>I did find an excellent source from sergey for the first part my equation -
>finding out if exe is open - in my case outlook
>
>https://www.berezniker.com/content/pages/visual-foxpro/check-if-exe-running-and-optionally-terminate-it
>
>the second stage however is what I want to reverse
>in sergey's example - if exe open then close it
>in my case I want: if exe closed open it.
>

IIRC, Outlook never opens more than one instance. So you can just open it when you need it without checking first.

Tamar