How to: Add Custom Menus and Menu Items to Outlook

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

For a related video demonstration, see How Do I: Add a Custom Menu Item to Outlook 2007?, and How Do I: Customize Outlook Item Context Menus?.

Example

Private menuBar As Office.CommandBar
Private newMenuBar As Office.CommandBarPopup
Private buttonOne As Office.CommandBarButton
Private menuTag As String = "A unique tag" 

Private Sub ThisApplication_Startup(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e _
    As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Startup
    RemoveMenubar()
    AddMenuBar()
End Sub 

Private Sub AddMenuBar()
    Try
        menuBar = Me.Application.ActiveExplorer().CommandBars.ActiveMenuBar
        newMenuBar = menuBar.Controls.Add( _
            Office.MsoControlType.msoControlPopup, _
            Temporary:=False)
        If newMenuBar IsNot Nothing Then
            newMenuBar.Caption = "New Menu"
            newMenuBar.Tag = menuTag
            buttonOne = newMenuBar.Controls.Add( _
                Office.MsoControlType.msoControlButton, _
                Before:=1, Temporary:=True)

            With buttonOne
                .Style = Office.MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonIconAndCaption
                .Caption = "Button One"
                .FaceId = 65
                .Tag = "c123" 
            End With 

            AddHandler buttonOne.Click, AddressOf ButtonOne_Click
            newMenuBar.Visible = True 
        End If 
    Catch Ex As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(Ex.Message)
    End Try 
End Sub 

Public Sub ButtonOne_Click(ByVal buttonControl As Office. _
CommandBarButton, ByRef Cancel As Boolean)
    MessageBox.Show("You clicked: " & buttonControl.Caption, _
        "Custom Menu", MessageBoxButtons.OK)
End Sub 

Private Sub RemoveMenubar()
    Try 
        ' If the menu already exists, remove it. 
        Dim foundMenu As Office.CommandBarPopup = _
            Me.Application.ActiveExplorer().CommandBars.ActiveMenuBar. _
            FindControl(Office.MsoControlType.msoControlPopup, _
            System.Type.Missing, menuTag, True, True)
        If foundMenu IsNot Nothing Then
            foundMenu.Delete(True)
        End If 
    Catch Ex As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(Ex.Message)
    End Try 
End Sub

private Office.CommandBar menuBar;
private Office.CommandBarPopup newMenuBar;
private Office.CommandBarButton buttonOne;
private string menuTag = "A unique tag";

private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    RemoveMenubar();
    AddMenuBar();
}

private void AddMenuBar()
{
    try
    {
        menuBar = this.Application.ActiveExplorer().CommandBars.ActiveMenuBar;
        newMenuBar = (Office.CommandBarPopup)menuBar.Controls.Add(
            Office.MsoControlType.msoControlPopup,missing,
            missing, missing, false);
        if (newMenuBar != null)
        {
            newMenuBar.Caption = "New Menu";
            newMenuBar.Tag = menuTag;
            buttonOne = (Office.CommandBarButton)newMenuBar.Controls.
            Add(Office.MsoControlType.msoControlButton, missing, 
                missing, 1, true);
            buttonOne.Style = Office.MsoButtonStyle.
                msoButtonIconAndCaption;
            buttonOne.Caption = "Button One";
            buttonOne.FaceId = 65;
            buttonOne.Tag = "c123";
            buttonOne.Click += new
                Office._CommandBarButtonEvents_ClickEventHandler(
                buttonOne_Click);
            newMenuBar.Visible = true;
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
}

private void buttonOne_Click(Office.CommandBarButton ctrl,
    ref bool cancel)
{
    MessageBox.Show("You clicked: " + ctrl.Caption,
        "Custom Menu", MessageBoxButtons.OK);
}
private void RemoveMenubar()
{
    // If the menu already exists, remove it. 
    try
    {
        Office.CommandBarPopup foundMenu = (Office.CommandBarPopup)
            this.Application.ActiveExplorer().CommandBars.ActiveMenuBar.
            FindControl(Office.MsoControlType.msoControlPopup,
            missing, menuTag, true, true);
        if (foundMenu != null)
        {
            foundMenu.Delete(true);
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
}

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 Toolbars and Toolbar 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