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Automation (formerly known as OLE Automation) makes it possible for one application to manipulate objects implemented in another application, or to "expose" objects so they can be manipulated.
You can automate any object that exposes an automation interface, providing methods and properties that you can access from other applications. The automated object might be local or remote (on another machine accessible across a network). For remote automation, see Remote Automation. Automation is available for both OLE and COM objects.
Many commercial applications, such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Visual C++, allow you to automate much of their functionality. For example, in Visual C++, you can write VBScript macros or Visual C++ add-ins to automate builds, aspects of code editing, or debugging tasks.