Difference between Interop Outlook and Outlook Object Library

Question

I have a question about visual studio, I noticed when you add references in the COM section you can find: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0 Object Library. While on the Assemblies you can see the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook

I would like to know the difference between this two, I tried researching but i have only found topics on each one of those but not the differences, I would love if somebody could provide me with an explanation, Juts simple curiosity. (I'm kind of a beginner). Thanks!

Answer 1

They are both pretty much the same - when you reference OOM from the COM tab, VS under the covers creates an interop dll (which is essentially nothing but a header file in a binary format). That is the same interop dll that you can add to your project as a reference.

The biggest advantage of adding a reference to an interop dll instead of the COM library itself is the ability to build the project even if the COM library is not installed, egon a dedicated builder machine, which might not have Office installed.