I’ve written a very small app that handles the custom bug: protocol by opening the correct page in a web browser. For instance:
<a href="bug:88451">#88451</a>
This link brings up the bug tracker at the page of bug id 88451. (It also handles bug://88451 for ‘compatibility’ purposes.)
However, it’s only half-useful if people have to manually add hyperlinks to it.
We use Outlook 2003, which in turn uses Word 2003 as its text editor. When you write http://foo.com/ in Outlook/Word (which I’ll now refer as to ‘Word’ only), it automatically adds a hyperlink to http://foo.com/.
So, if I write bug:88451, or even bug://88451 if it’s easier in Word, is there a way to have Word to autolink it?
See if this similar SO post helps, it contains a link to MSDN Documentation which should point you in the right direction.