Addressbook app and supporting existing formats - email

I need to implement an address book feature into an inventory app that I'm making, and I know that my client is always switching between different addressbook apps and email clients, and she always imports and exports info between them.
SO, I was thinking why not let her export contacts from within my app to an Outlook contact file or something.
But is this OK to do? Are we allowed to do it? And where abouts should I go for more information about this?
Thank you

Perhaps you can generate vCards if Outlook will import that format?
Edit: Also, if you are using Visual Studio (C# or VB.NET) try looking into the interop libraries. For example, in VS 2008, File > New Project, under Visual C# > Office, pick Outlook 2007 Add-in. See all questions on StackOverflow about office-interop.

Related

Create a desktop app that generate ms word file

I'm now working with tons of MS Word files and trying to find a way in improving my workflow.
I'm wondering if there's a way to create a desktop app which can preview certain parts from a Word file, select them and generate a new one with controls in Word's text style, paragraph, etc.
I supposed that this would take MS Word API and some frame structure particularly. I've been using Electron/node.js to create some cross platform applications, wondering if it can do as well? Or is there any reference that I can dig in?
Sorry if this sounds like a rookie one. I've tried to search but still can't find out where to start.
There are three possible ways to get the job done:
Automate MS Word to get job done. See Automate MS Office Applications using Python win32com module for more information. For example:
import win32com.client
word = win32com.client.Dispatch("Word.Application")
Use the Open XML SDK for generating Word documents at runtime, see Welcome to the Open XML SDK 2.5 for Office for more information.
Use third-party components.
If you are on Windows, there seem to be some way to access Word files in Python: https://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2010/07/16/python-and-microsoft-office-using-pywin32/. Maybe in node too.

Sharepoint online - how to enable preview of Outlook emails?

The issue: we have a Document Library which is used for storing emails.
They are frequently viewed and constant download/open with Outlook takes a lot of extra time. We want to make them openable in browser or at least to be available for preview (like Word, Excel, PDF).
In SharePoint Server/Foundation this can achieved by altering Web Application Setting (Browser File Handling) but SharePoint Online lacks such configuration.
Do you know about any OOTB solution or JavaScript library that can help with that?
As far as I know there are no OOTB solutions or JavaScript libraries to help out.
There is a 3rd party tool that offers this capability. SLIM Companion is a browser-based tool that mimics SharePoint as Windows Explorer. It uses the standard functionality from Outlook to create msg files; when users upload msg files it automatically extracts email metadata and populates the corresponding SharePoint columns. Users can drag emails from Outlook to the desktop and then to SharePoint and the metadata is extracted. SLIM Companion previews msg files in SharePoint without opening Outlook, displaying it in the browser. Attachments can be opened directly without first downloading the msg file in Outlook. SLIM Companion consists of a single 200 kB html file and does not require any software installs on SharePoint or the user's computer. See https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/outlook-sharepoint-integration-using-browser-paul-h-k-de-jong or www.slimapplications.com for further details.
Paul de Jong | SLIM Applications

Is there a way to get a reference to results after creating word documents using mail merge?

I'm using a VSTO 2010 AddIn to do a Word mail merge with WdMailMergeDestination being set to wdSendToNewDocument. Is there any way to get a reference to the newly created documents or even find out which data row was used to create each one?
Hi Christopher i am working on the same thing and so far i have managed to create an add-in for the outlook. So the Word mail merge completes and the mail in the Outlook outbox folder, right before being sent will attach the attachment of any type.
I am using this for mass scale i am talking about 5000-7000 mails at one go, and the add-in failed me, by attaching to only some emails its like on and off (my guess is the add-in not able to handle the heavy duty). So now i am going a bit further in to the solution by capturing the mailmerge object in the word. (btw i am using i am developing for 2007 should be no problem for 2010 as well)
So far i can suggest you this article that i managed to dig if you have a found a solution please do share tks.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301659
P.S: I know that there are people selling this kind of software commercially.But its best if homebrewed!

Attaching files to an already open mail through VB.Net

I have a problem. I already have an outlook new mail message open. I need to programmatically attach files to the e-mail which is already open using vb.net. This is for a windows application. How could i do it? any ideas? please help!
The article here sounds specific to Outlook 2007 and VBA/Visual Basic, but is equally applicable to any Windows Application that wants to automate Outlook:
Automating Outlook from a Visual Basic Application [Outlook 2007 Developer Reference]:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb206737(office.12).aspx
Keep in mind the Caution disclaimer at the bottom over this "non-trusted" approach.
Once you're "in", you get get a handle to the active item via Application.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem. Then use MailItem.Attachments.Add.
You also need to keep this in mind:
Application Shutdown Changes in Outlook 2007 SP2:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd239276(office.12).aspx#ol2007AppLifecycle_ImpactforSolutions

How do I integrate MS Word into a web page?

I have a section of a web application I’m working on where there are mail merge templates. The documents are word documents. When a user has need to edit the template I’d like them to be able to simply click edit, which would cause word to load with the document loaded. When the user is done, they click save in word and the web page spots the change in the file and pushes this back to the server.
I managed to create a VBScript in a web page that could do all of this, but only when internet explorers security was turned down. The fact that I’m using VBScript to automate is not good as it restricts the browser choice and I’m not happy asking my users to turn their security down.
I don’t want the users to download the file, edit it, save it to their local machine and then upload it back to the server, it’s all very clunky. I also know that there are 3rd party controls that allow editing in a page, but I'd rather avoid them if I can.
Is there an alternative way of approaching this?
You can use Office Open XML to generate the word documents on the Server Side. There is an msdn article, sorry no time to go searching for it, explaining why you should not automate office from web servers using COM/DCOM because of security issues involving shared memory.
you could use google docs API, which is certainly more universal than using proprietary technology that works in one and only browser (IE).
I think you can go for the google docs API. It is more generic solution to go for too.
It is possible, with browser-security caveats, to open Word documents for edit from a browser via an UNC path on an internal network.
The best option currently is to WebDAV enable your website, and use the SharePoint plug-in client-side to open the file in Word over WebDAV.
The SharePoint plug-in for IE gets installed when you install Office. There is also a plug-in for Firefox/ Chrome referred to as NPAPI. Beware NPAPI seems to have an issue with long URL paths.
IT Hit make a terrific framework for WebDAV enabling a .NET-based website, see http://www.webdavsystem.com/. They also sell a client-side library that can open Word documents via Java instead of the plug-ins mentioned above. IIS has it own, more basic, WebDAV capability that you can use too.
I am not familiar with non-.Net / Apache solutions but just search for WebDAV products.
Office will require the use of HTTPS for editing via WebDAV.