🔥🐛 Contextual tabs mechanism not working at all with Office.StartupBehavior.load

[wh1t3cAt1k]

Provide required information needed to triage your issue

Blocker for us. In Excel Online, when the start-up behaviour is set to "load", the contextual tab does not get displayed at all.

Therefore, upon first launch in a new workbook, the ribbon appears, but on subsequent opens of the same workbook, nothing gets shown.

Your Environment

• Platform [PC desktop, Mac, iOS, Office on the web]: Office on the web
• Host [Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.]: Excel
• Office version number: latest
• Operating System: Windows 11
• Browser (if using Office on the web): Edge

Expected behavior

Ribbon appears

Current behavior

Ribbon does not appear

Steps to reproduce

Use this sample repository to reproduce: https://github.com/VelixoSolutions/repro-missing-ribbon-online

1. Start the dev server and sideload the manifest into Excel Online.
2. Create a new workbook and click the add-in button on the ribbon, this will launch its code and "requestCreateControls".
3. After a couple of seconds, the contextual tab will appear.
4. Reload the page.
5. Click the add-in button on the ribbon.
6. Observe the task pane is open, but no ribbon appears anymore.

It only works on new workbooks you create but not on the existing ones where the start-up behaviour has been registered.

Context

We have an ongoing UI revamping effort where many of the flows will rely on contextual tabs instead of the (now-crowded) side panel. With this issue, it's completely impossible Online.

At the same time, we cannot change our start-up behaviour because our add-in attaches handlers and helper functionalities that need to run without the user explicitly clicking on the add-in button.

Useful logs

No error is shown in console, it simply does not appear. I also consider this a problem.

[ghost]

Thank you for letting us know about this issue. We will take a look shortly. Thanks.

[ruijiaMS]

Hi @wh1t3cAt1k, I did not repro this issue via your steps. Could you please provide a screen record video to help me understand how this issue works. Thanks!

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@ruijiaMS @RuizhiSunMS it's very easily reproducible using the steps / minimal repro repository from the bug description.

Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S597XXwN7Bw

[yuc014]

Hi @wh1t3cAt1k ,
Here is my screen recording, seems not repro your issue, is my step wrong?

ReproMedia.mp4

ReproMediaChrome.mp4

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@yuc014 by any chance, do you use "disable caching" on the network tab your dev tools?

Have you tried editing the workbook and waiting a little more time after the ribbon shows the first time?
(and only then reloading the workbook)

It replicates every single time for us. Could it be some sort of race / timing issue?

[wh1t3cAt1k]

Session ID when ribbon is showing: 5c885ecb-2a37-46ef-8459-9c3d90e58e42

Build: 16.0.16019.42303
(is the build number similar for you?)

URL is like this:

https://velixo-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/r/personal/pkabir_velixo_com/_layouts/15/doc2.aspx?sourcedoc=%7BEA3A2A3A-95EA-4E67-8F85-55BA25A918F9%7D&file=Book%20176.xlsx&action=editnew&mobileredirect=true&wdNewAndOpenCt=1671832104341&ct=1671832104341&wdPreviousSession=ed71c1fc-bc4a-4ea4-b659-3cc4b747974a&wdOrigin=OFFICECOM-WEB.MAIN.NEW

When I reload the page, the ribbon is not showing.

Session ID when not showing: 6f499cc9-401f-4f8a-99c5-3cf8115d82d7

Please check the logs and see the differences.
Please also try to replicate on someone else's machine... As I mentioned, the issue is 100% reproducible every time for us.

Maybe a race, or intervention of other add-ins that you have installed - I am doing my experiment on a Chrome browser with 100% all-time cache cleared and no add-ins installed beside Script Lab.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@ruijiaMS @yuc014 @Wenjun-Gong dear friends, we can't proceed with an important UX revamping with this issue present, may we please ask you to check the session IDs above and inform us of any resolutions or workarounds? Thank you.

[yuc014]

Hi @wh1t3cAt1k, sorry for the late response.

My environment:
Build: 16.0.16110.42303
Disable cache in browser.

And I also tried clean cache, uninstall my add-ins, edit workbook and wait for a while, still cannot repro.

For the URL you provided, seems I cannot access your sharepoint.

You can share it with "Anyone with the link".

For the sessions you provided, I investigated it and didn't find typical error or something, attach session info below.
Book24.xlsx

So, it's a little bit weird, I guess maybe the build number difference? I will see whether I can repro on the workbook you share.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

Do you have a different build number for office on the web? Is it some sort of internal preview channel? I will share the workbook later, too

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@yuc014 can you try enabling cache in the browser too? Maybe this is important?

[yuc014]

@wh1t3cAt1k I tried my personal account (now Build:16.0.16109.42300), which should use the same channel with you. And tried enabling cache, but still cannot repro it.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@yuc014 please see the below video if you can replicate or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJeVm2d9sk

Please also consider asking a colleague to repro, there might be something else going on with your environment?
Are you using a preview channel of office.js by any chance? I am just importing from your CDN.

• Chrome Version 109.0.5414.75 (Official Build) (64-bit)
• Build 16.0.16105.42301
• Excel on the Web
• Creating new workbook using excel.new (might be important?) in Velixo's space on sharepoint.com
• Corporate MS account
• Using Velixo's store-distributed production add-in that registers a ribbon tab on start-up and requests it to show.
• Cache not disabled:

Again, the bug 100% repro when reopening existing workbooks, never replicates on new workbooks.

My sessions:

4e144ce4-d255-44e9-95b3-510a0c55f17a - does not work (old workbook)
a888d85f-a4bd-4eac-8d8d-6b6becbadbad - does work (new workbook)

@Wenjun-Gong @yuc014 I think if replication does not succeed maybe another team member can try from your side?

I am open for a live call to demonstrate the issue and troubleshoot together with you, any time zone. Thank you.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@yuc014 I also noticed that you have a lot of other add-ins installed. They may affect the picture that you're seeing. Velixo add-in (in my previous video) and Contoso add-in (in my repro example) were the only add-in I had installed. And please make sure you wait a little bit after reloading the page before clicking the add-in ribbon button.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@ruijiaMS @yuc014 @Wenjun-Gong dear friends, I would like to follow up on the above - we're still blocked by this...

[Wenjun-Gong]

@yuc014 to follow up further and see whether it can be reproed.

@wh1t3cAt1k how frequently are you seeing this issue from your customers?

[yuc014]

Hi @wh1t3cAt1k, for the addin you provided in the video ("Velixo"), I can repro your issue.
I created an internal bug#7498343 to track it, our engineers will investigate it.

Additional information:

1. I noticed that if you uninstall and reinstall Velixo, the contextual tab will show. Maybe this is a direction.
2. Don't need copy&paste the url, refresh could repro it.
3. I see there are seldom add-ins have contextual tab (cannot find another example), many of them use custom tab instead, like "Script Lab". Maybe use custom tab could unblock you.

Will update when the bug has progress.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@ruijiaMS thank you for the update.

Just curious, will it be fixed at the office.js level, or is it the host app? If the latter, is there an approximate fix version?

[ruijiaMS]

It is fixed in server side. Sorry for that we cannot get the approximate fix version yet, however, will post here if it comes up.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@Wenjun-Gong @ruijiaMS

Has it been deployed already? We are observing that our contextual tabs are not disappearing anymore in Excel Online.

[ruijiaMS]

@wh1t3cAt1k
If you are working on Excel Online, it has been deployed already.
But for Excel desktop, it is on Preview now and waiting for Production deployment.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

Oh, I didn't know it replicated in Excel Desktop. For us the bug only reproduced on Excel Online 🤔🤔🤔

We'll do additional testing to make sure.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@ruijiaMS @Wenjun-Gong our internal testing confirms that this particular ribbon issue is gone for us.

Unfortunately on "corrupted" files that were created prior to your fix, it seems that the customers still need to remove and reinstall the add-in, but it's a one-off operation for old documents only.

Great job MS team, you unblocked us in the direction of proper ribbon-oriented UI, and we cleared the side panel from a lot of buttons :) 💖

In this "epic", we are now hoping for your attention to #2877 and #3250 - with ribbon-oriented UI, we would like to depend on the status bar to avoid showing the side panel for long-running operations... Right now it's unreliable.

This item I am gladly closing.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@ruijiaMS @Wenjun-Gong possibly linked to #3476 – we're still experiencing intermittent ribbon "outages" but only on sideloaded add-ins.

[JuliaKassina]

Hi @ruijiaMS, @RuizhiSunMS, the issue is still replicated for me in Excel Online (Chrome).
Here are the replication steps:

1. In Excel Online open a new workbook
2. In the ribbon, click Insert > Add-Ins
3. In the Office Add-ins dialog box, go to the Store tab and search for Velixo
4. Near the found Velixo add-in click Add
5. In the appeared License terms and Privacy policy window, click Continue

As a result, the side panel of the added add-in will appear, but in the ribbon, the tab won't be added:

To make the tab appear in the ribbon:

1. Right Mouse Click in the side panel and click Reload.
2. In the ribbon, click Home > Velixo
   As a result, both - side panel and tab will appear:
   

Session ID: ad2d1f83-25c6-ddef-8cb9-ff28340e8a16
Link to the video recording of the issue: https://www.loom.com/share/6f5c2011dc8b428788cedb52e36dc450?sid=ebd34e42-56fd-45ce-9b4a-6e867662ca71

[gmichaud]

I am experiencing this problem constantly as well. It's only a problem on Excel Online.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@Wenjun-Gong @ruijiaMS @RuizhiSunMS we're hoping for some attention to this problem as it really hinders our ability to pre-release test using a sideloaded manifest...

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@Wenjun-Gong can we please revisit this problem? It's a high-priority problem for us during internal testing and it produces a really bad impression on the customer in production.

In addition to other arguments, this issue does not allow us to reliably E2E test our add-in since the ribbon does not always appear when we run our tests, and even multiple side panel reloads don't always help.

[gmichaud]

I'm also constantly seeing this problem with Excel Online when using our store based add-in. Not a problem on Excel for Windows or Excel for Mac.

[Wenjun-Gong]

Hi @wh1t3cAt1k and @gmichaud , team is looking at this issue. Thanks for your patience.

[ZYUN-MSFT]

Hi @wh1t3cAt1k ,

There is one thing that I want to confirm. Are you re-open this issue because of issue #3476 ?
Since my colleague and I all can't repro this issue, we are not seeing any trend that this issue/bug re-happen again.

First for #3476 , we have transfer it to the right owned team previously. But I apologize that I didn't keep monitor it in time. I'll fully support you for solving this issue by keep driving this all the time in the following.

Second for this issue. Please provided more repro detail information for us to tracking since we can't repro it.\

Sincerely,
Yun.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

@ZYUN-MSFT not because of it, just because we discovered particular scenario is still replicable too. Our QA team (@JuliaKassina) will recheck and get back to you if it's still relevant.

[JuliaKassina]

Hi @ZYUN-MSFT, I just re-tested the scenario shared above following the exact same steps and the issue is still replicated for me.

Here are my replication steps:

1. In Excel Online open a new workbook

2. In the ribbon, click Home > Add-Ins > More Add-ins
   

3. In the Office Add-ins dialog box, go to the Store tab and search for Velixo
   

4. Near the found Velixo add-in, click Add
   

5. In the appeared License terms and Privacy policy window, click Continue
   

As a result, the side panel of the added add-in will appear, but in the ribbon, the tab won't be added:

• Session ID: e473c2e6-12b4-39b7-ffd5-710ba219fdf6
• Build: 16.0.16815.42306
• I use Google Chrome browser (Version 116.0.5845.97 (Official Build) (64-bit) version).
  Link to the video recording of the issue: https://www.loom.com/share/441cfdad62894171b63271cfcdcb44ff

Please, let me know, if you need any other information regarding the issue.

[ZYUN-MSFT]

Hi @JuliaKassina , thanks for your reply.

But unfortunatly I still cann't repro this problem. I delete my browser cache and try the steps you provided. And also the same office online version on Chrome Browser.

Vel.mp4

Please check my screen record above.

Thanks.

[JuliaKassina]

Hi @ZYUN-MSFT , thanks for your quick response and attaching the video recording. I've noticed the 'Script Lab, a Microsoft Garage project' add-in added in your Excel. Then tested my scenario having 'Script Lab, a Microsoft Garage project' add-in added, but it doesn't change the output, the issue is still replicated on my side (with and without 'Script Lab, a Microsoft Garage project' add-in).

Can we have a screenshare meeting, where I will demonstrate you the issue (I'm available any working day from 7 AM to 6 PM UTC)? This issue is constantly happening for the whole our team and we need this to be resolved.

[JuliaKassina]

@ZYUN-MSFT , I also noticed on your video recording, that there is the 'My organization' tab on the Office Add-ins window. While in my case, there is no such a tab.

I additionally recorded another video with the Console opened. Please take a look, hope this will give you some additional info: https://www.loom.com/share/34996fd87217420a893ae778c3a38f28?sid=4446b1ac-5cf9-4081-ba4a-6f70b782be48

[ZYUN-MSFT]

Hi @JuliaKassina , I think this issue is a little complex and we are investigating the root cause/right area of it. Please give us some time for investigation. And I will update the information here early next Week.

I will back here when we need your help for more detail information.

Thanks for your patience.

[JuliaKassina]

Thanks @ZYUN-MSFT,
I've responded in the e-mail.

Any further progress regarding the issue will be posted here in comments.

[wh1t3cAt1k]

I suggest to merge this with #3476

[qinliuMSFT]

Duplicates with #3476 and team has active conversation there. So close this case as duplicated.