More Outlook Resource Sites

Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN)

FAQs and other general resources

Introducing Outlook 2007 Form Regions

Form regions are a new UI development technique for Outlook 2007 that allows a developer to design an Outlook item interface with a set of Windows-themed, Outlook-aware controls, rich enough to let you duplicate any built-in form page. Instead of using VBScript for their business logic, the code to handle form region events goes into an Outlook add-in.

For a general description of this feature and a no-code walkthrough, see:

Visual Studio 2008 includes a designer for regions that don't use Outlook controls, plus streamlined tools for working with imported regions. See:

For VSTO 2005 SE and shared add-ins, see:

For known issues related to form regions, see:

Other useful information about form regions: 

Newest Resources

Advanced Outlook regions and Outlook 2010 – first view -- New features and capabilities of Add-in Express advanced form and view regions for Outlook 2010.

Outlook 2010 Fast Shutdown feature -- Article with VB.NET and C# code samples that explains how to handle the OnBeginShutdown and OnDisconnection events, blocked in Outlook 2010 by default.

Print all attachments at once using VBA -- Udi Shitrit shows how to use the Win32 to print all of a message's attachments -- no need to know the file types involved.

Outlook 2010 MAPI Reference -- Official Microsoft reference for MAPI development against Outlook 2010. Header files are also available.

Enter the 64 Bit MAPI Dragon -- Outlook 2010 will be available as both a 32-bit and a 64-bit application. Stephen Griffin previews Microsoft's plans and documentation for 64-bit MAPI support.

(Less than) Portable Search Folders -- Stephen Griffin explains why search folders created by Outlook object model code may not always work and offers a partial solution.

How to programmatically select a custom Form Region -- Helmut Obertanner demonstrates, with screen shots, how to create a form region for an Outlook 2007 contact form and add a button to the Ribbon to switch the Inspector display to the region.

Customize the built-in Outlook Select Names dialog (or any other) -- Helmut Obertanner demonstrates how to intercept an built-in Outlook dialog and display instead a custom .NET form.

Outlook Forms Step by Step -- Create a check request form and make it available on the company intranet with this 16-part illustrated guide.

Visual Studio Tools for Office 2007: VSTO for Excel, Word, and Outlook -- Eric Carter and Eric Lippert update their book on creating Visual Studio Tools for Office applications to cover Visual Studio 2008 and Office 2007.

Outlook Redemption version 4.7 -- Adds the ability to enumerate nicknames stored in the .nk2 file and an RDOStore2.Searches collection that represents search folders, plus other new properties, methods, and events and various bug fixes.

Outlook-Redemption discussion list -- Yahoo! group for dicussing issues related to the Outlook Redemption COM library

Making a Custom Ribbon Appear Only for a Custom Outlook Form -- Norm Estabrook from the VSTO team shows how to make custom tabs, groups and controls appear only in cases where the user opens a custom form in Outlook.

LINQ to DASL: Changing Appointments with C# and LINQ -- Short video that demonstrates how to use VSTO Power Tools to perform a DASL query on the Calendar folder using the LINQ syntax and then perform additional string value checking with a regular expression

Outlook Context Menus and Creating a Meeting from an Email -- Short video demonstrating how to create a context menu command for sending a meeting request to recipients of an email message. Note: The Inspector wrapper class is extraneous and overcomplicates the project.

Login

login
password
Remember me

You will need to register and log in if you want to download the source code for the Microsoft Outlook Programming book. The forums and code sharing areas are open to both registered and non-registered visitors.

Hot Code Samples

Beginner
Save and remove attachments from email items...
Create task from e-mail message (revised)...
Sending a mail message with today's appointments...
Intermediate
C# AddIn sample: InspectorWrapper & CommandBar...
Reply with Attachments
Send Word document as message
Advanced
Insert user signature with VBA
Set color label on appointment
Set email account signature in Outlook 2003...

OutlookCode RSS Feeds

All OutlookCode.com content

Outlook developer news

New Outlook developer resources

OutlookCode.com forums

OutlookCode.com code samples

OutlookCode.com articles