How to autorun Office 365 outlook add-in

Question

I'm creating an Office 365 add-in for Outlook. I want my add-in to run automatically when user reads email (opens it in reading pane).

My current version displays add-in name in top of mail body and when I click it add-in runs.

Office.initialize = function (reason) { 
    $(document).ready(function () {
        displayItemDetails();
    });
}; 

I would also like to hide that add-in button and just run it behind the scene.

Esquibel

Answer 1

The Office Add-In platform does not currently allow apps to auto-launch themselves in the way you're describing. Feel free to request this functionality on the Office Extensibility Platform's UserVoice.

Gabriel Royer

Developer on the Office Extensibility Team, MSFT

Gassman

officespdev.uservoice.com/forums/… – Blower

Answer 2

Auto-launching Outlook add-ins is not supported today.

What is your scenario? There may be a different way to achieve it.

Cyte

I want to collect statistical information from emails which user receives. I know there is a own service for that also, but its not accurate enough. – Esquibel

what kind of information? typically developers use tracking pixels to get info whether the user read the message, etc – Cyte

My Scenario would be the ability to configure rules externally. for example get the body of the email - run it against an externally configured list of customers and highlight in the email any sharepoint sites we have for those customers. – Tankoos

you can do this from the backend using REST APIs. You can subscribe to push notifications (web hooks) and find out when new messages are sent to a user. then grab the message, analyze is and mark it up. – Cyte

Did you create a uservoice request for this? We want the same thing (though for composing new messages) – Jessie

Yeah, but it was little different than just autorun: officespdev.uservoice.com/forums/224641-general/suggestions/… I will vote your idea also. – Esquibel

Answer 3

Old question, new information:

While not quite "auto-launching", Outlook now supports pinning an add-in. When an add-in supports pinnable taskpane, the user is provided the option "pin" the add-in open. As the user moves between mail items, the pinned add-in will automatically load within the new mail item's context.

Jibheaded