Can we open task pane from the dialog window in Office js? - outlook-addin

Is there a way to open task pane from the dialog window in Outlook?
We perform the login operation in the Dialog window, however, by the nature of the add-in the Login is directly prompted from the ribbon. Hence, the user does not realise that there is a task pane where more customizations are possible. We want to open the taskpane post login (without requiring the user to click the icon on ribbon)

Currently the you requested, is not a part of the product. We track Outlook add-in feature requests on our user-voice page. Please add your request there. Feature requests on user-voice are considered when we go through our planning process.

Related

Multiple Outlook Add-ink Panes Displaying at the Same Time

We have developed an Outlook web Add-in but currently when the task pane is open and we open another outlook add-in, our one closes and is replaced with the last selected one. Is there a way to have the task panes stack next to one another so that you can have more than one task pane open at the same time. Appreciate that screen real-estate is an issue but at least 2 would be nice. I thought that I had seen this working somewhere.
Currently there is no way to have two add-ins open side-by-side. We track Outlook add-in feature requests on our user-voice page. Please add your request there. Feature requests on user-voice are considered, when we go through our planning process.
You can make your add-in pinnable, this way your add-in will not be closed when another add-in is opened.

Outlook Web Add-in: Can we add an entry into context menu?

I didn't find this functionality in Outlook web add-in documentation. But it's worth to ask...
We want to add a new entry into Outlook right click menu (context menu), so that it can open a hyperlink (url is different based on what you highlighted) to integrate with our web portal.
I understand contextual outlook add-in is the closer solution.
But it's not the user experience we want.
Instead of highlight everything based on RegEx, we would like to support users to intentionally trigger the add-in by highlighted keyword and right click on the context menu.
Wondering if it's possible today for the latest Outlook desktop app.
User scenario:
User highlights a keyword in email reading/writing mode
User right click the mouse
The context menu shows up with having our custom menu item
When user clicks on our custom menu item, it opens a browser with an url based on what user highlighted.
Outlook context menu cannot be extended at the moment. Available extension points are:
MessageReadCommandSurface
MessageComposeCommandSurface
AppointmentOrganizerCommandSurface
AppointmentAttendeeCommandSurface
Module (Can only be used in the DesktopFormFactor.)
MobileMessageReadCommandSurface
Events
DetectedEntity
You probably should add your business case into Office development user voice request: Outlook Web Add-in: Add Context Menu Mail Item Extension Point or at least upvote it.

Outlook add-in button on calendar overview

Is it possible to add a button to the command ribbon for the calendar overview in outlook. The PrimaryCommandSurface extensionpoint doesn't seem to be supported in Outlook add-ins. Adding a button to the appointment edit window isn't enough, because I need to perform an action for the whole calendar.
Currently the feature you requested, Outlook add-in button on command ribbon for calendar overview, is not a part of the product. However, we track Outlook add-in feature requests on our user-voice page. Please add your request there. Feature requests on user-voice are considered when we go through our planning process.
[Outlook Add-ins Engineering Team]

Approve/Reject with Infopath instead of OOTB email link

We are using the OOTB Approval workflow for some tasks that is kicked off when a user enters info on a custom InfoPath form and clicks submit. The user receives the OOTB email with instructions to 1. Review the task 2. Perform the activities for the task and then 3. Use the Open this Task button within Outlook to approve/reject the task.
When the user clicks to review the task, it opens our InfoPath form that was used to create the item so they can review it. Here, I would like to add buttons for Approving and Rejecting the item so that the user does not have to go back into Outlook and use the Open Task option.
I have looked at the OOTB InfoPath form that Outlook opens with approve/reject but the data connections appear to be related only to that form and I cannot seem to recreate them. I think I need to submit the Approve/Reject strings somehow to some list/data location but I'm not sure how to do this.
How can I add Approve/Reject buttons to my InfoPath form that will approve/reject an OOTB workflow task?
If you are using the task list just for approve/reject, I would suggest not to create the task at all. Add a field in the infopath form with option of Approve/Reject and based on its value you can just change the workflow status of the item as approve/reject.

Disabling the initiation form when workflow is started manually in sharepoint 2010

I have a sharepoint site(sharepoint 2010).
I have created a custom action, on click of which will initiate the workflow associated to a list. When the user clicks on the custom action button, an initiation form will be shown which will have the Start and Cancel button. Only on click of this Start button, the workflow will Run. I want to avoid the last step of clicking on the Start button. What I want is "On click of Custom action, Workflow should Run. Initiation form should not come into picture at all". Is this possible ?
two solutions:
Say it's good because you make sure the user didn't make a mistake
Change the custom action form to a page where you start the workflow manually (via code) and then redirect the user to the home screen (you can also do that with a dialog and then there's no need for redirect)