Visual Studio Tools for Office

  • Article

Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office system (version 3.0) can help you extend applications in Microsoft Office 2003 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system by using Visual Basic and Visual C#. The tools include Visual Studio projects to help you start to create an Office Business Application (OBA).

For the latest information about Visual Studio Tools for Office and Office development, see the following development centers on MSDN:

  • The Visual Studio Tools for Office 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 OBAs.

In This Section

  • Getting Started (Visual Studio Tools for Office)
    Provides links to information about how to install Visual Studio Tools for Office, how to begin creating solutions, and what has changed since the earlier version.

  • How Do I in Visual Studio Tools for Office
    Provides links to categorized lists of topics that address key programming tasks in Visual Studio Tools for Office.

  • Upgrading and Migrating Office Solutions
    Provides links to information about the upgrade process for projects created by using earlier versions of Visual Studio Tools for Office and considerations for side-by-side installations of the .NET Framework.

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

  • Designing Office Solutions
    Provides links to information about how to create Microsoft Office solutions and about the role of assemblies in your solution.

  • Developing Office Solutions
    Provides links to information about how to use managed code with Microsoft Office solutions, including customizing the Microsoft Office user interface, working with data, and troubleshooting.

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

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

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

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

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

  • SharePoint Workflow Solutions
    Provides links to information about how to create SharePoint workflow templates.

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

  • Word Solutions
    Provides links to 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 Visual Studio Tools for Office projects and other types of projects in Visual Studio.

  • Security in Office Solutions
    Provides links to information about how Visual Studio Tools for Office solutions incorporate the security features available with Microsoft Office and the .NET Framework.

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

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

  • Reference for Visual Studio Tools for Office
    Provides links to detailed information about the Visual Studio Tools for Office class libraries, user interface, manifests, and other objects.