Extensibility Projects

The Extensibility projects templates in the New Project dialog box enable you to create add-ins, which are extensions that add functionality to the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE).

Add-In Types

The Extensibility project templates create add-in projects. You can create two types of add-ins:

  • Visual Studio Add-ins — A Visual Studio add-in works only in the Visual Studio and Visual Studio Macros environments.

  • Shared Add-Ins — In addition to working in the Visual Studio and Visual Studio Macros environments, a shared Add-in also works in Microsoft Office applications, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Excel.

To open the New Project dialog box:

  1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.

  2. Expand Other Project Types and click Extensibility.

    The add-in project templates appear in the Templates pane.

Selecting either project starts the Add-In Wizard where you can select:

  • The programming language in which to create the add-in.

  • The application hosts, either Visual Studio or Visual Studio Macros.

  • Other add-in options such as add-in name, description, command-bar UI, load behavior, and Help About information.

See Also

Concepts

Automation Object Model Chart

Reference

Summary, Visual Studio Add-In Wizard

Other Resources

Extending the Visual Studio Environment

Automation and Extensibility Reference