Missing "My Templates" add-in in Office 365 Shared Inbox

25783555 65 Reputation points
2023-10-03T17:31:50.56+00:00

I have a user reporting that the "my templates" add-in for a shared inbox is missing. Upon investigating, I created a fresh shared inbox, and it had the add-in for 15-20 minutes before disappearing. Standard inboxes are unaffected. The "my templates" add-in shows as added in the Add-ins for Outlook screen. We are using Outlook OWA in Edge. Does anyone know why this is happening?

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  1. Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,216 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2023-10-04T03:57:27.2333333+00:00

    Hi @25783555

    Please click the Get Add-ins button to make sure "My templates" add-in is shown as Added:
    User's image

    If this has been confirmed, it's likely that this is a backend issue. Please have a look at the Service Health dashboard via M365 admin portal and see if there's any potentially relevant incident under investigation. If there's no finding, I'd recommend opening a Support ticket to report this issue.

    Meanwhile, if the user has access to Outlook desktop client, it's suggested to work on the Outlook desktop instead in order to use the My Templates add-in.


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2 additional answers

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  1. 25783555 65 Reputation points
    2023-10-12T14:12:35.6266667+00:00

    Update:

    I submitted a ticket with Microsoft. Seems its actively being worked on.

    Hello, 
    
      
    
    After following up with the Microsoft Engineers, there is no ETA on a resolution for this issue. The bug is actively being worked on by engineering.  
     
    When the fix is completed, it will be released globally to all tenants and no action is required from you. 
     
    As there is no ETA for this resolution, would you like to proceed with archiving this case for now? If you have any questions in the future, you can always open a new ticket and reference this one. Again, the fix will be released globally once it is complete. 
    
     
    
    1 person found this answer helpful.

  2. Alex M 0 Reputation points
    2023-12-13T05:52:42.8333333+00:00

    A potential "workaround" for some of us Outlook on the Web users for the time being, which by no means is ideal (in my opinion) and may not work well for your situation, but may work depending on your case:

    You can add your shared mailbox to your primary mailbox (which should, as of posting, still allow you to access the MyTemplates add-in). See here for instructions: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/open-and-use-a-shared-mailbox-in-outlook-on-the-web-98b5a90d-4e38-415d-a030-f09a4cd28207

    *Some notes from my experience to be aware of before attempting:

    • Each time you reply to an email, you must change the From address (to the shared email), and you'll have to add the signature, if you use a different signature for replies from your shared mailbox. Otherwise, the reply will be from your own email with your own signature, not that of the shared mailbox
    • When you reply to an email from the shared mailbox via your primary mailbox, the reply is stored in your own sent items folder, not that of the shared mailbox—this may cause confusion for your coworkers as they won't see your reply or in the future can't refer back to your reply if needed
    • Replies to emails sent from the shared address in your primary mailbox will show up in the shared mailbox as new emails. Replies to all emails in the shared mailbox will be shown as separate emails when viewed from your primary mailbox, not nested under the original email of which the reply was for
    • If you make use of categories or labels in your shared mailbox, they won't coincide with the shared mailbox
    • If MyTemplates breaks in our primary mailboxes again, this "workaround" will be void lol
    • Should you want to attempt this, try a few test emails to see how the experience will be before sharing this as advice with your coworkers who might get confused by the additional steps required

    If those considerations still make this "workaround" worth it to you, then once you have added the shared mailbox into your primary mailbox, on the left sidebar open whichever folder under the shared mailbox emails you need to reply to will be stored (usually the inbox).

    1. Select the email you wish to reply to from the appropriate shared mailbox folder. Or compose a new email.
    2. Change the From address to the shared email. The first time, you may have to manually add it ... click the From field and Change address, then type and select the shared email address. If the From field does not show, go to your options and select Show from.
    3. Update the signature. If needed, add your shared email's signature to your saved signatures so that you can easily add it to email replies in the future.
    4. Open the MyTempltes add-in and, as you would have in the past, select the template you wish to fill into the email. You may first have to add all the templates into the add-in. You may first need to go into the Get Add-ins icon and select/add the MyTemplates add-in to your primary mailbox.
    5. Compose the email as desired.
    6. Double check that the From address is the shared email, and that the signature appears as desired.
    7. Send the email.

    Hopefully, this may serve useful for some of you who have simple situations with your shared mailboxes and don't need your replies to be visible to or stored in the shared mailbox itself. BUT BETTER YET, LETS HOPE MICROSOFT FIXES MYTEMPLATES IN SHARED MAILBOXES FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!

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