How to develop an Outlook/Mail Plugin?

Question

I want to develop a plug-in that does this:

A button, when clicked, opens the new mail window but has a certain phrase in the subject line, for e.g. when I click a button called 'PROJ123', the new mail window opens with the subject line "[PROJ123]"

Other functionality it would need:

• Ability to Create/Update/Delete Buttons as needed

What is the best way to do this?

Any and all tips, references, online resources, examples are greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

To create a plugin for Outlook, I'd read these resources:

• CodeProject: How to Create Plugin for Outlook
• MSDN: How to Create Plugin in .NET
• Using VSTO for .NET to create plugins in Outlook

This doesn't directly answer your question, but I found an add-in that may be useful to you:

• A template plugin for Outlook

Answer 2

Thanks Gortok. The template plugin isn't useful for me - I need my plug-in exactly as I described - very simple and straightforward, no other features. Will go through the codeproject article to see if I can come out with something useful.

update: codeproject link isn't useful - too complicated. I need this for Outlook 2007 - isn't there a simple way to do this using the inbuilt VBA editor?

Answer 3

You can use VBA and a UserForm, or a Custom Menu. Here is an example of the code:

Private Sub cmdCommand_Click()
    Dim eml As MailItem

    Set eml = Application.CreateItem(olMailItem)
    eml.Subject = "Proj1"
    UserForm1.Hide
    eml.Display
End Sub

Answer 4

Remou,

Thanks for that. Just that since I'm really unfamiliar with this, I don't know what to do with that code..I will try to figure it out,

thanks