How to Fix Outlook “Get Add-Ins” Grayed Out Button

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Work requires a particular Outlook Add-In, but Outlook wasn’t having it.  A bunch of Googling and searching revealed this is because of some esoteric privacy setting that needs to be twiddled.1 Here’s how you fix that:

  1. File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings2
  2. Check the box “Enable optional connected experiences” and “OK”3
  3. Restart Outlook and you should be able use the “Get Add-Ins” button now

Yay!

  1. This page says what needs to be done – but doesn’t say where to find the necessary privacy settings [↩]
  2. This page explains these options might be limited at the administration level [↩]
  3. This sounds creepy to me. [↩]