Customizing reading pane of outlook

[AtulSureka]

Hi,

I have configured Outlook with exchange mail box. I want to customize the
preview/reading pane of outlook so that I
1. can add or remove some text in the reading pane other then the message body
2. can show & add the attachment in the reading pane other than the actual
attachment of the mail.

By default preview pane shows the body & attachment which actually exists in
the mail. I want to customize it so that it can show some other text and
attachment also.

Is there is any outlook settings or APIs to do this.

Any help or suggestion will be much appreciated.

Atul Sureka

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Customization of the reading pane is not exposed and has no API or object
model.

 

[AtulSureka]

Thanks for the response.

Can we customize the reading pane using MAPI/CDO if it is not possible with
Outlook object model.

Is it posible to make our own reading pane ?

Atul Sureka

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

The reading pane has no exposed API at all. That means with MAPI, CDO or
anything else you can think of. The only way that might work is a real hack.
You'd have to find the window that houses the reading pane within Outlook,
find it's dimensions and then replace it or overlay it with your own window.
You'd have to do this using Win32 API functions. You'd have to monitor for
SelectionChange in Outlook plus things like the window being moved or
resized and respond to those WM messages at the Win32 level. Then you'd have
to replicate any context menus or anything else that responded to any
clicks. And you'd have to respond to Explorer.CurrentFolder changes.

None of this is documented anywhere that I know of, so you'd be completely
on your own in working it all out. You have to determine if all that is
worth it for you.