Word Document-Level Customization Development

Applies to
The information in this topic applies only to the specified Visual Studio Tools for Office projects and versions of Microsoft Office. Project type Document-level projects Microsoft Office version Word 2003 Word 2007 For more information, see Features Available by Application and Project Type.

A document-level customization for Microsoft Office Word consists of an assembly that is associated with a specific document. The assembly typically extends the document by customizing the user interface (UI) and by automating Word. Unlike an application-level add-in, which is associated with Word itself, functionality that you implement in a customization is available only when the associated document is open in Word.

For more information about document-level customizations, see Getting Started Programming Document-Level Customizations for Word and Architecture of Document-Level Customizations.

Word Customization Programming Model

When you develop a document-level project for Word, you work with Visual Studio Tools for Office features and automate Word by using host items and host controls. These are classes that extend some of the objects that are provided by the native object model for Microsoft Office Word (that is, the object model that is exposed by the primary interop assembly for Word). For more information, see Automating Word by Using Extended Objects.

For general information about the programming model of document-level customizations in Visual Studio Tools for Office, see Programming Document-Level Customizations.

Customizing the User Interface of Word

For both Word 2003 and Word 2007, you can customize the UI in the following ways:

• Add host controls or Windows Forms controls to the document surface.

  For more information, see Host Items and Host Controls Overview, Windows Forms Controls on Office Documents Overview, and Using Windows Forms Controls on Word Documents.

• Add an actions pane to the document.

  For more information, see Actions Pane Overview.

• Add smart tags to the document.

  For more information, see Smart Tags Overview.

For Word 2007, you can also customize the UI in the following ways:

• Add custom tabs to the Ribbon.

  For more information, see Ribbon Overview.

• Add custom groups to a built-in tab on the Ribbon.

  For more information, see How to: Customize a Built-in Tab.

For Word 2003, you can also customize the UI in the following ways:

• Add custom toolbars and toolbar items.

  For more information, see How to: Create Office Toolbars Programmatically.

• Add menus and menu items.

  For more information, see How to: Create Office Menus Programmatically.

For more information about customizing the UI of Word and other Microsoft Office applications, see Office UI Customization.

See Also

Tasks

Walkthrough: Creating Your First Document-Level Customization For Word

Concepts

Automating Word by Using Extended Objects

Using Windows Forms Controls on Word Documents

Getting Started Programming Document-Level Customizations for Word

Programming Document-Level Customizations

Office UI Customization