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Activation rules for contextual Outlook add-ins

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Outlook activates some types of add-ins if the message or appointment that the user is reading or composing satisfies the activation rules of the add-in. This is true for all add-ins that use the 1.1 manifest schema. The user can then choose the add-in from the Outlook UI to start it for the current item.

Note

Outlook add-in features that depend on activation rules aren't supported when the add-in uses a unified app manifest for Microsoft 365.

Specify activation rules in a manifest

To have Outlook activate an add-in for specific conditions, specify activation rules in the add-in manifest by using one of the following Rule elements.

Note

The Rule element that you use to specify an individual rule is of the abstract Rule complex type. Each of the following types of rules extends this abstract Rule complex type. So when you specify an individual rule in a manifest, you must use the xsi:type attribute to further define one of the following types of rules.

For example, the following rule defines an ItemIs rule. <Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Message" />

The FormType attribute applies to activation rules in the manifest v1.1 but is not defined in VersionOverrides v1.0. So it can't be used when ItemIs is used in the VersionOverrides node.

The following table lists the types of rules that are available. You can find more information following the table.

Rule name Applicable forms Description
ItemIs Read, Compose Checks to see whether the current item is of the specified type (message or appointment). Can also check the item class and form type, and optionally, item message class.
ItemHasAttachment Read Checks to see whether the selected item contains an attachment.
ItemHasRegularExpressionMatch Read Checks to see whether the sender's email address, the subject, or the body of the selected item contains a match to a regular expression.
RuleCollection Read, Compose Combines a set of rules so that you can form more complex rules.

Important

Entity-based contextual Outlook add-ins are now retired. As an alternative solution, implement regular expression rules in your contextual add-in. For guidance on how to implement these rules, see Contextual Outlook add-ins.

ItemIs rule

The ItemIs complex type defines a rule that evaluates to true if the current item matches the item type, and optionally the item message class if it's stated in the rule.

Specify one of the following item types in the ItemType attribute of an ItemIs rule. You can specify more than one ItemIs rule in a manifest. The ItemType attribute defines the types of Outlook items that support Outlook add-ins.

Value Description
Appointment Specifies an item in an Outlook calendar. This includes a meeting item that has been responded to and has an organizer and attendees, or an appointment that doesn't have an organizer or attendee and is simply an item on the calendar. This corresponds to the IPM.Appointment message class in Outlook.
Message Specifies one of the following items received in typically the Inbox.

  • An email message. This corresponds to the IPM.Note message class in Outlook.

  • A meeting request, response, or cancellation. This corresponds to the following message classes in Outlook.

    IPM.Schedule.Meeting.Request

    IPM.Schedule.Meeting.Neg

    IPM.Schedule.Meeting.Pos

    IPM.Schedule.Meeting.Tent

    IPM.Schedule.Meeting.Canceled

The FormType attribute is used to specify the mode (read or compose) in which the add-in should activate.

Note

The ItemIs FormType attribute is defined in schema v1.1 and later, but not in VersionOverrides v1.0. Don't include the FormType attribute when defining add-in commands.

After an add-in is activated, you can use the mailbox.item property to obtain the currently selected item in Outlook, and the item.itemType property to obtain the type of the current item.

You can optionally use the ItemClass attribute to specify the message class of the item, and the IncludeSubClasses attribute to specify whether the rule should be true when the item is a subclass of the specified class.

For more information about message classes, see Item Types and Message Classes.

The following example is an ItemIs rule that activates the Outlook add-in when the user is reading a message.

<Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Message" FormType="Read" />

The following example is an ItemIs rule that activates the Outlook add-in when the user is reading a message or appointment.

<Rule xsi:type="RuleCollection" Mode="Or">
  <Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Message" FormType="Read" />
  <Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Appointment" FormType="Read" />
</Rule>

ItemHasAttachment rule

The ItemHasAttachment complex type defines a rule that checks if the selected item contains an attachment.

<Rule xsi:type="ItemHasAttachment" />

ItemHasRegularExpressionMatch rule

The ItemHasRegularExpressionMatch complex type defines a rule that uses a regular expression to match the contents of the specified property of an item. Use the getRegExMatches or getRegExMatchesByName method of the object that represents the currently selected item to obtain matches for the specified regular expression.

The following example shows an ItemHasRegularExpressionMatch that activates the add-in when the body of the selected item contains "apple", "banana", or "coconut", ignoring case.

<Rule xsi:type="ItemHasRegularExpressionMatch" RegExName="fruits" RegExValue="apple|banana|coconut" PropertyName="BodyAsPlaintext" IgnoreCase="true" />

For more information about using the ItemHasRegularExpressionMatch rule, see Contextual Outlook add-ins.

RuleCollection rule

The RuleCollection complex type combines multiple rules into a single rule. You can specify whether the rules in the collection should be combined with a logical OR or a logical AND by using the Mode attribute.

When a logical AND is specified, an item must match all the specified rules in the collection to show the add-in. When a logical OR is specified, an item that matches any of the specified rules in the collection shows the add-in.

You can combine RuleCollection rules to form complex rules. The following example activates the add-in when the user is viewing an appointment or message that contains an attachment.

<Rule xsi:type="RuleCollection" Mode="And">
  <Rule xsi:type="RuleCollection" Mode="Or">
    <Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Message" FormType="Read" />
    <Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Appointment" FormType="Read" />
  </Rule>
  <Rule xsi:type="ItemHasAttachment" />
</Rule>

The following example activates the add-in when the user is composing a message, or when the user is viewing an appointment and its subject contains "sales", "marketing", or "finance".

<Rule xsi:type="RuleCollection" Mode="Or">
  <Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Message" FormType="Edit" />
  <Rule xsi:type="RuleCollection" Mode="And">
    <Rule xsi:type="ItemIs" ItemType="Appointment" FormType="Read" />
    <Rule xsi:type="ItemHasRegularExpressionMatch" RegExName="departments" RegExValue="sales|marketing|finance" PropertyName="Subject" IgnoreCase="true" />
  </Rule> 
</Rule>

Limits for rules and regular expressions

To provide a satisfactory experience with Outlook add-ins, you should adhere to the activation and API usage guidelines. To learn about these guidelines, see Limits for activation and JavaScript API for Outlook add-ins and Troubleshoot Outlook add-in activation.

See also