Adding a button in a mailitem

[PatrickS]

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but there was no apparent group
for Outlook COM addins.

I've managed to add a button to the main window in Outlook, but I would like
to be able to do the same within a mailitem. The problem is I have no idea
how to do this, and so far searching the 'net has not revealed anything
useful. Any help in this area would be appreciated. I'm using VB6 for the
addin in case this has any impact on how to do this.

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

The "main window" is an Explorer. Open items use Inspectors, you would add
your UI to that Inspector just as you would to an Explorer.

The Inspectors.NewInspector() event will tell you when a new item is opened.
Testing the passed Inspector object in that event handler for
Inspector.CurrentItem.Class will tell you what type of Inspector is being
opened.

One thing to bear in mind is that if this is for Outlook 2007 then a
CommandBarButton for an Inspector will be relegated to the Add-Ins tab along
with any other old style UI. For Outlook 2007 you should be handling the
ribbon to provide UI.