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Debug your event-based or spam-reporting Outlook add-in
Learn how to debug your Outlook add-in that implements event-based activation or integrated spam reporting.
10/24/2024
how-to
medium

Debug your event-based or spam-reporting Outlook add-in

This article discusses the key debugging stages to enable and set breakpoints in your code as you implement event-based activation or integrated spam reporting in your add-in. Before you proceed, we recommend reviewing the troubleshooting guide for additional steps on how to resolve development errors.

To begin debugging, select the tab for your applicable client.

Web

Use your preferred browser's developer tools to debug your event-based add-in in Outlook on the web. For more information, see Debug add-ins in Office on the web.

Windows (new)

To debug your add-in in new Outlook on Windows desktop client (preview), you must run the following command to open Microsoft Edge DevTools.

olk.exe --devtools

For more information, see the "Debug your add-in" section of Develop Outlook add-ins for the new Outlook on Windows.

Windows (classic)

If you used the Yeoman generator for Office Add-ins to create your add-in project (for example, by completing an event-based activation walkthrough), follow the Created with Yeoman generator option throughout this article. Otherwise, follow the Other steps.

Mark your add-in for debugging and set the debugger port

  1. Get your add-in's ID from the manifest.

    • Add-in only manifest: Use the value of the <Id> element child of the root <OfficeApp> element.
    • Unified manifest for Microsoft 365: Use the value of the "id" property of the root anonymous { ... } object.

  2. In the registry, mark your add-in for debugging.

    • Created with Yeoman generator: In a command line window, navigate to the root of your add-in folder then run the following command.

      npm start

      In addition to building the code and starting the local server, this command sets the data of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\WEF\Developer\[Add-in ID]\UseDirectDebugger registry DWORD value for this add-in to 1. [Add-in ID] is your add-in's ID from the manifest.

    • Other: In the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\WEF\Developer\[Add-in ID]\UseDirectDebugger registry DWORD value, where [Add-in ID] is your add-in's ID from the manifest, set its data to 1.

      [!includeDeveloper registry key]

  3. In the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\Developer\[Add-in ID], where [Add-in ID] is your add-in's ID from the manifest, create a new DWORD value with the following configuration.

    • Value name: DebuggerPort
    • Value data (hexadecimal): 00002407

    This sets the debugger port to 9223.

  4. Start Outlook or restart it if it's already open.

  5. Perform the action to initiate the event you're developing for, such as creating a new message to initiate the OnNewMessageCompose event or reporting spam messages. The Debug Event-based handler dialog should appear. Do not interact with the dialog yet.

    The Debug Event-based handler dialog in Windows.

Configure and attach the debugger

You can debug your add-in using the Microsoft Edge Inspect tool or Visual Studio Code.

Debug with Microsoft Edge

  1. Open Microsoft Edge and go to edge://inspect/#devices.

  2. In the Remote Target section, look for your add-in using its ID from the manifest. Then, select Inspect.

    The DevTools window appears.

    [!NOTE] It may take some time for your add-in to appear in the Remote Target section. You may need to refresh the page for the add-in to appear.

  3. In the Sources tab, go to file:// > Users/[User]/AppData/Microsoft/Office/16.0/Wef/{[Outlook profile GUID]}/[Outlook mail account encoding]/Javascript/[Add-in ID]_[Add-in Version]_[locale] > bundle.js.

  4. In the bundle.js file, place breakpoints where you want the debugger to stop.

  5. Run the debugger.

Debug with Visual Studio Code

To debug your add-in in Visual Studio Code, you must have at least version 1.56.1 installed.

Configure the debugger

Configure the debugger in Visual Studio Code. Follow the steps applicable to your add-in project.

Created with Yeoman generator

  1. In the command line, run the following to open your add-in project in Visual Studio Code.

    code .

  2. In Visual Studio Code, open the ./.vscode/launch.json file and add the following excerpt to your list of configurations. Save your changes.

    {
  "name": "Direct Debugging",
  "type": "node",
  "request": "attach",
  "port": 9223,
  "timeout": 600000,
  "trace": true
}
Other

  1. Create a new folder called Debugging (perhaps in your Desktop folder).

  2. Open Visual Studio Code.

  3. Go to File > Open Folder, navigate to the folder you just created, then choose Select Folder.

  4. On the Activity Bar, select Run and Debug (Ctrl+Shift+D).

    The Run and Debug icon on the Activity Bar.

  5. Select the create a launch.json file link.

    The link located under the Run and Debug option to create a launch.json file in Visual Studio Code.

  6. In the Select Environment dropdown, select Edge: Launch to create a launch.json file.

  7. Add the following excerpt to your list of configurations. Save your changes.

    {
  "name": "Direct Debugging",
  "type": "node",
  "request": "attach",
  "port": 9223,
  "timeout": 600000,
  "trace": true
}

Attach the debugger

The bundle.js file of an add-in contains the JavaScript code of your add-in. It's created when classic Outlook on Windows is opened. When Outlook starts, the bundle.js file of each installed add-in is cached in the Wef folder of your machine.

  1. To find the add-in's bundle.js file, navigate to the following folder in File Explorer. Replace text enclosed in [] with your applicable Outlook and add-in information.

    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\{[Outlook profile GUID]}\[Outlook mail account encoding]\Javascript\[Add-in ID]_[Add-in Version]_[locale]

    [!INCLUDE outlook-bundle-js]

  2. Open bundle.js in Visual Studio Code.

  3. Place breakpoints in bundle.js where you want the debugger to stop.

  4. In the DEBUG dropdown, select Direct Debugging, then select the Start Debugging icon.

    The Direct Debugging option selected from configuration options in the Visual Studio Code Debug dropdown.

Run the debugger

After confirming that the debugger is attached, return to Outlook. In the Debug Event-based handler dialog, choose OK .

You can now hit your breakpoints to debug your event-based activation or spam-reporting code.

Stop the debugger

To stop debugging the rest of the current Outlook on Windows session, in the Debug Event-based handler dialog, choose Cancel. To re-enable debugging, restart Outlook.

To prevent the Debug Event-based handler dialog from popping up and stop debugging for subsequent Outlook sessions, delete the associated registry key, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\Developer\[Add-in ID]\UseDirectDebugger, or set its value to 0.

Stop the local server

[!includeInstructions to stop web server and uninstall dev add-in]

Mac

Event-based add-ins that run in Outlook on Mac use the browser runtime. Because of this, you can debug your add-in using Safari Web Inspector.

  1. To use the Safari Web Inspector in Outlook, follow the steps in Debugging with Safari Web Inspector on a Mac.
  2. Open Outlook, then sideload your add-in.
  3. Perform an action that will initiate the event your add-in handles. For example, create a new message to initiate the OnNewMessageCompose event. This opens an empty Developer Window. The name of your add-in appears in the title bar of the window.
  4. Right-click (or select and hold) anywhere in the Developer Window, then select Inspect Element. This opens the Inspector, where you can set breakpoints and debug your add-in.

See also