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mikeyp88
Copper Contributor
May 05, 2026
Status:
New

No programmatic way to pin the task pane for users

Your Environment

  • Platform: PC desktop, Mac, Office on the web
  • Host: Outlook
  • Office version number: All supported versions
  • Operating System: Windows, macOS

Expected behavior

The Office JS API should provide a programmatic mechanism to pin the task pane on behalf of the user — for example, via a manifest setting or a runtime API call — so that the task pane remains open and pinned without requiring manual action from each user.

Current behavior

There is no programmatic way to pin the task pane for users. Users must pin it manually via the UI. This results in an inconsistent experience, particularly for enterprise deployments where we need to ensure the add-in remains accessible without relying on individual user action.

Context

We need the task pane to remain pinned for all users automatically upon install or first launch. The current lack of a programmatic pin mechanism creates friction and support overhead, as users frequently close the task pane and do not know how to re-pin it. We are looking for either an existing API we may have missed, or confirmation that this is a platform gap so we can raise a feature request through the appropriate channel.

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