I'm currently working on a Dynamics 365 instance and I'm investigating the feasibility of using the Outlook add in. In Dynamics, we are using the "Apps" functionality to separate out the different business areas of our application and more specifically, provide a customised, cut-down Sitemap.
The first problem that I've encountered is that it doesn't seem like it's possible to target a specific "App" in the Outlook add in, so the folders that are shown in the navigation pane in Outlook resemble that of the Sitemap for the default "Dynamics 365 - custom" app. To change the items that are displayed in the Outlook navigation pane, is the only option to change the Sitemap for the default "App", or am I missing something?
It seems like the development of the Outlook add in has fallen behind the rest of the functionality in Dynamics 365 to me.
No, it's not possible. And in fact, you're not wrong, development of new features for the add in stopped some time ago. As of the 9.0 release of D365, it will in fact be deprecated.
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I'm working on an outlook add-in I can't get event-based activations to work on the web client (but do actually work on the Mac Outlook app). I've been trying to run the examples hosted on github, both outlook-set-signature and outlook-encrypt-attachments provided by the Microsoft team.
And add-in is correctly loaded. I can manage to open the sidepanel and follow the instructions, but nothing changes. Trying the same thing using the Outlook client on Mac OS works as expected.
Here are my reproduction steps:
Visit https://outlook.live.com/calendar/
New event > Get Add-ins > My Add-ins > "Add Custom Addins" > From URL > Paste "https://officedev.github.io/Office-Add-in-samples/Samples/outlook-encrypt-attachments/manifest.xml"
Go back to the calendar app > Click on the three dots button > click "Event Activation Example" addin > The sidepanel shows as expected
Discard the event and create a new one
Add a new participant to the event and expect a notification / or add any lightweight attachment and expect an automatically generated encrypted version of the attachment
Nothing happens 🤷 . According to the docs, a notification message should be shown
This "unresponsiveness" also happens with my own add-in and also in another example provided by the outlook team https://github.com/OfficeDev/Office-Add-in-samples/tree/main/Samples/outlook-set-signature.
BUT, these add-ins do actually work when I use them on my Mac OS Outlook app (OS Version: Ventura). So I'm wondering if there's any limitation for event-based activations for non-365 users using outlook on a web browser.
I'm wondering if there's any limitation for event-based activations for non-365 users using outlook on a web browser
Classic Outlook UI when connected to Exchange on-premises doesn't support the requirement set 1.10 where the event-based activation was introduced.
Modern Outlook UI when connected to Exchange Online: Microsoft 365 subscription, Outlook.com supports the Outlook add-in API requirement set 1.10.
You can find the Outlook client support for specific requirement sets in MSDN.
Also you may find the Debug your event-based Outlook add-in page helpful.
Event based add-ins are currently supported for commercial accounts as they are only available as part of admin deployment. Supporting event-based activation for user acquired add-ins is on the road map and we will consider this as part of that requirement. We don't have an ETA for this yet.
We are working on an Outlook add-in that uses the On-send feature (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/add-ins/outlook-on-send-addins?tabs=unix). We want to know what our options are when it comes to deploying this add-in to actual users, with the focus being on users running Outlook on Mac. Per documentation, On-send Add-ins are not allowed on AppSource. The ideal flow we are looking for is one where there's little to no manual action required on behalf of either the end-users or the Admins.
Is there a way to deploy the add-in automatically on the end-user device (running Mac), with neither any admin-side action required, nor any manual action required by the user -- e.g., by downloading the Add-in manifest, and running a script on the device?
I'm aware user can sideload the manifest once the manifest is downloaded, but this is not acceptable in our case; we are looking for a way where the installation of the add-in is automated, without requiring any manual action on behalf of the user.
If the above is not an option, what is the recommended way to deploy the add-in? I found two links from MS, with possibly conflicting info; which of these two is the right one to try?
The first one is "Publish Office Add-ins using Centralized Deployment via the Office 365 admin center" from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/publish/centralized-deployment#end-user-experience-with-add-ins. Looks like this is supposed to be done from the O365 Admin Console --> Settings > Services & add-ins.
This approach requires (from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/admin/manage/centralized-deployment-of-add-ins?view=o365-worldwide) the following as pre-requisites; are all of them actually required?
"have Exchange Online and active Exchange Online mailboxes" -- is there a difference between "Exchange Online" and "active Exchange Online mailboxes"?
"Version 1701 or later of Office 365 ProPlus." -- does this apply for Mac as well? If so, is there such a version for Mac?
"Your subscription'd directory must either be in, or federated to Azure Active Directory."
Looks like there's a Powershell-based alternative to this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/enterprise/use-the-centralized-deployment-powershell-cmdlets-to-manage-add-ins. Is this subject to the same requirements as the above?
The second flow, which is more geared towards Outlook (rather than the other Office apps) is https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/exchange/clients-and-mobile-in-exchange-online/add-ins-for-outlook/specify-who-can-install-and-manage-add-ins?redirectedfrom=MSDN. This is to be initiated from Exchange admin center under Organization > Add-ins > New Add Icon
Does this work with a non-ProPlus O365 subscription as well?
Does this work outside of Azure AD?
(Assuming Bullet 1. is not an option so we have to go with 2.) After deploying add-in from admin, is further action required to activate it on the end-user device?
Per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/publish/centralized-deployment#end-user-experience-with-add-ins:"For Outlook 2016 or later, users can do the following: In Outlook, choose Home > Store. Choose the Admin-managed item under the add-in tab. Choose the add-in, and then choose Add."
(Again assuming Bullet 1. is not an option so we have to go with 2.) Is there API support to help automate bullets 2 and 3?
Is there a way to have an outlook add-in that uses a global scope? I want to be able to launch the add-in at any time, but not necessarily relate it to a specific e-mail. According to the documentation I found, the closest thing would be to have it appear as a Module, but then it only works on the desktop version (not the web), and doesn't allow you to view it alongside e-mails. It would be ideal if this could run on the side of the screen, similar to how Skype works on the web version of Outlook, on both the desktop and web versions. Is Skype a special case, or is it possible to build an add-in like that?
Web-based add-ins work in the context of the current item only.
Instead, you may consider developing a browser plug-in which modifies a web page dynamically. And for the desktop editions of Outlook you may consider creating a COM based add-in which allows to customize the UI in the way you need. See Walkthrough: Creating Your First VSTO Add-In for Outlook to get started quickly.
I have the Sales app plus two custom apps in a production instance. I have created a sandbox instance and done a full copy from production to sandbox. https://home.dynamics.com however is only showing tiles for the apps in production, there is nothing there for sandbox. The same is true of the Dynamics 365 drop down that shows available apps, nothing for sandbox.
I know the sandbox apps are present because I can navigate to them by modifying the URL for the production app to point at the sandbox instance. I have tried clearing cache, syncing on the home menu and logging off/on.
I have an outstanding request open with Microsoft, but they don't seem to know much about this.
You can't see the sandbox there because sandbox is a separate "Instance" of CRM not a separate "App" of CRM. I believe that you don't want users to have access to the same data on Sandbox and on Production? Apps are simply a way to allow you to group your data into different set of entities (you can specify which entities should be available for an app), providing different sitemap etc. but the underlying database is the same. Sandbox is different database (a separate organization) which can (and most likely is) on separate server. That's why you won't see it under your apps (as it is technically not an app)
UPDATE:
Don't know why I thought you are talking about this pane on the left when you are exploring Dynamics 365. https://home.dynamics.com should indeed show you a tile for different instances. It's clearly a bug, so this is a task for Microsoft Support team, not Stack Overflow question
You should be able to see the Sales app and the custom Dynamics 365 instance using the following steps
- click the chevron on the right of Dynamics 365 label on the upper left
- click the chevron on the right of My apps label
- Sales app is shown
- Custom app is shown
If you still can't see it using those steps, then you might encountered the issue that I have also encountered before where my apps are missing. I just reinstalled a new sandbox, and all my previous changes are gone. Hopefully this won't be your last resort and someone could post a better alternative. For me I just recreated it since it's just a sandbox anyway.
I am building apps with the new technology of Office add-ins (formerly app for Office).
The add-ins activate well when registered globally for the Office 365 tenant or individually by user (mechanical gear > manage add-ins).
I would like my add-in to work with Office365's shared mailboxes. The add-ins do not load in Outlook desktop or in OWA when the shared mailbox is open alone.
However, I managed to make it work when setting the shared mailbox as a shared folder displayed under my primary mailbox, as explained here (see picture below). It is better than nothing but not an acceptable solution, I would like my add-ins to be displayed when consulting my mailbox in Desktop client and in OWA when using the "Open another mailbox" (see link above).
My question is then: how to make add-ins working with shared mailboxes? A possible solution is: a shared mailbox seems to be related with a special kind of user. Would it be possible to install the add-in for this special user in order to have the add-ins always working with shared mailboxes?
Edited:
Not supported for now. I created a feature request in Office365 User Voice. Consider bringing your vote to it.
There is a new feature request to cover this functionality.
This feature request has theoretically been implemented and is in public preview.
Theoretically if you add the following under <DesktopFormFactor> it enables this feature:
<SupportsSharedFolders>true</SupportsSharedFolders>
However, people are having issues with this throwing Schema errors. See GitHub or StackOverflow. (NOTE: StackOverflow has a solution, but I didn't find it actually worked).
It maybe there is some undocumented magic so it could work now.
Outlook add-ins are not supposed to activate outside of your primary mailbox. This is intentionally disabled. What you're seeing with it displaying when opened under your primary mailbox there Benoit is likely a bug.
The office add-in can be configured to show on a mail item. it does not matter the type of mailbox, if the item you are viewing is a mail message, your add-in should show.
The simple test you can do, does your add-in show in your mailbox mail messages? if yes, this means it should show in mail messages from the shared mailbox. It is divide and conquer issue we need to resolve.
Let me know if you have more questions or need clarifications.