How to create custom Outlook rules and execute them programmatically: C# example

The Microsoft Outlook Rules is a very powerful feature that can sometimes get lost amongst the myriad other features and abilities of Outlook. Many Outlook programmers do not realise that Microsoft introduced a new rules object model in Outlook 2007 allowing developers to harness the power of Outlook rules... Read the rest of this entry →

Office Newswire: Are Apps for Office & SharePoint worthy of your time?

Today I have a question to get us started talking to each other. Are the Apps for Office and SharePoint worthy of your time, talent and resources? What do you think? Are you building apps for the app store? Do you think Apps for Office is a viable platform? Bring it! ... Read the rest of this entry →

How to create an Excel Content Pane App

Last we spoke, I was dealing with the limitations of the Apps for Office development model. This time, I played it straight and didn't try to exceed its limits. I thought life would be simple. I'd find a decent API to use for pulling in some data to Excel via a Content App. Simple right? ... Read the rest of this entry →

How to replace built-in Outlook dialogs with custom forms

Years ago I found this article by Helmut Obertanner on CodeProject. In this article Helmut explains how you can replace the built-in Outlook Address book dialog with your own form. I was amazed and intrigued! This approach is a great way to provide your users with a custom address form that is able to retrieve contact address information from literally any source e.g. CRM or customer database... Read the rest of this entry →

Office Newswire: Should Office become the operating system?

Because Microsoft has thrust upon us new version of Windows and Office, there is a lot of prognosticating by those who make a living prognosticating. When it comes to predicting the future, I believe the best advice is to do what the best weather people (man or woman) do... Read the rest of this entry →

How to merge several Office add-in projects into one binary

Before we have a look at the sample project, let's first examine the scenario for when you might want to consider using this approach. In the case of the Ultimate Suite for Excel, loading was a crucial factor, by following this approach the team effectively reduced the loading time by nearly 60%, because only one assembly needs to be loaded instead of 20+ separate ones ... Read the rest of this entry →

How to develop an Excel Task Pane App

Instead of an article, this is more like a memoir... "Ty Anderson: An Apps for Office developer memoir". The new Apps for Office development model provides plenty of new possibilities for Microsoft Office developers. Although new, they give the appearance of familiarity. Do you think I'm crazy? ... Read the rest of this entry →

Creating modular Office add-ins using Add-in Express

When creating a new Office extension with Add-in Express for Office and .net you have the option to design your entire add-in user interface using our visual designers, by simply dropping the various components on the design surface of the AddinModule. This is fine for most Office add-ins especially when you do not require a […]... Read the rest of this entry →

Office Newswire: Did Microsoft Sin(ofsky)? + Office for iOS Rumors are true! ++ Yammer: What’s its impact?

I appreciate lots of things about life. I’ll skip the normal stuff of family and friends… they’re a given. I’ll also skip fine wine, scotch, and a good steak. They are great and are best enjoyed with friends. But they are not germane to this post. Something that is germane and has to do with enjoying life is... Read the rest of this entry →

Creating WiX installation projects for VSTO-based Office add-ins

In the last two articles, I've shown you how to create a WiX installer for Add-in Express based add-ons from scratch and how to convert your existing setup projects to WiX. In this blog, I'll show you how to create a WiX installer for Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) based Office add-in projects... Read the rest of this entry →

Office Newswire: Why is Office 365 more important than Windows 8?

Why Office 365 is far more important than Windows 8? Monthly subscription fees are a beautiful thing. Windows is the OS and we need that. But what we want is apps, apps, and more apps! Apple proved it. ... Read the rest of this entry →

HowTo: Create add-ins for Office 2007, 2010 and 2013 with a shared ribbon tab

Office developers need to merge the UI of their add-ins into a single ribbon tab. Just imagine the following scenario: a user wants to install a few COM add-ins from the same vendor. Are they going to get a separate ribbon tab for each add-in's UI?... Read the rest of this entry →

Creating an Outlook Mail App in Visual Studio 2012

It's time to stop messing around and take the Office web app model for a spin. In this article, I'll show you how to create a simple but useful Outlook Mail App that lets you attach notes to mail items... Read the rest of this entry →

How to convert Visual Studio 2012, 2010 setup project (vdproj) to WiX

In my last article I've shown you how to create a new WiX installer project. But, what if you already invested a good amount of time in creating a Visual Studio setup project? You could always create the setup project from scratch, but there has to be an easier way. ... Read the rest of this entry →

Office Newswire: The controversial case of Windows 8 RT

You don't have to like Windows 8 RT. Whether you do or you don't, the fact is it is innovative, it's aggressive, it's easy to use, it's attractive and most important, it's "clicky"... Read the rest of this entry →

Create custom Outlook menus: VB.NET and C# for Outlook 2013-2003

It looks like Microsoft is going to go ahead and release Office 2013 sooner rather than later. I suppose you can argue they already have with the recent pre-ordering of Windows Surface (which comes with Office 2013 RT). Whether or not you consider Office 2013 RT to really be Office is up to you. It can be your opinion ... Read the rest of this entry →

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