Microsoft Office sometimes disables add-ins automatically to improve performance. This isn’t unique to NetDocuments—it affects any program that integrates with Office. The good news: it’s easy to fix.

Outlook

Outlook uses three separate NetDocuments add-ins, and each one can be disabled independently:

• NetDocuments Outlook Addin – The core NetDocuments integration for saving and opening documents.  This is installed when ndOffice is installed on a workstation.
• NetDocuments ndMail Outlook Add-in – The email predictive filing dialog that appears when sending or saving emails.
• NetDocuments ndMail Folder Mapping – Syncs Outlook folders with NetDocuments for automatic email filing.  (This isn’t always installed)

Here is what Outlook should look like if they are all installed correctly:

Step 1: Go to File → Options → Add-ins

Step 2: At the bottom of the window, change the “Manage” dropdown to Disabled Items and click Go

Step 3: If you see NetDocuments anything with NetDocuments Disabled, select it and click Enable

• NetDocuments Outlook Addin
• NetDocuments ndMail Outlook Add-in
• NetDocuments ndMail Folder Mapping

Step 4: Go back to the Add-ins screen, change “Manage” to COM Add-ins, and click Go

Step 5: Make sure the box next to all three NetDocuments Plugins is checked

Step 6: Close and reopen Outlook

If you’re missing the ND Attach button when trying to attach files to an email, see our article: Why Can’t I Attach Outlook Emails to NetDocuments?

If you are missing the ND Attach Button when attempting to attach a file to an email, see this article: https://optiable.com/why-cant-i-attach-outlook-emails-to-netdocuments/

Want to prevent this from happening in the first place? The reason Outlook keeps disabling your NetDocuments add-ins comes down to a built-in Microsoft feature called Outlook Add-in Resiliency. There are specific registry keys you can deploy to prevent Outlook from automatically disabling the NetDocuments add-ins, regardless of load time or performance. We break down exactly which keys you need and how they work in our article: Why Does Outlook Keep Disabling My NetDocuments Add-Ins? Understanding Resiliency Keys and LoadBehavior.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

The same disabling can happen in these applications.

Step 1: Go to File → Options → Add-ins

Step 2: Change the “Manage” dropdown to Disabled Items and click Go

If you see anything with “NetDocuments” listed, select it and click Enable, then click OK.

Step 3: Back on the Add-ins screen, change “Manage” to COM Add-ins and click Go

Step 4: Make sure all NetDocuments-related boxes are checked, then click OK

Step 5: Close and reopen the application

If Office Tries to Disable the Add-in Again

When you reopen the application, you may see a message asking about the add-in. If prompted:

• If you see “View Disabled Add-ins,” click it and re-enable
• If asked whether to disable the add-in, click No

Prevent This From Happening Again

If you’re an Optiable customer, we have a batch file that prevents Microsoft Office from automatically disabling the NetDocuments add-ins. If your plugins keep disappearing, the batch file either wasn’t run during setup or needs to be run again.

You can find the batch file and instructions on our Setup NetDocuments on a Windows Computer page.