Welcome to the Outlook Social Connector 1.1 Provider Reference
Applies to: Office 2007 | Outlook 2010 | SharePoint Server 2010
The Microsoft Outlook Social Connector (OSC) provides a communication hub for personal and professional communications. Just by selecting an Outlook item such as an email or meeting request and clicking the sender or a recipient in that item, without leaving Outlook, users can see in the People Pane activities, photos, and status updates of this person on their favorite social networks. Users can conveniently see all the Outlook emails, attachments, and meetings received from this person. In an organizational environment, users collaborating on a Microsoft SharePoint site can also see in the People Pane document updates and other site activities of this person on the SharePoint site.
A social network can develop a provider for the OSC to synchronize and surface social network updates in Outlook. Popular social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Windows Live are offering providers for the OSC.
The Outlook Social Connector 1.1 Provider Reference describes how to develop an OSC provider using OSC provider extensibility.
If you are new to developing solutions for Outlook, see Selecting an API or Technology for Developing Outlook Solutions to identify the APIs and technologies that are most appropriate for your needs.
Published: July 2010 | Updated: May 2011
In This Section
Getting Started with Developing an Outlook Social Connector Provider
Provides an overview of the OSC, including the following: how an OSC provider can be useful, quick steps for learning to develop a provider, technical requirements, best practices for developing a provider, and what’s new in this release.
OSC Sample Provider and Templates
Describes an example OSC provider and several templates for developing a provider.
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Describes a few typical calling sequences by the OSC of members in the OSC provider extensibility interfaces. This should enable you to better understand how to implement these interfaces.
Developing a Provider with the OSC XML Schema
Describes how the OSC provider extensibility interfaces and OSC XML schema are designed to support an OSC provider.
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Suggests a few ways to help debug an OSC provider.
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Describes registration requirements for an OSC provider, and provides a checklist for installing a provider.
Getting Ready to Release an OSC Provider
Suggests tests you can do before releasing an OSC provider.
Outlook Social Connector Provider Reference
Provides reference information for the OSC provider extensibility interfaces and OSC XML schema, and lists possible error codes.