You didn't put a replacement text." & vbCrLf & _
        "To replace with Nothing, Click YES" & vbCrLf & _
        "To exit this macro, click NO", _
        Buttons:=vbYesNo + vbQuestion, Title:="REPLACE WITH NOTHING?")
        If iReply = vbNo Then Exit Sub
    End If
        
    Set myOlExp = Application.ActiveExplorer
    Set myOlSel = myOlExp.Selection    'The big selection
    
    For X = 1 To myOlSel.Count
        Set MyOlSelection = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection(X)  ' Select email
        If RepWhat = "the Entire Subject Line" Then
            mySubject = RepWith
        Else
        mySubject = Replace(MyOlSelection.Subject, RepWhat, RepWith)
        End If
        MyOlSelection.Subject = mySubject
        MyOlSelection.Save
    Next X
    
ExitRoutine:
    Set myOlExp = Nothing
    Set myOlSel = Nothing
    Set MyOlSelection = Nothing
    
End Sub