How to develop Microsoft Office extensions in Visual Studio
Tips and notes for C#, VB.NET and C++ developers

Solid framework for deep customization of Microsoft Office applications. Use solution templates, visual designers, components and wizards instead of error-prone coding to develop version-neutral, secure, isolated, deployable and redeployable extensions for all Office versions, from 2000 to 2010.

Extensions: COM add-ins, Outlook plug-ins, smart tags, RTD servers, Excel XLL and UDF add-ons
Office versions: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010 (x86 and x64)
IDE: VS 2010, 2008, 2005; VB.NET, C#, C++/CLI
.NET Framework: 2.0 and higher

Overview Customers say Add-in Express Blogs

This technology is now available for our custom development services only. Based on the Add-in Express for Office core, it is designed for building custom-tailored Office add-ins with far less coding than you usually have to do. Plus, it includes all Add-in Express features such as True RAD, visual designers, Outlook view and form regions, etc.

Extensions: VSTO-based application-level Office add-ins
Applications: Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, InfoPath
Office versions: 2003, 2007, 2010 (x86 and x64)
IDE: VSTO 2005 SE, 2008, 2010; VB.NET, C#

Overview Outlook-specific features

Get the best platform for extending Microsoft Office by using Add-in Express projects templates, visual designers, components and wizards in combination with a perfect Delphi compiler. Build version-neutral, fast and easy deployable plug-ins with your own toolbars, menus, ribbons, backstage views, Outlook form and view regions and Office task panes.

Extensions: COM add-ins, Outlook plug-ins, smart tags, Excel Real-Time Data servers and UDFs
Office versions: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010 (x86 and x64)
IDE: Embarcadero Delphi 5 - XE2

Overview Customers say Add-in Express Blogs

It is a VSTO extension to develop view and form regions for the Outlook Explorer and Inspector windows. You can customize practically all Outlook panes including the Navigation pane, To-Do bar, Reading pane, Folder view pane, Outlook super grid pane as well as Outlook Inspectors such as e-mail, task and appointment windows.

Extensions: application-level Outlook add-ins
Outlook versions: 2003, 2007, 2010 (32- and 64-bit)
IDE: Visual Studio 2010 and 2008 with VSTO installed .NET Framework: 2.0 and higher

Overview Basic concepts Form regions View regions

Use this visual tool to create thread-safe, secure, isolated, deployable and context-sensitive add-ons for Internet Explorer. You don't need to follow a complicated IE SDK way with separate ActiveX-es, script files and registry keys. Instead, you use visual designers and components to customize the Internet Explorer interface with your own buttons, menu items, context menus, side-bars etc.

Internet Explorer versions: 6, 7, 8 and 9 (x86, x64)
IDE: VS 2005, 2008, 2010; VB.NET, C#, C++/CLI

Overview Customers say Add-in Express Blogs

This technology is now available for our custom development services only. This visual toolkit allows creating secure, managed, isolated, deployable and version-neutral plug-ins for Outlook Express and Windows Mail. It provides powerful solution templates, Outlook Express - specific components, visual designers and wizards for advanced customization of Outlook Express menus, toolbars, panes and regions.

Extensions: Outlook Express plug-ins
Versions: Outlook Express 6.x, Windows Mail 6.x
IDE: VS 2005, 2008; VB.NET, C#, C++/CLI

Overview Getting started

Use this tool to bypass the Outlook Object Model guard and to avoid security warnings in add-ins and applications that automate Microsoft Outlook. Add just a line of code and get rid of messages like "a program is trying to access e-mail addresses you have stored in Outlook" or "a program is trying to automatically send e-mail on your behalf".

Application types: stand-alone apps, Outlook add-ins
Outlook versions: 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010 (x86, x64)
Languages: VB.NET, C#, Delphi 5 - XE2, C++ (MFC/ATL/CLI), VBA, etc.
3 editions in 1 package: .NET, VCL and ActiveX

Overview Customers say Add-in Express Blogs

The innovative technology for customizing Outlook views and forms. It is included in all Add-in Express for Office products and can be used to extend Outlook views, e-mail, task and appointment windows, To-Do bar, Reading and Navigation panes with your own custom sub-panes.

Extensions: application-level Outlook add-ins
Outlook versions: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010 (x86 and x64)
.NET Edition: VS 2005, 2008, 2010; VB.NET, C#, C++/CLI
.NET Framework: 2.0 and higher
VCL Edition: Delphi 5 - XE

Outlook regions in .NET Outlook regions in Delphi