A major complaint surrounding Outlook and add-ins is that it disables an add-in you need because it thinks the COM add-in loads too slow.
I’ve had it disable all of the Microsoft add-ins, including the Exchange add-in and the Social Connector. Outlook also disabled Business Contact Manager. Yes, BCM loads slow, but it also adds features I'm willing to wait for.
Fortunately, there is a solution: set a registry value to force Outlook to always load the add-ins. It will disable an add-in that it believes causes Outlook to crash, but won’t disable add-ins because they load too slow.
Administrators can control this using the GPO; anyone can add this key and value to the registry.
Browse to the following key, add a string value using the addin name and set it to 1.
Outlook 2016 and newer
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\resiliency\addinlist RG_SZ= add-in name Value = 1
Outlook 2013
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\15.0\outlook\resiliency\addinlist RG_SZ= add-in name Value = 1
Examples of the add-in names are:
| Application | Addin Name in Registry |
|---|---|
| iCloud | Apple.DAV.Addin |
| Microsoft Teams | TeamsAddin.FastConnect |
| Social Connector | OscAddin.Connect |
| BCM | Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.OutlookAddIn.Connect.5 |
| Valid values are | |
|---|---|
| 0 | The add-in is always disabled (blocked) |
| 1 | The add-in is always enabled |
| 2 | The add-in is configurable by the user and not blocked by the "Block all unmanaged add-ins" policy |
Do It For Me
If you don't want to edit the registry, I have ready-to-use registry files for some applications:
resiliency-BCM2013
Social Connector-2013 Social Connector-2016
Apple iCloud 2013 Apple iCloud 2016
How to Find the Addin Name
You can get the add-in name to use from any of the following registry keys. Right click on the key or Value name, choose Rename then select the name and copy (Ctrl+C). Exit the dialog without changing the name.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\nn.0\Outlook\Addins (nn = your version of Outlook)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins
Thomas J Dupuy says
I canot find an add-in for Dragon Naturall Speaking. It is not listed in the add-ins in word 2021 and I do not know what to select in Dragon. Any help?
R Katwal says
Hi Diane,
There seems to be some confusion around if the registry keys are meant to be DWORD or REG_SZ. Based on MSDN article there is recommendation of DWORD (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vba/outlook-vba/articles/support-for-keeping-add-ins-enabled ).
Diane Poremsky says
Well, the Reg_SZ key works... does DWORD?
Drift says
I have also tested with with REG_SZ and by setting the value to 0 or 1, i am able to disable and enable the addins at will. I haven't actually tested DWORD but can tell you the SZ definitely works.
Dan says
Does this setting apply to Outlook 2010 also?
Diane Poremsky says
No, AFAIK the ability to always load addins was not back-ported into 2010 when it was introduced into 2013. You could always try setting the key and see if it works - use 14.0 as the version #.
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/emeamsgdev/2017/08/02/outlooks-slow-add-ins-resiliency-logic-and-how-to-always-enable-slow-add-ins/
Diane Poremsky says
BTW, in 2010 you can use a reg to clear the disabled addins key -
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Resiliency\DisabledItems]
Keith says
Hi Diane
At my company we have been using the add-in list in gpo for a while now, however one of the add-ins still seems to be getting disabled and the only way to get it back is to either get the using to re-enable it or to add the reg key to the current users section of the registry to DoNotDisableAddinList.
The Add-in is not crashing outlook but occassionally it can be slow to load due to the add-in contacting a remote server (not the best practice i know but we didn't write it).
Should the add-in list in GPO mean that the add-in is never disabled, or will outlook still disable it if it sees it as a problem regardless?
many thanks
Keith
Diane Poremsky says
outlook should only override the addin list if the addin is crashing outlook, not because it loads slow. Crashes would also apply to DoNotDisableAddinList value - if an addin crashes and prevents outlook from loading, it will disable it.
Keith says
Thanks Diane, so really the only way to solve it is to get the vendor to fix the add-in I guess
Diane Poremsky says
Yeah, definitely if the keys doesn't help, but the vendor should fix it regardless.
Roy says
I find this article hard to follow. It is unclear which items are done under the GPO and which ones are done under the Registry. I myself need to make these changes in the registry as my domain is controlled by GPOs. I only want to alter one machine and want to do it by the registry. It seems you may have the knowledge here but it needs to be clearer before I make any changes
Diane Poremsky says
There is only one set of registry keys for this - so both gpo and non-gpo will use the same keys... gpojust makes it easier for the admin to set them for a lot of people.
You'll set this key - changing 15 to the correct version -
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\15.0\outlook\resiliency\addinlist
RG_SZ= add-in name
Value = 1
T K says
Do note that the registry entry you specified is reserved for GPO. End users wishing to always enable add-ins should use HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\\Resiliency\DoNotDisableAddinList
as seen in:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/mt651722.aspx
Diane Poremsky says
Anyone can use the policy keys - they just need to add them to the registry (as most people won't want ot mess around with the templates).
anon says
For anyone that copies and pastes the key out of the browser, there is an extra hidden char after the \. You can view it in a text editor and see what I mean. It causes the registry key to create its own Software path instead of using the existing one. You'll want to write the key by hand and not copy it. Extremely strange...
Diane Poremsky says
Are you using Edge? VBA code samples had a similar problem (which i think i fixed). They were ok in IE and Chrome. (I think it's fixed on this page now - I made the same change i used to fix the VBSA problem.)
Serg says
Hello. Why DWORD? When
Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\x.0\\Resiliency\AddinList
REG_SZ:
Values:
Diane Poremsky says
Good question... fixed now.
Jon Fleming says
There is no HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0 in Office 365 2016 / Win10 x64 Pro. I'm trying to enable GoToMeeting and found the name but no more.
Diane Poremsky says
Keys under policies definitely don't exist until you set a policy - you'll need to add the key yourself.
Dave says
Diane,
Can you explain how to set a policy so that the key is created for the Outlook addin that is disabled every time Outlook starts? In this case, the Outlook addin is Act.Office.Outlook.Addin (from the CRM ACT!).
Also, will changing the value in this key have the same effect as doing so in Policies?
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftareMicrosoftOfficeOutlookAddinsAct.Office.Outlook.Addin
change LoadBehavior from 0 to 3
David Shower says
I had the case where the GoToMeeting Calendar plugin was disabled because of crashing. The Slow and Disabled COM Add-ins was not enabling the plug-in and gave no option to always enable it, even thought the dialog let you select it and click apply but nothing changed. I ended up deleting the entry for the plug-in in both HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Resiliency\CrashingAddinList and DisabledItems. There was already an entry for it in DoNotDisableAddinList so I left that. Started Outlook and my plug-in was back
Geoffrey T says
Hello Diane,
I've been aware of the DoNotDisableAddInList for over a year now, and have used it to set all my firms 1000+ PC's to "Always Enable" critical Outlook 2013 Add-Ins.
In the past month or so, add-ins are becoming disabled if they've "caused Outlook to start slowly" and the command button displays to "Always Enable" even though the Add-in is already in the DoNotDisableAddInList in the Registry.
Outlook appears to be ignoring its own list! For over a year it worked fine, but something seems to have changed, and it isn't Outlook nor the Add-In.
My firm has 1000+ computers, and for October 2015 this has been reported as a problem on about 30 of them, scattered all over the globe.
Diane Poremsky says
I know the key will be overridden if the addin causes a crash - it's possible that a recent update (like the oct update, since that is when it started) is causing issues. If the addin was updated and the name in the registry changed, you'll need to use the new name in the key. This is less likely as the dev shouldn't change this, but it is one possibility and I would check that first, just to be sure.
Dvaid T says
Is there a way to prevent disabling addins that caused a crash? My firm uses a client database integration addin that is business critical. However, with recent updates to the database software, the addin can be a bit unstable. It would GREATLY help if I could prevent my users from having to re-enable the addin if it causes a crash.
Diane Poremsky says
i'm not aware of a way to prevent outlook from overriding the setting if the addin causes outlook to crash, however you could use a logon script to remove the keys outlook uses to mark the addin as crashed. It's not perfect, but at least it will work on first boot. Could probably give users a script to run to delete the key and restart outlook when it happens during a session. Look for the key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\1x.0\Outlook\Resiliency
SS Wong says
I made it by removing user permission:
1. Go to 'Resiliency' , under 'DisabledItems', delete all keys (as this tells Outlook to disable relevant add-in's)
2. Right click on 'Resiliency', click 'Permission'. Then click 'Advanced'
3. Edit permission of all users and SYSTEM with full control: Deny 'set value', 'create subkey', 'enumerate subkey'.
4. Done.
It works for me, my problem was with the Foxit Preview Handler. I guess what my steps does is to prevent Outlook from creating keys under 'DisabledItems' which causes add-in to be disabled. Since Outlook is a user application not SYSTEM's, it make sense to deny permission to all user or admin account from creating key.
Hope it helps.
Jon Ciarlo says
I was also using this method to keep an add-in from being disabled and it also recently started disabling the add-in regardless of the key being present. Have you looked into this further Geoffrey?
Diane Poremsky says
It will override the key if the addin keeps crashing outlook. What addin is it?
charlie1234 says
Diane Poremsky said
Diane Poremsky submitted a new article on Slipstick.com
Always Load an Outlook Addin
Continue reading the Original Article at Slipstick.com
Click to expand...
Thanks! it's working great