How to create a Outlook 2013 Add-in Command?

Question

I want to create a Ribbon Button in the calendar view of Outlook that extracts some properties (e.g. data, time) of the current selected calendar item (appointment) in the Outlook calendar view and that creates a new Email with the properties listed in the text.

I also appreciate answers that will provide links to blogs, articles or videos related to this task, as I couldn't find much with the necessary guidance and explanation I need for this. Also other solutions to do this with Outlook on-board tools are welcome. Important: I do not just want to forward the appointment as an attachment to a new Email, I want the properties as text in the Email.

Remarks:

1. I have no background in MS Office plugin development, please consider this
2. I have successfully done this walktrough with the VBA code samples (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc668191.aspx), that adds some text to every new Email message, but I couldn't figure out how to go on effectively to get my task done

Thanks

Answer 1

VBA doesn't allow creating a ribbon custom UI for Outlook. You need to develop a COM add-in for Outlook if you want to create a custom UI. Read more about that in the Walkthrough: Creating Your First VSTO Add-In for Outlook article.

VSTO provides two main ways for creating a custom ribbon UI:

1. Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Tab by Using Ribbon XML
2. Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Tab by Using the Ribbon Designer

You may find the Fluent UI described in depth in the following series of articles:

• Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 1 of 3)
• Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 2 of 3)
• Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 3 of 3)

Also, you may consider creating web-based add-ins (former known as Mail Aps), see Add-in commands for Outlook for more information.