Problem creating a windows installer for outlook addin

Question

Hi everyone, im having a problem trying to create an installer for an addin in outlook i made in Visual Studio 2008, for outlook 2007. I followed the steps of the page name (Deploying Solutions for the 2007 Office System with ClickOnce Using Visual Studio 2008 Professional) and it worked fine. But with the othe way, creating a windows installer (MSI file) instead using the ClickOnce, it wont work. I get the addin installed in my machine but outlook doesnt load it. I tried to create this windows installer using the page named (Deploying a Visual Studio Tools for the Office System 3.0 Solution for the 2007 Microsoft Office System Using Windows Installer (Part 1 of 2)).

To see if there was an error on my project causing this problem i created a new addin that only shows the hellow world window, and followed the steps again, but im getting the same problem. I have no errors installing it, but outlook doesnt load it at all. Can anyone help me please? i have no idea what i could be doing wrong, i followed the steps twoice and im gettin the same result.

I uploaded the hello word addin in this address: http://88.191.95.80/sites/hellowordoutlook.rar

Can anyone please take a look of it to see if i missed something?

thanx in advance, regards
Alejandro

Answer 1

Hi Alejandro,

We need to make sure that your addin installs fine. By "it installs on my machine" do you mean Outlook recognize your addin but it does not load it?
make sure you have the proper registry keys in place. You should see your addin under this key (depends on what you set in your MSI installer and the architecture of your machine): HKLM\software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins

also verify the load behavior of the addin under the registry key.

Thanks
Hamed

Answer 2

Hi alejocuba,

I would suggest to use the VSTO Power Toys and check on the Client if you are missing something.
Maybe you missing a prerequisite in the Installer file.

prerequisites:
.Net Framework
Primary Interop Assemblies
VSTO Runtime

Also make sure that you sign the project using a Code Signing Certificate
It maybe depends on the Security Settings in Outlook if your Solution will run if it's noit signed by a trusted certificate.

Hope this helps,
greets - Helmut

---

Helmut Obertanner [http://www.x4u.de] [http://www.outlooksharp.de]

Answer 3

Hi Alejandro,

We need to make sure that your addin installs fine. By "it installs on my machine" do you mean Outlook recognize your addin but it does not load it?
make sure you have the proper registry keys in place. You should see your addin under this key (depends on what you set in your MSI installer and the architecture of your machine): HKLM\software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins

also verify the load behavior of the addin under the registry key.

Thanks
Hamed

Hi Hamed, thanx for answering. When i say "it installs on my machine" i mean i can find the instalation in my "Add and remove Programs", and in the physical path it installs, but in outlook it doesnt appear in the COM Complements, i mean in the list of installed addins, and of course i get no "hello world" message at the begining. I added the registry keys inside the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\gmixon\hellowordoutlookaddin and inside that i have the "loadBehavior" to 3, i also added "Manifest", "Description" and  "FriendlyName" as i readed at the document. Is anything wrong in this data?

Regards,

Alejandro

Answer 4

Hi alejocuba,

I would suggest to use the VSTO Power Toys and check on the Client if you are missing something.
Maybe you missing a prerequisite in the Installer file.

prerequisites:
.Net Framework
Primary Interop Assemblies
VSTO Runtime

Also make sure that you sign the project using a Code Signing Certificate
It maybe depends on the Security Settings in Outlook if your Solution will run if it's noit signed by a trusted certificate.

Hope this helps,
greets - Helmut

---

Helmut Obertanner [http://www.x4u.de] [http://www.outlooksharp.de]

Hi Hemult, thanx for your answer. Im installing this addin in my computer, who has every prerequisite already installed, is the same computer im developping this addin.. Anyway, i added in the prerequisites the following:

windows installer 3.1
net framework 3.5
microsoft office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies
visual studio tools for the office system 3.0 Runtime service pack 1

About the code signing certificate, ill check that. I hope thats the problem..

Thanx,

Alejandro

Answer 5

Alejandro,

In order to have office applications like Outlook load an addin, the addin must have registry keys under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\application name\Addins\add-in ID" (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386106.aspx)
that is the place office applications look for installed addins and load them. you registered your addin outside this registry hive and that is why outlook does not find your addin. so you need to have the registry keys created in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\hellowordoutlookaddin"

Hamed

Answer 6

Hello Alejocuba, 

 
In addition to what Hamed said, please check the Manifest value of Registry: it should be "[TARGETDIR]hellowordoutlookaddin.vsto|vstolocal". Please see this MSDN article and "To configure the registry" title.

Best regards,
Bessie

---

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.
Welcome to the All-In-One Code Framework! If you have any feedback, please tell us.