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Office Development in Visual Studio

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You can use the Microsoft Office developer tools in Visual Studio 2010 to create .NET Framework applications that extend Microsoft Office 2010 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system. These applications are also named Office solutions.

The Office developer tools provide features that help you create Office solutions to suit a variety of business needs. The tools include project templates to help you create Office solutions by using Visual Basic or Visual C#, and visual designers that help you create custom user interfaces for your Office solutions.

For the latest information about Office development, see the following development centers on MSDN:

  • The Office Development with Visual Studio Developer Portal contains links to product information, code samples, videos, and community resources about using Visual Studio to customize Office applications as part of your solutions.

  • The Microsoft Office Developer Center contains links to technical articles, code samples, downloads, community information, support, and other documentation about Office customizations and Office Business Applications (OBAs).

In This Section

  • Getting Started (Office Development in Visual Studio)
    Provides links to information about how to configure a development computer to create Office solutions, how to begin creating Office solutions, and what is new for Office development in Visual Studio 2010.

  • Upgrading and Migrating Office Solutions
    Provides links to information about the upgrade process for projects created by using earlier versions of Visual Studio.

  • Architecture of Office Solutions in Visual Studio
    Provides links to information about how Office solutions work, including information about document-level customizations and application-level add-ins.

  • Designing and Creating Office Solutions
    Provides information about how to create an Office project and configure your project in Visual Studio.

  • Developing Office Solutions
    Provides information about how to use managed code with Office solutions, including how to customize the Office user interface, work with data, and troubleshoot problems.

  • Excel Solutions
    Provides information about how to automate Excel, create Excel solutions, and understand globalization issues specific to Excel.

  • InfoPath Solutions
    Provides information about how to create form templates and add-ins for InfoPath.

  • Outlook Solutions
    Provides information about how to automate Outlook and create Outlook add-ins and form regions.

  • PowerPoint Solutions
    Provides information about how to automate PowerPoint and create PowerPoint add-ins.

  • Project Solutions
    Provides information about how to automate Microsoft Office Project and create Project add-ins.

  • Visio Solutions
    Provides information about how to automate Visio and create Visio add-ins.

  • Word Solutions
    Provides information about how to automate Word and create Word solutions.

  • Building and Debugging Office Solutions
    Provides links to information about the differences between building and debugging Office projects and other types of projects in Visual Studio.

  • Securing Office Solutions
    Provides information about how security features work in Office solutions.

  • Deploying Office Solutions
    Provides information about how to make Office solutions available to your users, and the major issues to consider when you choose a deployment method.

  • Office Development Samples and Walkthroughs
    Provides links to sample applications and topics that give step-by-step instructions for performing common tasks.

  • Reference for Office Development in Visual Studio
    Provides links to detailed information about the class libraries, user interfaces, manifests, and other items in Office solutions.