Outlook/Exchange add-in newbie...which way do I go?

[spinjector]

Hi all,

I work for a company where certain individuals regularly receive large file attachments. There are numerous "attachment downloaders" on the market, but none do quite what we need. Therefore I would like to create a custom solution for us.

It seems this could be handled as an Outlook Add-In, or an equivalent code component on the Exchange server. I believe I can easily create an Outlook Add-In, but I have no idea what to do for Exchange.

Our basic need is for an attachment downloader that works like most others: save an attachment to disk, puts a link in the email, then delete the attachment from the email. But we have additional needs.

I have two questions:

Which type of "code device" would be best in Outlook..? Is an Add-In the best way to go, or is there something else I should consider?

Does Exchange even have "add-ins"..? How does one develop/test them..? Is there a free developer version of Exchange with limited features/connections, kind of like SQL Express 2005..?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.