Overview
In certain versions of Outlook Classic (Win32), Microsoft has confirmed a defect affecting Office.js add-ins when the add-in is pinned and users switch between emails in the reading pane (Explorer View). These issues can prevent the Outlook add-in runtime from reinitializing correctly after the selected email changes.
When this occurs, Riva Insight is not able to communicate with Outlook and displays the following message:
Insight could not connect to Outlook.
Please try again. If the problem continues, reload the panel or reopen Outlook.
The issue originates within the Outlook Classic add-in runtime and is not caused by Riva Insight itself. Microsoft Office.js investigations and bug reports have documented similar failures where Office.js initialization no longer completes after email navigation in pinned add-ins.
Affected Environment
- Outlook Classic (Win32)
- Office Version 16.0.20131.20090 and later has a publicly reported regression affecting pinned Outlook add-ins.
Symptoms
After switching between emails, the add-in may:
- Display a loading indicator indefinitely.
- Stop refreshing when a different email is selected.
- Fail to load data for the current email.
- Display the following message:
Insight could not connect to Outlook.
Please try again. If the problem continues, reload the panel or reopen Outlook.
In diagnostic logs, Office.js may fail to initialize and Outlook may no longer provide a valid mailbox context to the add-in runtime. Similar Office.js initialization failures have been reported by multiple Outlook add-in developers.
Cause
This issue is caused by a defect in the Outlook Classic Office.js runtime.
During email navigation, Outlook may leave the add-in in a partially initialized state where the Office.js runtime no longer completes initialization for the newly selected message. As a result, the add-in cannot access the Outlook mailbox context required to function. This behavior has been observed by Riva and has also been reported publicly through the Microsoft Office.js issue tracker.
Reference:
Resolution
Close and reopen the Riva Insight add-in.
Steps
- Close the Riva Insight task pane.
- Reopen Riva Insight from the Outlook ribbon.
- Continue working normally.
Reopening the add-in creates a new Outlook add-in session and restores communication with Outlook.
Note: Reloading the task pane may not always recover the Outlook runtime. If the issue persists after reloading the panel, close and reopen the add-in. In rare cases, restarting Outlook may be required.
Important Notes
- This is a Microsoft Outlook Classic runtime issue and not a defect in Riva Insight. The error is displayed because Outlook is no longer providing a usable Office.js context to the add-in.
- The issue occurs only within certain Outlook Classic scenarios involving pinned add-ins and email navigation.
- New Outlook and Outlook on the web are not reported as affected by the specific regression documented in Microsoft Office.js Issue #6800.
Status
External dependency / Microsoft Outlook defect
- Microsoft has confirmed the defect and is working on a fix.