{"id":702,"date":"2016-10-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/officedevblogs.wpengine.com\/?p=702"},"modified":"2016-10-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T08:00:00","slug":"make-your-add-ins-available-in-the-office-ribbon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/make-your-add-ins-available-in-the-office-ribbon\/","title":{"rendered":"Use commands to make your add-ins available in the Office ribbon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In March 2016, we released add-in commands<\/a> for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Office desktop and Office Online. Add-in commands were made available in Outlook in November 2015  . Commands enable you to extend the Office UI across multiple platforms. We have seen that users are more likely to continue to use add-ins that have command entry points in the Office ribbon, so using add-in commands can increase the retention rate for your add-ins.    <\/p>\n

In this post, we highlight some of the important benefits <\/strong>that commands introduce, as well changes we are making to Office Store policies <\/strong>to require the use of commands in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint add-ins. We are also announcing the deprecation of the custom pane extension point in Outlook add-ins. <\/p>\n

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Benefit: Integration with the Office UI<\/h2>\n

Add-in commands allow you to extend the Office UI to add custom buttons to the Office ribbon. You can extend existing tabs, create your own custom tab, or extend contextual menus. To see add-in commands in action, watch the Add-in commands in the Office ribbon video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The following are some examples of add-ins that use commands.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1. Boomerang <\/span> <\/span>add-in extending the Message tab in Outlook<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 2. Pickit add-in command in the Office ribbon<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 3. XLSTAT add-in custom tab<\/span><\/p>\n

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Benefit: Increased discoverability and retention<\/h2>\n

Users expect to be able to find all the tools and actions that they need on the Office ribbon. When you adopt commands, you make it easier for users to access and use your add-in. By using commands, you can:<\/p>\n