In March, we announced support for Gmail accounts in Outlook 2016 for Mac. Today we’re happy to announce preview add-in support for Gmail accounts in Outlook 2016 for Mac.
Limitations
When add-ins are loaded in a Gmail mailbox, there are a few limitations to take into account.
- You cannot use Exchange Web Services (EWS) to access items in the Gmail mailbox. This means that you cannot use
makeEwsRequestAsyncor use an EWS callback token fromgetCallbackTokenAsyncto make EWS calls directly. Instead, you can get the same type of access to the items in the mailbox by using the Outlook REST APIs. - You cannot get a single-sign-on token using
getAccessTokenAsync. Instead, you can use the Exchange identity token.
New API features
In order to allow your add-in to determine what type of mailbox it is loaded in, we’ve added a new property to Office.context.mailbox.userProfile called accountType. This property is a string and can return one of the following values:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
enterprise |
The mailbox is on an on-premises Exchange server. |
gmail |
The mailbox is associated with a Gmail account. |
office365 |
The mailbox is associated with an Office 365 work or school account. |
outlookCom |
The mailbox is associated with a personal Outlook.com account. |
Note: This property is currently only implemented in Outlook 2016 for Mac.
Get access to the preview
Preview add-in support for Gmail mailboxes is available for users that are part of the Office Insider Fast program. The minimum build number is 16.9.1212.
Call to action
Other than accounting for the limitations mentioned previously, there are no specific changes that need to be made in order for your add-in to work in Gmail mailboxes. However, if your add-in is listed in the Office Store, you’ll need to resubmit it for validation before it will show up in the store for Gmail users.
Try your add-in with a Gmail mailbox today, and give us feedback on UserVoice.
