Active Collection of add-ins for Microsoft Word (10 pieces)

Interface design is most commonly used when creating add-ins. An add-in is an invisible document with embedded VBA code and its own add-ons to the interface, which is automatically opened by the application at startup. When launched, it does not show its body (i.e. the contents of the document - text, pictures, etc.), but only manifests itself through its changes in the interface and connected macros. Thus, the Microsoft Office application complements its functionality and allows you to edit other documents using the newly acquired functions.

A Word add-in document has the .dotm extension. In fact, the Word add-in is a regular macro-enabled template. There are separate extensions for Excel and PowerPoint add-ins - .xlam and .ppam, respectively.

Note that the .xlam and .ppam add-ons simply do not open in applications as a document for editing, so until such an add-on is ready, it is saved as a regular document with macro support. But the .dotm template can be opened in Word exactly as a template (at least the Ribbon XML Editor does this), so it can be saved by the template during the add-in development process. However, I still recommend to act in a uniform manner, and always keep the source code of add-ins in the format of regular documents with support for macros, and translate them into templates or add-ins only after their development is complete.

So let's try to build a Word add-in that looks like a separate tab and contains a group of buttons that perform some actions. Let it be some kind of action with spaces. Note that the process of creating an Excel add-in is no different from creating a Word add-in, and if you know how to create one, you will be able to create another.

Let's open the Ribbon XML Editor, open our experimental document in it, and copy the text of the interface of our add-in into the window for the 2007 interface: