I created a custom Outlook add-in using the Visual Studio Outlook Add-In project template. When I install the add-in from the manifest file using URLs pointing to a localhost site, everything works fine.
When I install the add-in from the manifest file using URLs pointing to an external site, it works in the Office365 Outlook web client, but not my desktop Outlook application. The add-in claims that it successfully installs, but then disappears from the list of "My Add-ins", and doesn't appear in the setting as an inactive add-in either. However, on the web client it is listed as an installed add-in and works completely fine.
Any idea on something I might be missing?
Related
I have an Add-in I have written for Microsoft Outlook. The Add-in runs in a task pane. I have a button on the html in the page that opens a new window using Office.context.ui.displayDialogAsync. This button works fine in the web client, but when clicked in the full Outlook client, a window appears and disappears in a split second. This Add-in was developed outside VS so not sure how I can debug apart from in web client, which not does have the issue.
The domain is the same, and the domain is in the appDomain of the XML manifest. The URL is also https.
Does anyone have any ideas, have I missed something that says this isn't available in full client and only available in web client?
About Outlook version:
Version 2102 (Build 13801.21004 Click-to-Run)
Microsoft Office for Outlook 365 MSO (16.0.13801.21002) 64-bit
If I clock Office Updates, it tells me Office is up to date.
Update
I have another machine with Outlook installed, and I have discovered the dialog opens fine on the full outlook client. Looking at the version for that version of outlook (logged in to the same Office 365 account), the version shows as:
Version 2110 (Build 14527.20226 Click-to Run)
Microsoft Office for Outlook 365 MSO (Version 2110 Build 16.0.14527.20168) 64-bit
So it looks like maybe the earlier build had an issue in Outlook?
Would you like to share a screen recording in the machine where the API is not working?
Besides, you could also try a test add-in with this: Manifest.
It's an app command so you can click "Show Taskpane" first, and then click "launchDialogSameOrigin" button in the taskpane. You can observe whether the dialog is working correctly in this add-in.
Thanks.
This is in an Enterprise setup (had a lot of GPO set) running Exchange 2013 Server, with Outlook 2013 client.
I installed the add-in using OWA
Manage Add-ins > Add from file
The add-in appeared in and worked fine
When I open outlook 2013, I do not see the add-in appear, tried a lot of steps to debug.
As per this doc https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/add-ins/troubleshoot-outlook-add-in-activation
Version no was ?Session.ExchangeMailboxServerVersion
15.0.1320.4000
Is the add-in disabled?
Enabled
Is the add-in manifest installed properly, and does Outlook have a cached copy?
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Office\15.0\WEF \<insert your guid>\<insert base 64 hash>\Manifests\<ManifestID>_<ManifestVersion>
The new added add-in files would get removed everytime the data is pulled from exchange servers. Only 3 default add-in files were available.
Checked Windows Logs in Eventviewer
The Exchange web service request GetAppManifests succeeded.
Got this message with event id 63
We also checked Fiddler and could see the call going to get the manifests but that would give the manifest of only 3 add-ins that come installed by default on Exchange Setup.
For the same account, the add-in works fine in a Virtual Environment, VDI setup. But doesn't appear on the desktop environment, if that helps.
To rule out the possibility of a wrong manifest file, we tried using the Outlook Command Demo Add-in. This also worked on Virtual Environment, VDI setup. But doesn't appear on the desktop environment.
Are there any other steps that can help us debug this? Any directory where logs are available for add-ins?
We have hit a roadblock due to this with no idea how to debug/get it working.
I am having a horrible time getting started at creating an add-in for Outlook. I want to use the new html/javascript/manifest approach. I have been able to create a manifest and application which works great with outlook.live.com. Where I am completely getting stuck is with desktop Outlook. How do I install/debug my add-in with desktop Outlook?
I cannot find anything in the UI which will let me add this style of add-in. Additionally the Microsoft documentation did not make things any clearer. Their docs seem to hint using this type of add-in is only possible if you are connecting to an Exchange server.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Yes the add-in will load on Outlook desktop only if your mailbox is Exchange. I am not sure the add-ins work with a personal Microsoft account (e.g hotmail.com, outlook.com) and Office desktop. Keep in mind that the support of mail add-ins for personal account is relatively new (officially announced in march 2016).
To develop your add-in I suggest you to use a organizational account (i.e. Office365 account). Support for organizational account has been released in 2013 and is a much more mature solution for you to get started. You can have a free dev account at dev.office.com.
Edit: October 2016 personal account are supported now by "Personal mailbox accounts" aka outlook.com accounts
Let us keep in mind that a mail add-in is not installed on a mail client (desktop, OWA) but on the mail account. When you "install" an add-in you only set a xml file on your mailbox that basically says "there is a web add-in out there called X and that is served at this url...". Then, if you install add-in X on your mailbox smaclell#mytestcompany.onmicrosoft.com, this add-in will load the add-in web iframes whether you are consulting your mailbox with Outlook Web Access (OWA) or Outlook Desktop.
To install the add-in for one user mailaccount, you have to use the Outlook Web Access. See this blog post. Note also that you can install the add-in for the whole organisation (Admin > Exchange Admin > Add-ins). Finally, Visual Studio is also able to push the manifest to your office 365 mailbox. To have this you need Office Development Tools.
For debugging in Outlook Desktop, I know two approaches.
Use the Office Developement Tools with visual studio
and select your sample add-in project as 'Starting project' and in properties select 'Office Desktop'.
Plain web development.
Personally, I do not use really much the Office Development Tools. I install manually my add-in with "https://localhost:XXXX" for url and I start the web project on IIS express to do the debugging. For stepping into the source code, I use the debugger of my browser (Chrome, Edge, IE etc.) when browsing in OWA. When I need to step into source code specifically on Desktop (For windows or for Mac) I use Vorlon.js see also this blog post.
My advice is also to test/debug frequently with IE 11 (still available in Win10!) and OWA. Indeed, the browser used internally by Office Desktop for the add-ins is IE.
I want to develop all-in-one add-in for Outlook. This means that this add-in will be available for all Outlook clients (desktop, web).
I read here that i can do this. I already created add-in for Outlook Web Application and tried to deploy it to desktop client, but didn't figure how to make it. So how to make it set on desktop and outlook.com? Is that really possible? And if yes, how it can be done?
Technically you can't make an add-in that will work 100% on all clients. The web-based add-ins currently only work with Mailboxes hosted on Office 365 or Exchange 2013 or greater, and with Outlook 2013 or greater. Outlook.com integration is coming this spring. COM/desktop add-ins work with Outlook 2000-2016, but not in OWA.
To deploy an add-in you need to either publish it to the Office Store or an Exchange Server. See here for more info: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/fp123515.aspx.
To install a self-published add-in that is not in the Office Store you just add the manifest file from the "Manage add-ins" page in OWA: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/fp142256.aspx
Note also that you must host your web add-in code in your own web server, and secured with an SSL certificate.
I am willing to develop an Outlook add-in for both, the web and the desktop version. My questions are:
When I upload a new version of the add-in, is it automatically updated (per default) in the users' devices / outlook web accounts?
Is it the same add-in for both, web and desktop, uploaded to office store?
If you are only updating the source code of the add-in (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) on the web server where you host it, then all users will get that right away since like Dmitry explained, Outlook will download the page like a browser would download it. So you should be careful updating the page of the production add-in - users will get the updates right away (although keep in mind that user's system/browser may cache previous version of the page for some time), so if you break the page or functionality of the add-in, users will get affected immediately, which may result in negative reviews for your add-in in the Office Store.
If you are updating the manifest XML file of the addin, then you need to publish new version of it to Office Store. Once it's published, that new version will automatically be updated for users who already installed an earlier version of the add-in. This automatic update will happen after they login to any of their Outlook clients that support add-ins.
Yes it is the same add-in for both web and desktop - that's the beauty of the new Office add-ins!
Hope this helps.
Web addins are never even stored locally, (desktop) Outlook downloads the addin source code every time it starts up.