title: How to use the Automation object model of Microsoft Office packages (Word, Excel, etc.) in "plain" COM/ActiveX
body: <p>I finally found the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bbx26t8w%28VS.80%29.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">object model documentation</a> for Microsoft Office.</p>
  
  <p>However it talks about interop assemblies and stuff that sounds like .NET. I don't use .NET directly, and I don't really want to learn much about it. Is there a way to just use plain COM/ActiveX classes/interfaces to automate MS Word/Excel?</p>