Need Example in C#: How To Add Custom Button to Outlook Context Menu

Question

My customer wants to add a button (or menu item) to a right click (context) menu in Outlook 2016+. I've found examples that add items to the ribbon menu, but can't find any examples for the context menu.

My customer describes the activity as browsing to any folder in Outlook, select an item and right click, and then select the custom button to perform an action on that selected mail item. I've got the code written to modify the selected item, I just need the context menu piece.

Below is the example of the menu I want to modify.

Example of Context Menu

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

Answer 1

The Fluent UI is used for customizing context menus in Outlook. For customizing context menus in VSTO add-ins you need to use the ribbon XML markup. The Walkthrough: Create a custom tab by using Ribbon XML explains how to get started. And the Customizing Context Menus in Office 2010 describes the ribbon XML you could use for adding your custom entries for the context menus.

The Extending the User Interface in Outlook 2010 article discusses how to customize the explorer and inspector ribbons, the menus and context menus, and Backstage view in the Outlook UI. It walks through a code sample that illustrates how to customize the ribbon, the context menus, and Backstage view, and examines specific issues that apply to the Outlook UI.