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Debug your event-based or spam-reporting Outlook add-in

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This article discusses the key debugging stages to enable and set breakpoints in your code as you implement event-based activation or integrated spam reporting (preview) in your add-in. Before you proceed, we recommend reviewing the troubleshooting guide for additional steps on how to resolve development errors.

To begin debugging, select the tab for your applicable client.

If you used the Yeoman generator for Office Add-ins to create your add-in project (for example, by completing an event-based activation walkthrough), follow the Created with Yeoman generator option throughout this article. Otherwise, follow the Other steps. Visual Studio Code should be at least version 1.56.1.

Mark your add-in for debugging and set the debugger port

  1. Get your add-in's ID from the manifest.

    • XML manifest: Use the value of the <Id> element child of the root <OfficeApp> element.
    • Unified manifest for Microsoft 365: Use the value of the "id" property of the root anonymous { ... } object.

  2. Create a registry DWORD value named UseDirectDebugger in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\Developer\[Add-in ID]. Replace [Add-in ID] with your add-in's ID from the manifest.

    Note

    If the Developer key (folder) doesn't already exist under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\WEF\, complete the following steps to create it.

    1. Right-click the WEF key (folder) and select New > Key.
    2. Name the new key Developer.

    Created with Yeoman generator: In a command line window, navigate to the root of your add-in folder then run the following command.

    npm start

    In addition to building the code and starting the local server, this command sets the UseDirectDebugger registry DWORD value data for this add-in to 1.

    Other: In the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\WEF\Developer\[Add-in ID]\UseDirectDebugger registry DWORD value, where [Add-in ID] is your add-in's ID from the manifest, set the value data to 1.

  3. In the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\Developer\[Add-in ID], where [Add-in ID] is your add-in's ID from the manifest, create a new DWORD value with the following configuration.

    • Value name: DebuggerPort
    • Value data (hexadecimal): 00002407

    This sets the debugger port to 9223.

  4. Start Outlook or restart it if it's already open.

  5. Perform the action to initiate the event you're developing for, such as creating a new message to initiate the OnNewMessageCompose event or reporting spam messages. The Debug Event-based handler dialog should appear. Do not interact with the dialog yet.

    The Debug Event-based handler dialog in Windows.

Configure Visual Studio Code

Created with Yeoman generator

  1. Back in the command line window, run the following to open your add-in project in Visual Studio Code.

    code .

  2. In Visual Studio Code, open the ./.vscode/launch.json file and add the following excerpt to your list of configurations. Save your changes.

    {
  "name": "Direct Debugging",
  "type": "node",
  "request": "attach",
  "port": 9223,
  "timeout": 600000,
  "trace": true
}

Other

  1. Create a new folder called Debugging (perhaps in your Desktop folder).

  2. Open Visual Studio Code.

  3. Go to File > Open Folder, navigate to the folder you just created, then choose Select Folder.

  4. On the Activity Bar, select Run and Debug (Ctrl+Shift+D).

    The Run and Debug icon on the Activity Bar.

  5. Select the create a launch.json file link.

    The link located under the Run and Debug option to create a launch.json file in Visual Studio Code.

  6. In the Select Environment dropdown, select Edge: Launch to create a launch.json file.

  7. Add the following excerpt to your list of configurations. Save your changes.

    {
  "name": "Direct Debugging",
  "type": "node",
  "request": "attach",
  "port": 9223,
  "timeout": 600000,
  "trace": true
}

Attach the debugger

The bundle.js file of an add-in contains the JavaScript code of your add-in. It's created when Outlook on Windows is opened. When Outlook starts, the bundle.js file of each installed add-in is cached in the Wef folder of your machine.

  1. To find the add-in's bundle.js file, navigate to the following folder in File Explorer. Replace text enclosed in [] with your applicable Outlook and add-in information.

    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\{[Outlook profile GUID]}\[Outlook mail account encoding]\Javascript\[Add-in ID]_[Add-in Version]_[locale]

    Tip

    If the bundle.js file doesn't appear in the Wef folder, try the following:

  2. Open bundle.js in Visual Studio Code.

  3. Place breakpoints in bundle.js where you want the debugger to stop.

  4. In the DEBUG dropdown, select Direct Debugging, then select the Start Debugging icon.

    The Direct Debugging option selected from configuration options in the Visual Studio Code Debug dropdown.

Run the debugger

  1. After confirming that the debugger is attached, return to Outlook, and in the Debug Event-based handler dialog, choose OK .

  2. You can now hit your breakpoints in Visual Studio Code, enabling you to debug your event-based activation or spam-reporting code.

Stop the debugger

To stop debugging the rest of the current Outlook on Windows session, in the Debug Event-based handler dialog, choose Cancel. To re-enable debugging, restart Outlook.

To prevent the Debug Event-based handler dialog from popping up and stop debugging for subsequent Outlook sessions, delete the associated registry key, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\Developer\[Add-in ID]\UseDirectDebugger, or set its value to 0.

See also