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We have observed the legacy toolbar that used to appear under "Add-ins" tab while working with a macro-enabled Word template not appearing sometimes since last few weeks. We noticed this with Office 365 and Office 2021 versions.
Please note that I am not referring to Office Web Add-ins (Office.js). I am referring to legacy COM toolbar Add-ins.
Here is an instance when my Word show the "Add-Ins" tab:
Here is an instance when my Word does not show the "Add-Ins" tab:
I am suspecting a recent Office update has introduced this issue since Office 365 gets frequent Office updates.
Please help with this issue.
I am not observing this in either 2021 or 365. The Add-Ins tab will not appear unless there is some Add-In loaded that uses it. This is either something that modifies or adds legacy command bars / menus or an Add-In written specifically to add things there. I regularly load Add-Ins through my Word Startup Folder that do use this. Some from Greg Maxey and Graham Mayor and one that I wrote myself. When these are loaded, the tab appears. So, in my case, the tab always appears unless I unload those Add-Ins.
What do you see if you go to Modify the Ribbon? Is the tab checked as active? On my system, even if this is checked, the tab will not display unless there is something on the tab.
When you open a document based on a macro-enabled template that would display there, you should see the tab. Is your template attached to the document? What happens if you Open the template rather than create a document based on it.
You refer to a .dotm template. This is not a COM Add-In unless I am missing something.
To check, you could use one of the Add-Ins that I load. They are available free.
Most of my own Add-Ins use a custom tab, add things to the built-in Tabs, or add QAT icons and keyboard shortcuts (easiest). I try to avoid adding to the Add-Ins tab.
You probably mean a VBA add-in, not COM. VBA add-ins are created in the program, COM add-ins are created in Visual Studio with VB or C#.
The Add-ins tab was introduced 15 years ago as a workaround to allow old VBA macros with commandbars to continue running. It's probably time to update them to use the RibbonUI interface.
Thanks for your quick reply, John!
I correct myself and confirm I am referring to VBA Add-ins. I have some macro-enabled templates which are made available via buttons under "Add-Ins" tab.
While I do understand this is fairly old technology, Office Applications still support it. I am more concerned about why the tab appear and disappear randomly upon restarting my Word application on same machine where I have made no changes to Macro Settings. FYI, my Macro settings are at the lowest security levels.