How to: Add Custom Toolbars and Toolbar Items to Outlook

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 Application-level projects Microsoft Office version Outlook 2003 Outlook 2007 For more information, see Features Available by Application and Project Type.

This example creates a toolbar in Microsoft Office Outlook. The toolbar, which contains two buttons, appears at the top of the application. When you click a button, the code displays a message that shows the button caption.

Example

Dim newToolBar As Office.CommandBar
Dim firstButton As Office.CommandBarButton
Dim secondButton As Office.CommandBarButton
Dim selectExplorers As Outlook.Explorers

Private Sub ThisAddIn_Startup(ByVal sender As Object, _
        ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Startup
    selectExplorers = Me.Application.Explorers()
    AddHandler selectExplorers.NewExplorer, AddressOf _
        Me.NewExplorer_Event
    AddToolbar()
End Sub 

Private Sub NewExplorer_Event(ByVal new_Explorer _
    As Outlook.Explorer)
    new_Explorer.Activate()
    newToolBar = Nothing 
    Call Me.AddToolbar()
End Sub 

Private Sub AddToolbar()

    Dim button_1 As Office.CommandBarButton
    Dim button_2 As Office.CommandBarButton
    If newToolBar Is Nothing Then 
        Dim cmdBars As Office.CommandBars = _
            Me.Application.ActiveExplorer().CommandBars
        newToolBar = cmdBars.Add("NewToolBar", _
            Office.MsoBarPosition.msoBarTop, False, True)
    End If 
    Try
        button_1 = CType(newToolBar.Controls.Add(1),  _
            Office.CommandBarButton)
        With button_1
            .Style = Office.MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonCaption
            .Caption = "Button 1"
            .Tag = "Button1" 
        End With 
        If Me.firstButton Is Nothing Then 
            Me.firstButton = button_1
            AddHandler firstButton.Click, AddressOf ButtonClick
        End If
        button_2 = CType(newToolBar.Controls.Add(1),  _
            Office.CommandBarButton)
        With button_2
            .Style = Office.MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonCaption
            .Caption = "Button 2"
            .Tag = "Button2" 
        End With 
        If Me.secondButton Is Nothing Then 
            Me.secondButton = button_2
            AddHandler secondButton.Click, AddressOf ButtonClick
        End If
        newToolBar.Visible = True 
    Catch ex As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
    End Try 
End Sub 

Private Sub ButtonClick(ByVal ctrl As Office.CommandBarButton, _
        ByRef Cancel As Boolean)
    MessageBox.Show("You clicked: " + ctrl.Caption)
End Sub

Office.CommandBar newToolBar;
Office.CommandBarButton firstButton;
Office.CommandBarButton secondButton;
Outlook.Explorers selectExplorers;

private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{

    selectExplorers = this.Application.Explorers;
    selectExplorers.NewExplorer +=new Outlook
        .ExplorersEvents_NewExplorerEventHandler(newExplorer_Event);
    AddToolbar();
}

private void newExplorer_Event(Outlook.Explorer new_Explorer)
{
    ((Outlook._Explorer)new_Explorer).Activate();
    newToolBar = null;
    AddToolbar();
}

private void AddToolbar()
{

    if (newToolBar == null)
    {
        Office.CommandBars cmdBars = 
            this.Application.ActiveExplorer().CommandBars;
        newToolBar = cmdBars.Add("NewToolBar", 
            Office.MsoBarPosition.msoBarTop, false, true);
    }
    try
    {
        Office.CommandBarButton button_1 = 
            (Office.CommandBarButton)newToolBar.Controls
            .Add(1, missing, missing, missing, missing);
        button_1.Style = Office
            .MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonCaption;
        button_1.Caption = "Button 1";
        button_1.Tag = "Button1";
        if (this.firstButton == null)
        {
            this.firstButton = button_1;
            firstButton.Click += new Office.
                _CommandBarButtonEvents_ClickEventHandler
                (ButtonClick);
        }

        Office.CommandBarButton button_2 = (Office
            .CommandBarButton)newToolBar.Controls.Add
            (1, missing, missing, missing, missing);
        button_2.Style = Office
            .MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonCaption;
        button_2.Caption = "Button 2";
        button_2.Tag = "Button2";
        newToolBar.Visible = true;
        if (this.secondButton == null)
        {
            this.secondButton = button_2;
            secondButton.Click += new Office.
                _CommandBarButtonEvents_ClickEventHandler
                (ButtonClick);
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
}

private void ButtonClick(Office.CommandBarButton ctrl,
        ref bool cancel)
{
    MessageBox.Show("You clicked: " + ctrl.Caption);
}

Robust Programming

Declare your command bar variables at the class level. If you declare them inside a method, they will go out of scope as soon as the method finishes running and the garbage collector will be able to reallocate the memory.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Add Custom Menus and Menu Items to Outlook

How to: Create Office Toolbars Programmatically

How to: Create Office Menus Programmatically

Concepts

Outlook Object Model Overview

Office UI Customization

Creating Office Solutions in Visual Studio