PC Email AssistantPreview the panel

Outlook task pane add-in

A panel beside your inbox that reacts to whatever email you click.

This is a working skeleton. It renders holding text plus the live subject, sender, recipients, timestamp and body preview of the currently selected message — refreshed automatically every time you select a different email.

Latest version: checking…/manifest.xml

The downloaded file points at whichever site you downloaded it from, so publish first and download from the published URL — a manifest pointing at a preview or localhost address will not load in Outlook.

The programme

The add-in is just a web page. Outlook loads /taskpane in an embedded browser inside the reading pane, and Office.js gives that page access to the open message.

Different technology?

No. React + TypeScript is exactly what Microsoft's own Office add-in tooling generates. The only extra pieces are the Office.js script and an XML manifest — both already here.

Where it runs

Outlook on the web, new Outlook for Windows, classic Outlook desktop and Mac. Same code, one manifest, no install package.

Installing it in Outlook

This is called sideloading — a personal install that needs no admin approval. It takes about a minute.

  1. 1

    Publish this project, then download the manifest

    Outlook must reach the panel over public HTTPS. Hit Publish in Lovable, open the published site, and use the Download manifest.xml button there.

  2. 2

    Open Outlook on the web

    Go to outlook.office.com, open any email, then choose Get Add-ins (the Apps icon, or More actions → Add-ins).

  3. 3

    Upload the file

    Select My add-ins → Custom Add-ins → Add a custom add-in → Add from File, pick the downloaded pc-email-assistant-manifest.xml, and confirm the warning about unverified add-ins. (Some tenants disable Add from URL, which is why the file upload is the reliable route.)

  4. 4

    Open the panel and pin it

    Select an email. PC Email Assistant appears in the ribbon or the Apps menu — click it and the panel opens on the right. Click the pin icon (📌) at the top of the pane: pinning is what keeps it open in the reading pane, so it follows you as you click each message. Without pinning, Outlook closes the pane every time the selection changes.

  5. 5

    Classic Outlook for Windows

    Open the add-in store directly at outlook.office.com/mail/inclientstore and choose My add-ins → Add a custom add-in → Add from file. (In the desktop client the same store is at File → Info → Manage Add-ins.) Classic caches add-ins hard, so afterwards fully quit Outlook, delete everything inside %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef, and reopen Outlook. The PC Email Assistant button appears on the Home/Message ribbon. If you had an older version installed, remove it first — Classic will keep showing the cached copy otherwise. Pinning needs Outlook 2016 or later with a Microsoft 365 mailbox.

Good to know

  • Real-time updates rely on the pane being pinned; Outlook then fires an ItemChanged event on each new selection, which this panel listens for.
  • Permissions are currently ReadWriteItem — enough to read the open message and later write replies.
  • Wider rollout to a whole organisation is done by an admin uploading the same manifest in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, or by publishing to AppSource.
  • Manifest format here is the classic XML manifest, which every current Outlook client supports.