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Basem KhawajaFlag for United States of America

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Outlook Add-ins Disabled

I would like to know why I am not able to enable the Foxit PDF Creator Com Add-in? I check the box and I click ok yet nothing appears in the ribbon. Also why are there 2 instances of Outlook add-ins in the Disabled Items Box? Can I delete one of them if so how?? Also, what does that add-in do in outlook? Lastly, Why is the Foxit PDF Creator Com Add-ins not listed under the Disabled Items since it is shown as Disabled??
Thank you,
Basem Khawaja

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Randy Downs
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The following was written for Word but Outlook should be similar.
Try this:

·         If the Foxit PDF Creator Com Addin is under Disabled Application Add-ins, please click on the inverted triangle in the Manage box, select Disabled Items, choose Go.  In the following pop-up Disabled Items window, please single click on the Foxit PDF Creator Com Addin to make it to be selected, click Enable to enable Foxit PDF Creator Com Addin in Microsoft Word.  
·         Click on the inverted triangle in the Manage box, select Com Add-ins, choose Go.  In the following pop-up COM Add-in window, please single click on the Foxit PDF Creator Com Addin to select it, click Remove to remove it.
...
 In the Com Add-ins window, click on Add to navigate to your Foxit PhantomPDF’s main installation folder to select  FPC_WordAddin_x64.dll or FPC_WordAddin_x86.dll file and click OK to make the Foxit PDF Creator Com Add-in shown in COM Add-ins window again.
For 32-bit version of Microsoft office,select FPC_WordAddin_x86.dll file.
For 64-bit version of Microsoft office,select FPC_WordAddin_x64.dll file.
Suppose you have Foxit PhantomPDF installed on “C:\Program Files (x86)\Foxit Software\Foxit PhantomPDF” and the Microsoft office you installed is 64-bits version, you should navigate to the following folder to select  FPC_WordAddin_x64.dll file:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Foxit Software\Foxit PhantomPDF\plugins\Creator\x64
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Randy,

Let me try that. I will get back to you. How about the other part of my question, can you answer that as well?

Also why are there 2 instances of Outlook add-ins in the Disabled Items Box? Can I delete one of them if so how?? Also, what does that add-in do in outlook?  

Thank you,
Basem Khawaja
Randy,

As you can see in my precious screen capture there is no listing for Foxit Phantom PDF Add-ins in the disabled items as mentioned in your solution. When I tried to remove it I got a message that says I can't I have to be an administrator. I am the administrator! See below:

Thank you,

Basem Khawaja

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Try running Outlook as an administrator.
  1. Right click on the Outlook icon.
  2. Expand the “More” menu and choose; Run as administrator.
Hi Randy,

Let me try that. Thank you.
Randy,

Can you answer my question please? This is the third time that I am asking.
Also why are there 2 instances of Outlook add-ins in the Disabled Items Box? Can I delete one of them if so how?? Also, what does that add-in do in outlook?   


Thank you,

Basem Khawaja
outlookaddin_x86.dll may be in 2 folders.

Some applications require the file in the application folder and the GAC_MSIL folder  (Global Assembly Cache) so you cannot remove either.
Thank you Randy. 
Randy
I did follow your instruction to enable the Foxit add-in and it did not work unfortunately. I checked the box and I went back to verify and it was unchecked. I have a question why does Foxit add-in shows as disabled when you go to options and then add-ins in the main interface, but when you select the box below to go disabled add-ins it only shows the Outlook add-ins(the 2 listings) but not Foxit? Can you please help answer my question. I need to enable the Foxit add-in and why is it disabled if I did not disable it my self and it is not showing in the disabled list.

Thank you,
Basem Khawaja
Basem,

Are you still running your configuration with the VBA DLL add-in file renamed? If so, that "could" be a cause why the Foxit add-in can not load.

I don't use Foxit so am curious why you want the add-in loaded and active though. What functionality are you expecting the add-in will give you?

Regards, Andrew
Andrew,

I am going to be honest with you, I did not rename it I was afraid that I was going to mess things up and wind up with more problems. The strange thing is that Foxit add in shows as being disabled but it does not appear with the other outlook add-in in the disabled items as shown in the screen capture. The reason I wanted to enable it so that at times I may need to convert an email to PDF. A side note on Outlook if you would like to know I am still batting with that Outlook Cancer and the VBA add in at times it is checked when the send and receive problem happens and at times it is not checked or it is not there to be checked. I thought I mention that to you to see if the VBA is the culprit and if it is can I uninstall it? The server time out is 5 minutes now.

Thank you Andrew,

Basem Khawaja


Basem,

I did not rename it I was afraid that I was going to mess things up and wind up with more problems.

That's perfectly fine. I wish you had let me know though because my understanding from the last time we spoke in the other question was that you were going to try it. Nevermind.

he strange thing is that Foxit add in shows as being disabled but it does not appear with the other outlook add-in in the disabled items as shown in the screen capture.

Ah ok I see that in your first question screenshot. If you click on one of those lines that list the outlookaddin_86.dll files, does the "Enable" button become available to click or not? If it does, you can enable it there.

I note in this screenshot you posted that the Foxit add-in appears in the COM list as it should. It will be disabled until those disabled entries are reversed though. Let me know what the result is when you click on one of those lines.

The reason I wanted to enable it so that at times I may need to convert an email to PDF.

Ah ok, fair enough. I usually just print to PDF when I want to do that.

The server time out is 5 minutes now.

Let's not mix the two questions up and stick to the Foxit add-in issue here. If you need to discuss the timeout situation more, please make further comments in the other question.

Best, Andrew
Hi Andrew,


Ah ok I see that in your first question screenshot. If you click on one of those lines that list the outlookaddin_86.dll files, does the "Enable" button become available to click or not? If it does, you can enable it there.

Yes it does. I did enable both Outlookaddin_86.dll and the Foxit add-in was enabled as well after enabling those two add-ins.

Let's not mix the two questions up and stick to the Foxit add-in issue here. If you need to discuss the timeout situation more, please make further comments in the other question.

Andrew, Give me benefit of the doubt! I was quiet surprised to read this reply coming from you knowing that you always encouraged me to question things. I thought that there might be an indirect correlation between the two issues. The server time out and the add-ins being checked on their own? I know that the server time out was one of the causes that I was trying to rule out from the send/receive problem with the other question. But since the thread is way too long by now and it was solved by you even though I am still dealing with it on a daily basis almost. Out of frustration I thought that they might be related to each other. I did not think anyone would would even think of looking or follow that question at this point in time. 

Andrew, For what ever it's worth, This is a screen capture that I took on 060721 at 0353 hrs. When the problem had happened I looked here and these add-ins were checked on their own.

Thank you,

Basem Khawaja

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Andrew Leniart
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Andrew,

What is the "Brute Force" that you had used in order to prevent add-ins from ticking them selves? Also, I had asked this question in my previous post https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29217429/Outlook-Add-ins-Disabled.html#a43300013 " I thought I mention that to you to see if the VBA is the culprit and if it is can I uninstall it? The server time out is 5 minutes now."
I am assuming I would not know unless I change the name like you suggested. Is that correct? The other thing is that I saw a message while the Foxit PDF Addin was disabled that said something like this" it was disabled because there was a delay ~5 seconds in opening Outlook. It is not there any longer.

"Can you clarify that the first time you tried that? Just seems like an obvious thing to try given that an enable button was there all the time."
Yes you are absolutely right. I was going to do that but I was afraid once again that I will compound more to my existing problems. So I left alone thinking Outlook must have disabled it for a reason but the Foxit add-in once again was not listed there.
Question-Why are there 2 listings for the Outlookaddinn_86.dll?

I am sorry Andrew, but I was not trying to imply or say anything bad about you by any shape, form, or manner and you should know that about what I think of you. Perhaps I misunderstood  what you were trying to convey. I thought you did not want to mention the previous question here when infact I thought that it may had something to do with the add-ins.

Thank you,

Basem Khawaja



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Andrew,

Thank you so much for a very elaborate and detailed reply as usual. You are one of a kind teacher my friend. I would like to ask what may seems to be a stupid question! Why does Microsoft design software that makes our life a living hell? The fact that VBA had to be renamed to rule out what could possibly be causing the freezing. Don't they do thorough research and beta testing on everything before they just throw a product to the consumer. It is something I could never understand.

Thank you,
Basem Khawaja
You're welcome Basem. As to your question, I've no idea why Microsoft do some of the things they do.  VBA is a necessary component when you want to create your own macros or custom forms to use within Outlook and I'm sure there are other reasons it's useful to have it available too.

Yet because you or I don't use such features in our daily scenarios, the ability to disable it completely makes perfect logical sense. Yet Microsoft Office can and does reverse users decisions at will. I consider that to be extremely rude and arrogant behaviour, but it's either put up with it, design a workaround to defeat it, or switch to a different software package that will no doubt have its own unique problems too.

Same as when an Office update is loaded. Before I renamed certain add-in files as a result of my question back in 2019, Office would reinstall and re-enable add-ins I had removed from it each time MS Office received a new update. It infuriated me, yet despite considerable research on my own part and many EE experts opinions, there was no way to stop that behaviour apart from the brute force method I settled on.

It's not always Microsoft's fault though. A troublesome add-in can get installed into Outlook either by other software or by a users choice and create all sorts of headaches too. Antivirus add-ins (just as an example) are a classic example of this. They often cause problems with mail collection or sending emails and should always be avoided. AV add-ins are simply not needed to stay protected. That's the fault of the antivirus vendor though, not Microsoft.

Beta testing is presumably always done, but because of the endless different configurations and hardware combinations, what works on some machines will not work on others. That's why Apple Macintosh computers are so stable.

With MACs, it's either their way or the highway. If you don't like how something looks or performs, then a lot of the time it's tough luck. The OS won't allow you to change it so you have to learn to like it. That type of approach makes macOS considerably more stable by forcing everyone into using a fixed common configuration. With Windows, there is much more power to modify the environment via software, but that comes at a cost too, and part of that cost is instability in different configurations.

I own both Macintosh and Windows computers. Without a doubt in the world, my MAC is a far more stable operating system. 100% more stable than Windows. So much so, that I hardly ever have a problem when using it. BUT, I hate the way it forces me to do things in a certain way. So there's always a trade-off for everything :)

Cheers, Andrew