Video: Build and control advanced form regions for Outlook 2013 – 2000
When it comes to building Office add-ins, Microsoft Outlook is perhaps the most popular application. No doubt that Excel and Word are close behind in popularity but Outlook wins this contest. I believe Outlook wins because it is the first application people open when they arrive in their office and it is the last one they close. I'm addicted to Outlook myself and try to store every last detail somewhere within it. Outlook has great out-of-the box features like email, tasks, calendaring, contacts, and notes and they go a long way toward meeting the needs of Office users everywhere.
But no matter how good a program like Outlook is, it doesn't meet every need and people start wondering how they might customize it. Situations like these is why Add-in Express exists. Add-in Express allows you to customize user interface of Outlook 2013, 2010, 2007 and 2003 while also giving you tools for incorporating “your own way of doing things” (aka your custom processes or workflows, data needs, etc).
In this video, I explain how to build and control Advanced Outlook Regions using Add-in Express for Office and .net. Advanced Outlook Regions allow you to customize or extend the Outlook user interface to incorporate your custom-built .NET-based forms
In the video I utilize some code from Fedor Shihantsov’s post: Controlling the region's state and Outlook form’s size. I recommend reading what he has to say on this subject as well… it's good stuff.
You may also be interested in:
Create a custom Outlook form and view with advanced regions
Advanced Outlook view and form regions types
3 Comments
Hello ..
I have a few question. I am a non programmer and finding it very tough to design a form from scratch.
is it possible to save one of the default forms as a custom form ? like leads form ?
All default forms have a “Form layout” option that is soo easy to use for making changes, any form that i make using “Design a Form” option never have this “Form layout” option . how can i fix that ?
Is there any designer that is similar to “Form layout” ?
Thanx
Hi Syed,
You can customize any built-in Outlook form you have open. On the Ribbon, on the Developer tab, click the “Design This Form” button and you will see available options for that particular form. After completing your design, open the Publish ribbon menu and choose either Publish Form or Publish Form As.
I agree with Ty Anderson’s statement that Outlook “is the first application people open when they arrive in their office and it is the last one they close. I’m addicted to Outlook myself and try to store every last detail somewhere within it.” That is exactly how I use Outlook. My work involves doing research on people. While I could build a database to store the information, I make a separate Outlook Contacts instead because it has most of the fields I want, and I can add custom fields as necessary. I even use Outlook to dial my phone.