CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#ms-wordms-office
M. X
M. X

Reputation: 1347

Implementation of a custom menu for Office 2003 and Office 2007 (2010)

How can I define a custom menu (part of an addin) programmatically for Word 2003 and Word 2007 with the Visual Studio Tool for Office respectively .NET? The problem ist, that in Office 2003 there are no ribbons and on the other hand in Office 2007 there are no toolbars. So what is the "lowest common denominator" regarding menus or the user interface in general between these 2 Office versions?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 167

Answers (1)

David Heffernan
David Heffernan

Reputation: 612993

The lowest common denominator is that you can create menus in all versions. They show up fine in the pre-ribbon versions of Office, but they appear on an special tab named Add-ins. This tab only exists so that legacy code that uses old style command bars can still present UI in modern versions of Office that use the ribbon.

So, if you use command bar code to add menu items, those menus will indeed appear in all versions of Office. But this truly is the lowest common denominator. The user experience is poor on ribbon versions of Office.

The normal solution that add-in authors take is to arrange that the add-in switches behaviour according to the version of its host. So, if the add-in detects that it is on Office 2003 or earlier, use command bars. Otherwise, add a ribbon interface.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions