This book is designed primarily for Microsoft Outlook application developers using Microsoft Exchange Server. Many of the examples assume that you’ll be deploying workgroup applications in an Exchange Server environment using both public and private folders. It’s also assumed that you’ll be using Outlook 2002 to run the applications in this book. Although many of the techniques discussed in this book can be used in prior versions of Outlook, you won’t be able to take full advantage of the code examples and sample applications unless you’ve installed Outlook 2002.

Part I, "Introducing Microsoft Outlook 2002," provides you with a broad perspective on what you can accomplish using Outlook as a development platform. You’ll learn about some tools and add-ins included on the companion CD that will make your life easier as an Outlook developer. In Part II, "Quick Guide to Building Applications," both programmers and nonprogrammers can pick up this book and find the information they need to develop groupware applications. Part III, "Building Blocks of Applications," gives you a solid foundation on which to build more complex Outlook applications. You’ll understand that Outlook applications are developed using the core objects of messages and folders, and you’ll learn how to customize Outlook forms to create an Outlook application.

In Part IV, "Beyond the Basics," you’ll learn how to use events in the Outlook object model to write event-aware code. After an introduction to the Outlook development environment, you will be able to write Microsoft Visual Basic or Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) code to create more sophisticated applications than you can using Outlook’s built-in modules. You’ll learn about the critical Outlook E-Mail Security Update that is built into Outlook 2002 and how you can work with this component of Outlook to protect your personal and private data from e-mail worms and viruses. I’ll also extend what you’ve learned in a complete customer relationship management (CRM) sample application that operates both on line and off line. Part V, "Advanced Topics," is for developers who are at an intermediate or advanced level in Visual Basic. Step-by-step instructions are included that show you how to create COM Add-ins that replace Exchange Client Extensions and provide Outlook functionality that you only dreamed of in the past. You’ll learn about the new Outlook 2002 View Control, folder home pages, and integrating Outlook with Digital Dashboards and Web Parts. Finally, you’ll see how to add document management and powerful search capabilities to your Outlook applications with SharePoint Portal Server 2001.