we have implemented the Pinnable Taskpane by following the article below.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/add-ins/pinnable-taskpane
This works well in Outlook and OWA both.
Issue: We have 4 Ribbon command button for our Outlook add-in in Read view. We activate the Add-In with one of the button, lets say button A. Once the add-in is activated it shows the functionality from button A. We then pin the taskpane and move around the different messages. while navigating through certain special messages, app view changes and shows the data from the message. This is expected behavior. Once this view is loaded, we can not reset to original view by clicking the button A again on the Ribbon. However if we click button B, it eventually opens up another Task pane instance on top of previously pinned one and navigates to functionality B. The only way it can be reset is to unpin and restart the add-in.
This does not happen in OWA and only specific to Outlook. I ran a test on Outlook 2016 build 9126.2282.
Could someone point out if this is a known issue?
Related
I work on an add-in for Microsoft Outlook, and we’ve noticed that in the Outlook Web App our Add-in cannot open at all when we attempt to open it from the “More Add-ins” button. The menu that lists more add-ins will open, but then clicking our add-in closes the menu with nothing happening.
We used to have our Add-in’s ribbon menu open when it was clicked here. We first encountered the broken behavior yesterday (7/28/22).
We’ve checked if this is happening to all Add-ins with a list of ribbon commands, and this seems to be the case for all Add-ins. To reproduce this error, we’ve implemented Microsoft’s example for Add-in commands (https://github.com/officedev/outlook-add-in-command-demo) by uploading to https://officeapp.s3.amazonaws.com/command-demo-manifest.xml and installing from URL.
Clicking the “Add-In Command” closes the menu, and nothing happens.
The expected behavior is a list of commands should show:
Additional Note: The ribbon command menu correctly appears if the Add-in is pinned to the toolbar via Settings->Mail->Customize actions->Toolbar. This is how we were able to take a screenshot to demonstrate the expected behavior.
Thank you.
Thank you for reaching out. This is a known issue within the Outlook web client. We are working on a fix for this issue, but do not have a timeline to share at this moment.
I have a custom group within the ribbon menu. In classic and simplified explorer view I want to place my group after groups and before find groups, I mean, between groups and find groups. See screenshots. How can I do this?
Classic view:
Simplified view:
I have tried below:
<ribbon>
<tabs>
<tab idMso="TabMail">
<group id="MyGroupHome"
insertBeforeMso="GroupFind"
But it does not work. How can I make my group always visible in all views classic and simplified and even in full screen or not full screen?
UPDATE:
Using insertBeforeMso="GroupContactFind" is working on full screen but when not in full screen (you click on minimize button of the window) then it is only working in classic view but not in simplified view. What's happening?
UPDATE 2:
If I left click on my group in the ribbon, then a context menu appear and there is an option that says "Pin to ribbon", If I select it, then my group is always visible in the ribbon, just what I want, but how to do it programmatically?
Most probably you get an error at runtime and Office hides your customizations automatically. For example, when there is no such MsoId on the ribbon UI you will not get custom UI displayed. So, to track such situations I always recommend enabling UI errors in the host application when developing add-ins.
By default, if a VSTO Add-in attempts to manipulate the Microsoft Office user interface (UI) and fails, no error message is displayed. However, you can configure Microsoft Office applications to display messages for errors that relate to the UI. You can use these messages to help determine why a custom ribbon does not appear, or why a ribbon appears but no controls appear.
To show VSTO Add-in user interface errors
Start the application.
Click the File tab.
Click Options.
In the categories pane, click Advanced.
In the details pane, select Show VSTO Add-in user interface errors, and then click OK.
For Outlook, the Show VSTO Add-in user interface errors checkbox is located in the Developer section of the details pane. For other applications, the checkbox is located in the General section of the details pane.
After years of developing COM add-ins, I am now doing a outlook js add-in. So I am newbie to this enviroment.
I have a couple of questions regarding the ribbon architecture.
From what I have read, I believe the TabDefault is the only option for the ribbon group. I am trying to place my ribbon group at a specific location and emulate the COM add-in. For example, for my Outlook COM add-in I can place my options button that pops up a dialog on the TabMail ribbon before group GroupQuickSteps. Is the Outlook ribbon only limited to TabDefault?
I would like to design my ribbon to have one button on the compose ribbon and one button on the read (pop-out) button. Then I would have two buttons on the main ribbon (TabMail). All buttons would perform different functions. Can I define separate logic for each ribbon/window? The only example I see is that Contoso sample app. Kind of confused about the manifest and limitations. Looks like that example pops up on all windows.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Tom
Web add-ins don't support ribbon customizations you could do with a COM add-in. But web add-ins provide the ability to create ribbon commands. You can read more about them in the Add-in commands for Outlook article.
Add-in commands are supported for four scenarios:
Reading a message
When the user is reading a message in the reading pane or in the Message tab for a pop-out read form, add-in commands added to the default tab appear on the Home tab.
Composing a message
When the user is composing a message, add-in commands added to the default tab appear on the Message tab.
Creating or viewing an appointment or meeting as the organizer
When creating or viewing an appointment or meeting as the organizer, add-in commands added to the default tab appear on the Meeting, Meeting Occurrence, Meeting Series, or Appointment tabs on pop-out forms. However, if the user selects an item in the calendar but doesn't open the pop-out, the add-in's ribbon group won't be visible in the ribbon.
Viewing a meeting as an attendee
When viewing a meeting as an attendee, add-in commands added to the default tab appear on the Meeting, Meeting Occurrence, or Meeting Series tabs on pop-out forms. However, if a user selects an item in the calendar but doesn't open the pop-out, the add-in's ribbon group won't be visible in the ribbon
Using a module extension
When using a module extension, add-in commands appear on the extension's custom tab.
I've been experiencing a mysterious problem where the task pane hosting my add-in closes completely after code in my add-in sends and receives an XMLHttpRequest - but ONLY with the new Outlook Online UI. It works perfectly fine in Outlook desktop on Windows and Mac. There are no exceptions thrown in the web debugger and nothing relevant from my add-in's console logs. I can set a single breakpoint on random lines of code in various functions across multiple app classes that are run after the button that fires the webrequest is clicked, and the breakpoint gets hit and stops for a second – before the task pane closes completely. It is very bizarre.
I’ve also ran a network trace of what happens when the task pane disappears, and notice that two requests always occur in the new Outlook Online only (the numbers change but are always sequential):
https://outlook.office.com/owa/service.svc?action=GetConversationItems&n=55&app=Mail
https://outlook.office.com/owa/service.svc?action=GetConversationItems&n=56&app=Mail
I’m guessing that the new Outlook Online is erroneously detecting a context switch of some kind to trigger any open task panes to close. And note that the task pane NEVER disappears when the task pane is pinned or when the task pane is hosted in a full item window.
Here’s a recording of the task pane disappearing: https://www.screencast.com/t/RO7p0Zu5oP. Note how the selection of the current email is also cleared.
I know I'll be asked to provide a code sample, but given how the add-in has been firing this web request for months without issue until running in the new Outlook Online, I can't see how the problem lies within my code. Also note that:
Add-ins cannot close a read item task pane with code, only compose add-ins can (mine is a read mode add-in)
Only the user changing the message selection should close a task pane (if it is not pinned)
Add-ins cannot change the message selection
Any exceptions in the add-in that cause it to crash should be handled by the add-in framework and a message should be displayed in the task pane header (e.g. "This add-in is not responding"). The task pane should NEVER close
Is this happening to anyone else? Can somebody on the Office Dev team confirm that there's no way this scenario should occur?
Feel kinda silly for having to ask, but anyway... I seem to be missing the add-in toolbar shown inside of an e-mail which for instance contains the button to watch an address in Bing maps. The entire bar is missing. I tried finding an option to view it, that doesn't seem to exist (so it cannot be disabled either :)). Also tried making my O365 the only Outlook account since I have a corporate account where add-ins are not enabled.
To be clear; it's the bar as shown in this video by Jeremy Thake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDBMI9OcqBQ, the entire bar is missing in both Office 365 OWA and the desktop client, from multiple PC's. Other add-in stuff does work, like the Boomerang add-in pane in an e-mail. I sent myself some e-mails with addresses in them (including the sample ones) to be sure it should trigger, but nothing happens. What am I missing here?
From the desktop Outlook client, click File -> Info -> Manage Add-ins. It will launch the Manage add-ins page in the Outlook Web Application (or click the gears icon in OWA and choose "Manage add-ins"). Do you see the Bing Maps add-in listed? If not, click the + icon and select "Add from the Office Store" and look for the Bing Maps add-in.