Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled q3537wh[ at ]hotmail.com 9/27/2006 7:49:57 PM One of my company's customers is experiencing a strange problem with an Outlook add-in we built. The add-in is often disabled when some of the users start Outlook, and they have to go into COM add-ins to add it back. The problem is that this happens pretty regularly. They'd add the add-in, it'd work for a while, but some days later, when they start Outlook again, the add-in disappears again, and they have to add it back again. Some (but not all) of these users have HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\OurOutlookAddin.OutlookAddin set to 0 or 1. But changing it to a 3 hasn't worked. Are there any known causes that leads to an Outlook addin being constantly disabled? TIA

Re: Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled "Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]" <kenslovak[ at ]mvps.org> 9/27/2006 8:03:49 PM Unhandled exceptions is the #1 cause. Disabled addins can usually be re-enabled only by deleting the registry key for disabling addins or by removing the addin from the disabled items list in the Help, About, Disabled Items dialog. Another cause of disabling can be script stoppers. If you use "New" or "CreateObject" in your code or access Windows Scripting your addin might be disabled because the script stopper causes that to fail, the exception is unhandled and the addin gets disabled. Also very common. -- Ken Slovak [MVP - Outlook] http://www.slovaktech.com Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm <q3537wh[ at ]hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1159386597.223076.295610[ at ]d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com... [Quoted Text] > One of my company's customers is experiencing a strange problem with an > Outlook add-in we built. The add-in is often disabled when some of the > users start Outlook, and they have to go into COM add-ins to add it > back. The problem is that this happens pretty regularly. They'd add the > add-in, it'd work for a while, but some days later, when they start > Outlook again, the add-in disappears again, and they have to add it > back again. > > Some (but not all) of these users have > HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\OurOutlookAddin.OutlookAddin > set to 0 or 1. But changing it to a 3 hasn't worked. > > Are there any known causes that leads to an Outlook addin being > constantly disabled? > > TIA >

Re: Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled "Michael Tissington" <mtissington[ at ]newsgroups.nospam> 9/27/2006 8:36:32 PM I did not know there was a registry key that did the same as removing it from the list in Help About ... What is the registry key ? -- Michael Tissington http://www.oaklodge.com http://www.sqlview.net "Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]" <kenslovak[ at ]mvps.org> wrote in message news:%23DeGEAn4GHA.3512[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... [Quoted Text] > Unhandled exceptions is the #1 cause. > > Disabled addins can usually be re-enabled only by deleting the registry > key for disabling addins or by removing the addin from the disabled items > list in the Help, About, Disabled Items dialog. > > Another cause of disabling can be script stoppers. If you use "New" or > "CreateObject" in your code or access Windows Scripting your addin might > be disabled because the script stopper causes that to fail, the exception > is unhandled and the addin gets disabled. Also very common. > > -- > Ken Slovak > [MVP - Outlook] > http://www.slovaktech.com > Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 > Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options > http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm > > > <q3537wh[ at ]hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:1159386597.223076.295610[ at ]d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com... >> One of my company's customers is experiencing a strange problem with an >> Outlook add-in we built. The add-in is often disabled when some of the >> users start Outlook, and they have to go into COM add-ins to add it >> back. The problem is that this happens pretty regularly. They'd add the >> add-in, it'd work for a while, but some days later, when they start >> Outlook again, the add-in disappears again, and they have to add it >> back again. >> >> Some (but not all) of these users have >> HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\OurOutlookAddin.OutlookAddin >> set to 0 or 1. But changing it to a 3 hasn't worked. >> >> Are there any known causes that leads to an Outlook addin being >> constantly disabled? >> >> TIA >> >

Re: Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled "Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]" <kenslovak[ at ]mvps.org> 9/27/2006 9:18:26 PM It's all or nothing though. If the key is deleted all disabled addins are re-enabled. Maybe not such a good idea. Disabling adds a binary value for each addin with a name that's randomly generated. The Resiliency key exists if there is at least one disabled item, but if you re-enable the addin then the Resiliency key and DisabledItems subkey are both deleted. So the presence of the Resiliency key serves as a general test for the existence of disabled items. You can re-enable the addin by deleting the specific binary reg value, or by removing the whole key. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Resiliency\DisabledItems 11.0 would be 10.0 for Outlook 2002, 12.0 for Outlook 2007. -- Ken Slovak [MVP - Outlook] http://www.slovaktech.com Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm "Michael Tissington" <mtissington[ at ]newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message news:u4NYfSn4GHA.1668[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... [Quoted Text] >I did not know there was a registry key that did the same as removing it >from the list in Help About ... What is the registry key ? > > -- > Michael Tissington > http://www.oaklodge.com > http://www.sqlview.net

Re: Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled q3537wh[ at ]hotmail.com 9/28/2006 12:26:20 AM In my situation the disabled add-in does not appear in Help | About | Disabled items. Instead it's missing from the COM Add-Ins window. According to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms269003.aspx and http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms268871.aspx , that's called a "soft disable". These articles also square with your contention that an unhandled exception is the likely culprit. Most of our customers do not encounter this problem. It's just this one organization. At the risk of sounding like I'm fishing or being too general, is there anything that is environment specific that can trigger an unhandled exception like this that is practically unreproducible anywhere else? Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook] wrote: [Quoted Text] > Unhandled exceptions is the #1 cause. > > Disabled addins can usually be re-enabled only by deleting the registry key > for disabling addins or by removing the addin from the disabled items list > in the Help, About, Disabled Items dialog. > > Another cause of disabling can be script stoppers. If you use "New" or > "CreateObject" in your code or access Windows Scripting your addin might be > disabled because the script stopper causes that to fail, the exception is > unhandled and the addin gets disabled. Also very common. > > -- > Ken Slovak > [MVP - Outlook] > http://www.slovaktech.com > Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 > Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options > http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm > > > <q3537wh[ at ]hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:1159386597.223076.295610[ at ]d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com... > > One of my company's customers is experiencing a strange problem with an > > Outlook add-in we built. The add-in is often disabled when some of the > > users start Outlook, and they have to go into COM add-ins to add it > > back. The problem is that this happens pretty regularly. They'd add the > > add-in, it'd work for a while, but some days later, when they start > > Outlook again, the add-in disappears again, and they have to add it > > back again. > > > > Some (but not all) of these users have > > HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\OurOutlookAddin.OutlookAddin > > set to 0 or 1. But changing it to a 3 hasn't worked. > > > > Are there any known causes that leads to an Outlook addin being > > constantly disabled? > > > > TIA > >

Re: Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled "Michael Tissington" <mtissington[ at ]newsgroups.nospam> 9/28/2006 1:01:34 AM Hmm, how do I know which binary value relates to my add-in ? -- Michael Tissington http://www.oaklodge.com http://www.sqlview.net "Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]" <kenslovak[ at ]mvps.org> wrote in message news:ulrIjqn4GHA.3960[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... [Quoted Text] > It's all or nothing though. If the key is deleted all disabled addins are > re-enabled. Maybe not such a good idea. > > Disabling adds a binary value for each addin with a name that's randomly > generated. The Resiliency key exists if there is at least one disabled > item, but if you re-enable the addin then the Resiliency key and > DisabledItems subkey are both deleted. So the presence of the Resiliency > key serves as a general test for the existence of disabled items. You can > re-enable the addin by deleting the specific binary reg value, or by > removing the whole key. > > HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Resiliency\DisabledItems > > 11.0 would be 10.0 for Outlook 2002, 12.0 for Outlook 2007. > > -- > Ken Slovak > [MVP - Outlook] > http://www.slovaktech.com > Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 > Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options > http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm > > > "Michael Tissington" <mtissington[ at ]newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message > news:u4NYfSn4GHA.1668[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... >>I did not know there was a registry key that did the same as removing it >>from the list in Help About ... What is the registry key ? >> >> -- >> Michael Tissington >> http://www.oaklodge.com >> http://www.sqlview.net >

Re: Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled "Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]" <kenslovak[ at ]mvps.org> 9/28/2006 1:30:06 PM It could be other addins causing a fault, it could be a script stopper, it could be some other addin interfering with something your addin is doing causing a fault in your own addin. Shared addins in .NET that aren't shimmed to use their own namespaces will disable all other shared addins like that if they fault. About the only things that you can do are a thorough code review and using an error log file as well as remote debugging and examining the event logs. I can't offer anything more specific. -- Ken Slovak [MVP - Outlook] http://www.slovaktech.com Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm <q3537wh[ at ]hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1159403180.500427.239400[ at ]e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com... [Quoted Text] > In my situation the disabled add-in does not appear in Help | About | > Disabled items. Instead it's missing from the COM Add-Ins window. > According to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms269003.aspx and > http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms268871.aspx , that's called > a "soft disable". These articles also square with your contention that > an unhandled exception is the likely culprit. > > Most of our customers do not encounter this problem. It's just this one > organization. At the risk of sounding like I'm fishing or being too > general, is there anything that is environment specific that can > trigger an unhandled exception like this that is practically > unreproducible anywhere else?

Re: Outlook add-in is constantly being disabled "Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]" <kenslovak[ at ]mvps.org> 9/28/2006 1:30:34 PM You don't. That's why it's all or nothing. -- Ken Slovak [MVP - Outlook] http://www.slovaktech.com Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm "Michael Tissington" <mtissington[ at ]newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message news:OTZYlmp4GHA.2264[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... [Quoted Text] > Hmm, how do I know which binary value relates to my add-in ? > > -- > Michael Tissington > http://www.oaklodge.com > http://www.sqlview.net