SEP Add-in component is being disabled by Outlook

Products

• Protection Suite Enterprise Edition

Issue/Introduction

SEP Add-in component is being disabled by Outlook.

In Office 2013 and subsequent versions, programs offer add-in resiliency by automatically disabling an add-in if it operates sluggishly. If you enable the component in Outlook manually it might continue being disabled after 30 days.

 

 

 

Cause

Outlook typically disables Add-ins that may cause performance issues or take too much time to load. However, this behavior can be adjusted.

In Office 2013 and later versions, the performance of add-ins is logged in the Application Event log under an Event ID: 45.

Resolution

By selecting View Disabled Add-ins, the Disabled Add-ins dialog box is displayed and you can select the Always enable this add-in option to keep the add-in enabled even if it performs slowly.

If you select Always enable this add-in, the registry is updated to include details about the add-in that is to be exempted from this automatic disabling feature.

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\<application>\Resiliency\DoNotDisableAddinList
DWORD: < ProgID of the add-in>
Value: Hex value between 1 and A indicating the reason the add-in was originally disabled. (see table below)

0x00000001 Boot load (LoadBehavior = 3)
0x00000002 Demand load (LoadBehavior = 9)
0x00000003 Crash
0x00000004 Handling FolderSwitch event
0x00000005 Handling BeforeFolderSwitch event
0x00000006 Item Open
0x00000007 Iteration Count
0x00000008 Shutdown
0x00000009 Crash, but not disabled because add-in is in the allow list
0x0000000A Crash, but not disabled because user selected no in disable dialog

Note:

The x.0 placeholder represents your version of Office (16.0 = Office 2016, 15.0 = Office 2013).

For more details visit:

Add-ins are user re-enabled after being disabled - Outlook | Microsoft Learn

 

Additional Information

Keep in mind that even without the Outlook Add-in installed, our Auto-Protect component will continue to scan any email attachments opened on the endpoint. Our add-in ensures that any attachments in an email message are immediately downloaded and scanned as soon as the email is opened, but it's essential to emphasize that these attachments are scanned using the same protection technologies, even in the absence of our add-in. The primary advantage of our add-in lies in its capability to promptly notify users and take action to prevent them from inadvertently forwarding emails with potentially harmful attachments to others, particularly before they attempt to open these attachments themselves or forward them without opening them.