How to fix "Outlook disabled the add-in"

Article Contents

1. Introduction
2. Re-enable Hiro add-in
3. Force Hiro add-in to remain enabled (advanced)

Introduction

We have gone to great effort to tune our Outlook plugin to be as nimble as possible. On average, adding the Hiro add-in to your Outlook may cause a 300-millisecond delay with initial launch times of Outlook. Hopefully you agree that point-three of a second delay is worth all the goodness our add-in brings helping you take control of your inbox!

Even with the great performance of the Hiro add-in, you might still notice that Outlook has proactively disabled the add-in (i.e., the Hiro button is missing from the Outlook ribbon). You might additionally receive an alert that "Outlook disabled the add-in 'Hiro Outlook add-in'":

Re-enable Hiro add-in

You can re-enable the Hiro Outlook plugin by completing the following steps:

1. Click the File menu.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Options (bottom left corner of Outlook window).
   
   
   
   
3. Click Add-ins on the bottom left of the popup Outlook Options window.
   
   
4. In the Manage dropdown at the bottom of the window, select COM Add-ins and then click the Go button. 
   
   
5. Make sure that "Hiro Outlook add-in" is checked, then click OK.
   
   
   
   
6. If you still cannot see the Hiro button in the Outlook ribbon, check that the add-in has not been moved to "Disabled Items":
   
   
   1. Back in the Outlook Options window (step three above), change the Manage dropdown to Disabled Items and click Go.
      
      
   2. For any item listed in the Disabled Items popup window that references "Hiro", select it and then click the Enable button.

Force Hiro add-in to remain enabled (advanced)

If you have a number of users in your organisation who use the Hiro Outlook add-in, you can force Outlook to never disable it using Group Policy. Changing Group Policy settings is an advanced configuration technique generally only used by larger organisations who have dedicated IT personnel.

The instructions provided below are general in nature, which your IT team can adapt as relevant to your organisation. You should be comfortable with adjusting Group Policy settings before continuing with these instructions.

1. From the Microsoft Download Center, search for and download the Administrative Template files and Office Customization Tool for Microsoft 365 Apps.
   
   
2. Install the downloaded Group Policy ADMX templates into the "PolicyDefinitions" folder for your Active Directory domain.
   
   
3. Launch Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc).
   
   
4. Create a new Group Policy Object (GPO) called "Hiro"
   
   
5. Open the newly created GPO to modify its settings.
   
   
6. Navigate to: User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Outlook 2016 > Micscellaneous
   
   
7. Open the List of managed add-ins policy to modify its settings.
   
   
8. Change the policy to Enabled, then click the Show... button.
   
   
   
   
9. In the popup Show Contents window, enter either of the following values depending on whether you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the Hiro Outlook Add-in installed:
   
   Hiro.Hiro Outlook Add-In (x64)        [64-bit]
   Hiro.Hiro Outlook Add-In                 [32-bit]
   
   
   
   
10. Click OK out through all the open dialog boxes, then apply your newly created GPO to the Active Directory Organisational Unit you wish to target.