Loading a Word Add-in

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You can load an add-in in one of three ways:

• Manually, by clicking Templates and Add-ins on the Tools menu, and then selecting the check box next to the template's name in the Global templates and add-ins list. If the add-in doesn't appear in the list, click Add to locate it. Once an add-in is loaded, it is available to each new document that is created, until you clear the check box in the Global templates and add-ins list in the Templates and Add-ins dialog box.

• Automatically when Word starts, by saving the template file in the Word Startup folder on your computer. The default path to this folder is C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\Startup; if you're using user profiles, the default path is C:\Windows\Profiles\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\Startup. You can change this path in the Options dialog box.

• Programmatically, by doing one of the following:

  • Calling the Add method of the AddIns collection and passing in the add-in's file name. By default, the Add method adds the add-in to the AddIns collection, if it's not there already, and loads the add-in. If the add-in is in the AddIns collection, it will appear in the Global templates and add-ins list in the Templates and Add-ins dialog box. To add the add-in to the collection without loading it, pass in False for the optional Install argument.

  • Setting the Installed property of the corresponding AddIn object to True. When you try to set this property, an error will occur if the add-in has not already been added to the collection.

If an error occurs in a loaded add-in, you can't debug the add-in's code while it's loaded or view or modify its project. To view or change the code that is in the add-in's project, open it directly in Word.