TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Check the status of Power-user in the application
  • If Power-user shows as an "Inactive" add-in, try to reactivate it
  • If Power-user shows as a "Disabled" add-in, try to re-enable it
  • What to do if trying to reactivate or re-enable doesn't work
  • If Power-user is not at all in the list of add-ins
• Further steps to consider
  • Repairing or reinstalling Microsoft Office
  • Allowing add-ins on Microsoft Office (for Office 2013 and earlier)
  • Running PowerPoint / Excel / Word with elevated privileges
  • Resetting the user profile
  • Display Alerts via Environment variable

Check the status of Power-user in the application

• Click "File" at the top left of the application from where Power-user is missing (PowerPoint, Excel or Word)
• Click "Options" from the menu bar
• Select the "Add-ins" tab on the left

Look for the status of Power-user in the list of add-ins:

• Power-user shows as "Inactive"
• Power-user shows as "Disabled"
• Power-user is not listed at all 

If Power-user shows as an "Inactive" add-in, try to reactivate it

• In the drop-down list at the bottom of the page, select "COM Add-ins" (like in the screenshot above)
• Click "Go". The dialog box below will open:

• Check the "PowerUser"checkbox, and click "OK".

It can happen that the above procedure reactivates the add-in, but that it needs to be performed again every time PowerPoint / Excel / Word is re-launched. If you experience this, try to change the Load Behavior in the registry.

On the contrary, if the above procedure doesn't reactivate the add-in look at the below section What to do if trying to reactivate or re-enable doesn't work.

If Power-user shows as a "Disabled" add-in, try to re-enable it

• In the drop-down list at the bottom of the page, select "Disabled items"
• Click "Go". The dialog box below will open: 
• Choose "PowerUser" in the list of disabled items, and then click "Enable"

Sometimes, Power-user can stay Disabled even if you try to reactivate it. This may be preceded by PowerPoint hanging for a while on the splash screen, and then showing the error message: "PowerPoint is running into problems with the 'power-user' add-in", as show below: 

When this happens, you should try the steps described just below.

What to do if trying to reactivate or re-enable doesn't work

• Uninstall, re-download and reinstall Power-user
• Install the updated .Net framework Client Profile and VSTO

• Other add-ins might be conflicting with Power-user. Uncheck other add-ins from the dialog box above, and try again

• Try running the latest Antivirus updates, or temporarily disabling it and retry
• Make sure FIPS is not active on Windows on your machine
• Run the latest Service Packs for your Office version, which can be found from the Microsoft website.
• Make sure Microsoft Office allows add-ins on the computer (see below)
• Try repairing or reinstalling Microsoft Office on the computer (see below)
• Try displaying Environment Variables (see below) and check Event Logs to get more information on the issue
• If nothing seems to work, reset the Windows user profile

If Power-user is not at all in the list of add-ins

If you cannot see Power-user at all in the list of add-ins from "File"/"Options"/"Add-ins", it means that the application (PowerPoint, Excel or Word) is not able to see that Power-user was installed.

Try uninstalling Power-user from the Control Panel, and then re-download it and reinstall.

If the issue remains, try repairing Microsoft Office on the computer (see below).

Further steps to consider

Repairing or reinstalling Microsoft Office

• Go to the "Control Panel" of the computer
• Select "Programs" and "Add or Remove Programs"
• Look for Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 Apps, and right-click it 
• Hit "Repair" or "Reinstall"

Allowing add-ins on Microsoft Office (for Office 2013 and earlier)

When the user performs an installation of Microsoft Office with minimum features (or not all features installed), PowerPoint, Excel and Word can start without add-ins.

In that case, follow the procedure below:

• Go to the "Control Panel" of the computer
• Select "Programs" and "Add or Remove Programs"
• Look for Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 Apps, and right-click it
• Click "Change" to open the setup below:

• Navigate to Microsoft PowerPoint / Excel / Word
• Make sure ".Net Programmability Support" is enabled
• If not, click it and choose "Run from my computer"
• Finally, choose "Continue", and the application will reconfigure

Running PowerPoint / Excel / Word with elevated privileges

• Press SHIFT and right-click on the PowerPoint / Excel / Word icon on the task bar
• Choose "Troubleshoot program"
• Check "This program requires additional permissions" and click "Next"
• Click "Test the program"
• Check if the Power-user tab is visible in PowerPoint / Excel / Word
• Close the PowerPoint / Excel / Word
• Click "Next" and choose "Save these settings for this program"
• Close the wizard and check that Power-user is there next time you restart the application

Resetting the user profile

See instructions on Microsoft website here

Display Alerts via Environment variable

When an error occurs, normally you get an error message with an indication of the cause of the issue.

However if the add-in is not loaded, no such message is shown. But you can still enable those error messages by setting a Windows enviroment variable. This is a way to find the origin of the problem.

• Right-click the Windows Start button and click "System"
• From the left menu, click "Advanced system settings"
• In "Advanced" tab, click "Enviroment variables"

• Under "System variables", click "New"

• Enter "VSTO_SUPPRESSDISPLAYALERTS" for the variable name, and set the value to "0"
• Click "OK" to close, and "OK" again to close the environment variables and the system properties

• Restart PowerPoint / Excel / Word again
• Open a support ticket with us, and provide the error message you see together with the steps you have taken so far
• Don't forget to set the environment variable back to value "1" or to delete the variable from the list completely whenever the problem is found and fixed

Similarly, you can add an environment variable named "VSTO_LOGALERTS" and set it to 0 to log errors.