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BenStegink's avatar
BenStegink
Steel Contributor
Dec 17, 2016

Issues with Modern Attachments (and Add-Ins) in Outlook for Mac

Anyone else having problems where they can't attach a file in Outlook 2016 for Mac 15.30 (fast insider build).  Outlook either hangs or crahes.  When I reopen it, ofter time modern attachments are no longer working and Outlook is back to standard attachments.  Eventually it comes back...sometimes after a reboot, sometimes after closing/opening outlook sometimes, before I've even had to wait for an update.

 

This also goes hand in hand with the new updates to Add-Ins for Outlook.  If Modern attachments isn't working neither are they and vise versa.  Open support issue with MS via the help menu in Outlook for Mac, but guess what...if Add-Ins don't load, neither does the ability to continue the conversation within the help menu.  So while I have a dialog open to try to get support on the issue, I can't back to it 🙂

 

Just curious if anyone else has seen similar behavior or has any ideas what might be going on.

 

~Ben

Microsoft 365 Apps for Mac
Outlook
  • Faisal Jeelani's avatar
    Faisal Jeelani
    Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
    Dec 20, 2016

    Hi Ben, thanks for reproting this issue. I am a PM on the Mac Outlook team and would like to help you with this issue. Seems like your Insider Fast features are dissappearing and reappearing randomly. Can you help answer the following questions?

     

    • Can you run this command, both when you do have access to these features, and when you dont and reply back with the results?
      • Open Terminal and type "defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.autoupdate2 ChannelName" without the quotes.
      • Reply back with the output.
    • Do you have multiple installs of Outlook or other Office apps?
    • When you run into this issue, are you connected to the internet? Or are you working offline?

     

    Thanks Ben!

     

    Faisal Jeelani | Outlook for Mac PM

    • BenStegink's avatar
      BenStegink
      Steel Contributor
      Dec 20, 2016

      Faisal,

           Thanks and definitely!  I haven't been able to get the Insider Fast Feature to re-appear since my last crash a few days ago.  As for the questions.

       

      1. I ran the command when I don't have the features and received the following output:

      2016-12-19 20:58:26.686 defaults[14439:624363]
      The domain/default pair of (/Users/bstegink/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.autoupdate2, ChannelName) does not exist

       

      I then opened up AutoUpdate and the "Office Insider Fast" was off.  It ussually disables itself after a period of time.  When I re-enabled it and checked for updates there weren't any updates availab.le.  I then ran the command again and the folloinw gwas returned:

      % defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.autoupdate2 ChannelName
      InsiderFast

       

       

      2. I don't have multiple Outlook installs, but I do have all the other apps installed (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote).  Word, Excel and PowerPoint have all been fine.  OneNote has been crashing a few times a day on me, but I also have experimental features enbaled right now in OneNote :)

       

      3. It's always been when I'm connect to the internet as far as I can remember (It's rare that I'm not connected :))

       

      Thank you and let me know if you need anything else.

       

      ~Ben

    • BenStegink's avatar
      BenStegink
      Steel Contributor
      Dec 20, 2016

      Of course after not working for a few days everything came back tonight.  So, I ran the command again when the Add-In's actually loaded.  The results of the command in the terminal are the same:

      % defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.autoupdate2 ChannelName
      2016-12-19 23:43:01.693 defaults[28327:883089]
      The domain/default pair of (/Users/bstegink/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.autoupdate2, ChannelName) does not exist

       

      One way I can consistantly reproduce the issue is to try to add a file attachment in Outlook, when trying to attach a file Outlook will lock up and ussually when I reload Outlook the File Attachment and Add-Ins won't load.

      • Faisal Jeelani's avatar
        Faisal Jeelani
        Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
        Dec 20, 2016

        Hey Ben, thanks for the details. It looks like we are seeing two issues here.

         

        One where you try to use the new attachments feature (or an add in) and Outlook hangs. You force quit.

         

        The other is when you do force quit and restart, your insider fast features are gone, cause you have been put into the production ring. 

         

        We are investigating both, in the mean time, can you please provide the following - 

        When you try to add an attachment, outlook hangs, can you gather a hang sample and send it to us please?

        1. Try to add an attachment
        2. Outlook hangs, let it be
        3. Open Activity Monitor
        4. Select Microsoft OUtlook in the process name column
        5. Click on the gear on the top left, it is a drop down
        6. Select Sample Process and please copy the resulting output and send it here as a text file.

         

        Can you also please send a video if possible? We are not able to repro here so seeing exactly what is going on in the screen may help. If you can't because you have sensitive data on display, I totally understand :)

         

        thanks!

         

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