Outlook Add-in: deploying new version does not update in outlook - outlook

I am currently working on an existing office 365 outlook add-in.
I'm not using visual studio but eclipse on a mac.
I simply need to do some debugging to check the response of an api call, so I added my debug code and deployed the add-in on the hosted server.
Then, from the Office Admin Center I re-upload the add-in making it available to all users.
The original problem was that the updated version of the add-in did not update straight away in outlook.
I left it for a day and today outlook was serving the updated add-in but then I had to add some more debugging code and once redeployed the new add-in version again was not served in outlook.
Thinking it was a caching issue I deleted all the browser cache (Local Storage, Session Storage, Cache Storage).
Unfortunately since then the Add-in is not loading at all returning an Add-in error:
Uncaught Function ContextActivationManager_getAppContextAsync call failed. ErrorCode is -2, exception: Failed origin check
from outlook-web-16.01.js
I tried to re-deploy it updating the version in the manifest but still no success.
I cannot really afford to waste another day to wait for the new version to kick-in so I was wondering if there is a faster way? Am I doing something wrong in deploying the add-in? Is there a reason why uploading a new version of the add-in it doesn't get served straight away in outlook?

RESOLVED. Apparently there is nothing wrong with the add-in deployment. I have spoken directly to the outlook support team and they said that if you are using the outlook web app the plugin takes time to become available because it goes through a release process.
So either use the desktop version of outlook or wait at least half hour before the plugin finally becomes available.
The error I mentioned earlier looks like it is not related to the add-in deployment.

Related

Outlook web add-in - Folders created through EWS calls not showing up in OWA. Working fine in Outlook Windows. Could it be my code's issue?

I have a Client Project relationship in my web-app. I want to allow my web-app users to be able to file emails right from within Outlook. So in my Outlook Web Add-In, I want to create the client project folders on the fly, if they do not exist already, and move the selected email item in the respective project folder.
My code works fine in Outlook Windows. In Outlook Web, it executes without any errors, but the folders are not displayed. If I reload the web page, the folders are there and the email is in the right folder.
I have talked to Microsoft support and they are saying that OWA is working fine.
Can anybody help me spot any issues with my code?
CreateFolderPath EWS operation is not allowed in my add-in. So that does not seem to be an option.
The manifest file is available at https://newdev.timesolv.com/Integrations/addin/SimpleVersion.xml
This is a bug. It has been submitted to Microsoft and they have acknowledged it.
Update: On January 27th, 2020, the issue was closed by OfficeDev. I confirmed and it was working fine.

Outlook 2016 Add-In doesn't work for some users

We've created an Outlook add-in which integrates our custom CRM with Outlook. A command button is added to messages in read and compose mode. A function file is called on the button click.
The add-in manifest passes validation and installs properly on all machines. However on Outlook 2016 desktop (only) we are seeing an error on some machines. The exact error message says: “We’re sorry, we couldn’t access [NCS Outlook Add-in]. Make sure you have a network connection. If the problem continues, please try again later.” ([NCS Outlook Add-In] is the name of our add-in.)
Note that this message appears IMMEDIATELY after clicking the add-in command button. It does not first say “[NCS Outlook Add-in] is working on your request” like it add-ins do when an error has occurred.
We have tried Outlook logging and haven't found anything useful in the logs. We've checked settings and disabled other add-ins. We have also tested across machines with user accounts. The same user will have the error on one machine and not the other. In short, it seems that the error is machine specific and not profile related.
Version of Office 365 installed: 1705 (Build 8201.2209).
We experienced this exact behavior in Outlook 2016, the solution was to enable protected mode for the restricted and internet zones.
The easiest way to change this is in IE.
In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Security tab, and then select the Restricted Sites Zone.
Select the Enable Protected Mode check box, and then click OK.
Restart Internet Explorer.
Here is a little more information:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2761180/apps-for-office-don-t-start-if-you-disable-protected-mode-for-the-rest
Try this:
1) Close Outlook
2) Rename the folder C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
to C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.OLD
(Where %USERNAME% is current User Name.)
3) Start Outlook, Setup User Profile
4) Add/Test Add-In.
If that works, then something broken on old Outlook profile. But if same problem: Exit Outlook, delete the Outlook folder and rename Outlook.OLD back to Outlook.
I ran into this exact same problem after uninstalling Visual Studio 2015 on my development machine. (I had been using Visual Studio 2017 for Outlook add-in development.)
The problem went away as soon as I reinstalled Visual Studio 2017. The Outlook 2016 installation had nothing to do with the problem, I never changed Outlook or its profile at all.
This would indicate that the problem is somehow related to the SDK tooling on the machine...perhaps something to do with the .Net framework?
If I ran into this problem on a customer machine I would try reinstalling or repairing the .Net framework, or perhaps reinstalling Outlook (assuming it contains some add-in tooling that is broken.)
Just passing this on in case it helps anyone else.

This account has no subscription - Publishing to Azure from Visual Studio

Earlier this year I successfully deployed a MVC app to Azure from Visual Studio.
Now I'm trying to do the same thing again, but now I am told my azure account "has no subscription".
However I am 100% positive I do have a subscription associated with my email. My old MVC app still runs and I can see my Pay-as-you-go is properly charged.
What I Have tried to fix it
Emptied my browser caches, history, cookies etc.
Removed my account from Visual Studio, restarted, and added them again.
Formatted my computer and reinstalled everything (not really because of this problem, but the timing was perfect).
Updated the Azure SDK to the newest 2.9.5.
I did the following things above based on advice from these pages:
Visual Studio not finding my Azure subscriptions
Unable to publish to Azure with VS2015
No subscription found in windows azure account
But alas, no luck.
The only thing that comes to thought is I tried to add an Azure Pass to my account, but without luck. But I can't see how that should change anything...
So my question is: How do I make Visual Studio recognize my current Pay-as-you-go subscription, so I can publish my services, apps, etc. from Visual Studio directly?
Or at least: What has gone wrong? Whom can I contact to get help with this?
As always, thank you for your time and patience, and please write a comment if you need further information.
You may try to connect first via the server explorer (ctrl+alt+s). (The server explorer has an azure root node, if the azure sdk installed)
If you have connected, the publish wizard won't ask (usually) for sign in again.
In my case, the solution was as follows:
Open Server Explorer in Visual Studio, right-click on Azure and select "Manage and filter subscriptions":
Screenshot of Manage Subscriptions Dialog
Click the Certificates tab, click Import, then click Download subscription file. This will take you to the azure portal page where you can download a .publishsettings file for your subscription. After downloading that file, click the Browse button in the Import dialog shown above and select that file.
I had the same issue. To solve it I opened the server explorer (ctrl+alt+s) and refreshed the Azure connection. It still said 0 subscriptions, but in the publishing options I could connect without any issue.

Outlook Addin starts up inactive

This is a very strange situation that I am in; scratching my head for answers.
I have developed an outlook addin that works perfectly on my dev machine and on about 90 % of the clients machines.
The load behavior of the addin is 3.
On 10% of the users, outlook starts up without loading the addin despite the load behaviour being 3. The user can manually make the addin active by going to the addin manager on outlook but after a restart this addin reverts back to being inactive bbut load behavior never changes from 3.
I used Install Shield LE to package this addin. I don't even know where to debug anymore, I tried changing different load behaviour values but still the same outcome. The addin just won't load on startup with this set of users.
The company uses ZenWorks to automatically install the addin on all the PCs from the MSI i generate using install shield.
One weird thing is, If i go to the installation directory of the addin and install the addin using the .vsto deployment file, it works and gets loaded on outlook (but thats makes it two addins installed).
I also checked the Resiliency section on the registry and the addin isn't there.
I have faced this issue. To solve this, you need to manually delete the registry entries from the following path.
Open registry editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\<Your add-in> and change the LoadBehavior to 3.
If the above registry entry is not found, then look for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\<Your add-in> and change the LoadBehavior to 3.
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Resiliency – remove the REG_BINARY keys found in DisabledItems and CrashingAddinList
where 15.0 is for outlook 2013.
If you are using 2010 outlook, replace 15.0 by 14.0 and for Outlook 2016 replace 15.0 by 16.0
Hope this helps.

Outlook mail addin caches cant reload the debugging version

We are developing an Outlook Mail Addin for our product.
When i debug the solution in Visual Studio my Office365 Outlook account opens and i can see the plugin i developed in the list of outlook plugins and i can use it.
The problem is that even after stopping the solution in Visual Studio i can still use the plugin. And when i re-run the solution it displays the cached version of the addin not the current version that i have in visual studio.
Looks like the addin is cached somewhere. Can't seem to stop it.
How can i solve this problem?
The add-in doesn't get cached, it always loads from the source location set in your manifest. During testing, when you build the solution the app gets deployed to the Mailbox you specify. However, the app can only run while your local web server is running. The add-in's tab will continue to be displayed, but if your web server has stopped it will fail when it loads - it should never load a cached version. You'll have to manually uninstall the add-in from the add-in page if you don't want it to run while you're not debugging.
Your browser is caching the files used by your add-in. If you deploy an updated version your browser will rely on the old files it still got cached. Deleting your browser's cache should solve the problem.

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