CRM makes you grey
I got some emails regarding the CRM Menu bar being greyed out, not working etc. I have collected some possible resolutions for those.
It's possible that the COM Add-in is not activated. You can activate it or in some cases you need to remove and re add the Add-in.
A. Launch Outlook.
B. Go to Tools | Options.
C. Select the Other tab.
D. Select Advanced Options.
E. Select COM Add-ins.
F. Highlight Microsoft CRM Outlook Addin and note the location path below it. (You may want to write this down since you will need it in step O)
G. Select remove to remove the Microsoft CRM Outlook Addin.
H. Select OK to all windows and close Outlook.
I. Launch Outlook.
J. Go to Tools | Options.
K. Select the Other Tab.
L. Select Advanced Options.
M. Select COM Addins.
N. Select Add.
O. Navigate to the path from step F (If there was not one specified try /Program Files/CRM/Client/Bin/crmaddin.dll)
P. Select OK to all windows.
Q. Close Outlook.
R. Re-launch Outlook.
The COM-addin may be disabled.
1 .On the Help menu, click About Microsoft Office Outlook.
2. Click Disabled Items.
3. Select the items you want to enable.
4. Click Enable.
Other possible causes can be antivirus running on this machine? Temporarily disable this and relaunch Outlook.
In I.E. under Internet Options | Security | Local Intranet | Add the CRM Website to Trusted Sites.
Remove any Stored Passwords for the CRM Server from the Client Machine. Control Panel | User Accounts | Advanced Tab | Manage Passwords.
Comments
Anonymous
May 12, 2006
First of all, thank you for your blog. Sometimes it seems the ONLY source of information available.
Anyway, i'm having a problem with Outlook integration. I have my CRM server up and running, and i've set up another machine, to use as a client, running on Win XP. I used the domain's administrator account to install Outlook and connect to the CRM Server. Because the administrator account has the "Restricted Access Mode" enabled it cannot be used to connect to the server. Ok.
The problem is, i can't get it to work with any other domain & CRM account: there's no CRM toolbar on Outlook, and the "COM Add-In" is not working for me, and it's useless trying to (re)install the laptop client.
Any ideas?
Thanks.Anonymous
May 15, 2006
You have to install the client software when the user is logged on. First you have to add the user to the "local administrators" group because the CRM client writes files to the users profile and make modifications to the users registry. Hopefully this helps.
good luck,
TomAnonymous
May 16, 2006
Problem solved. Thanks.Anonymous
July 14, 2006
It works for me too
You made my day
Thanks!
KjellAnonymous
August 29, 2006
You rock, Thanks for your blog, MS is pretty tight about their help on CRM. Total time saver today for me.Anonymous
September 26, 2006
The CRMAddin.dll actually behaves very funny. Funny if you do not depend on it in your daily work actually. In last few months with the MS CRM 3.0, and Outlook 2003 SP2, the Add In actually disables itself about once a week on every client machine.
The worst part is if you just click on the checkbox to Enable it, and click Apply and OK in the same form, it does noting. Just open the same form again and it is disabled again.
You really need to de-install it, and install it again, and restart Outlook. And that is just painfull….Anonymous
November 28, 2006
Same thing here. We're running it on a Terminal Server and it disables itself about once a week randomly on every user. Adding every user to local admin group is not a feasible "solution" either. Why can't Microsoft products work with Microsoft products??Anonymous
February 22, 2007
Well, time has moved on and updates have rolled out, or up, or whatever they do, but I've just resolved problems with my laptop add-in. I tried all the stuff mentioned above but it all looked OK from that perspective. Here's the story: http://crmuser.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-ms-crm-laptop-client-add-in-is.html You'll need to read the post before and the post after to get the full account.Anonymous
June 08, 2007
User had just change network password, so removing stored password worked!Anonymous
July 12, 2007
My Problem is Quiet strange Refuses to load with outlook everytime if i untick it in COm Addins and Retick it, Toolbar come to life sometimes if fails to do this on first try It's Haunted or it's got a mind of its own tried all kinds of things same for all client machines :SAnonymous
July 15, 2007
I've found myself having to reinstall the CRM Light Client to get around this issue. Does anyone have a solution for keeping this working without the user being a local admin? We operate a semi-hotdesk environment within the sales department and I don't allow any users to be local admin. Hence every time a person moves PC I have to make them local admin, re-install the client then remove them from the local admin group. This is a real pain!Anonymous
August 14, 2007
My toolbar is dead, was working. Cannot add the COMaddin, it shuts down Outlook. Any suggestions to get CRM functional??Anonymous
November 20, 2007
I have created a second profile to the same Exchange Server Account; however, when I connect to that secondary profile, the CRM icons and menu items are grayed out and following recommended procedures above do not rectify? Any suggestions on where I can find help for Outlook CRM Desktop Client on multiple Outlook Profiles? Thanks, LarryAnonymous
November 27, 2007
Hi, We use mutiple profiles within Outlook but can only get CRM to work in the Default profile. CRM is not availble in the other profiles even though it is installed on the machine. Does anyone have a solution to this problem? Thanks RukhAnonymous
December 03, 2007
I have that same situation. I found the solution as follow. When you create additional profile, you also need to specificed the MS CRM data files within the new profile. In "Control Panel" -> "Mail" -> "Show profiles" For the new profile created, select "properties" -> "data files", locate the MSCRM.pst file in the user profile (eg. "C:Documents and SettingsUSERNAMEApplication DataMSCRM.pst") b06Anonymous
December 06, 2007
Hi guys, Add-in not working with Outlook 07? Any known issue i've missed. Does it work in Terminal Services environment? CheersAnonymous
December 07, 2007
We’re currently facing the same problem in our company. (The CRM AddIn doesn’t load). But sometimes, it seems to “partly” load. I explain myself: the CRM tool bar is all right in Outlook main interface, but when we open a mail, there is no “track in CRM” toolbar available. After having performed the “A” to “R” steps, the toolbar is available again. Any idea?Anonymous
January 01, 2008
Hi I tried ur solution but it is not working for me. I have MS Outlook 2007 and I installed latest version of CRM client but every time I start the outlook it gives the error "An error occurred during loading CRM Functionality.................." Any idea what is wrong??Anonymous
January 09, 2008
Same issues here: Greyed out buttons and/or unchecked COM Add-in. Rechecking the add-in does not work. Only way to fix is to reload the crmaddin.dll in COM Add-in page. Works for MAYBE a week, then unchecks itself. Local admin rights in place The suggestion to disable Antivirus is not acceptable. (Why on earth would I want to do that, especially with local admin privellege?)Anonymous
January 15, 2008
We are having problems too. About 5 of us have installed CRM Outlook client 4.0 on Outlook 2007. All admins on machine. CRM through website works well. CRM toolbar (Add buttons, CRM tree greyed out!) also Outlook just hangs with the orange lines going across the columns and nothing showing up. Hanging for an hour or so with no access to email. This is NOT good. Only way is to restart Outlook and uninstall CRM !! Also tried in offline and non-offline installs. Anyone else experienced this ? The com addin (in Trust centre) is also enabled. ANY help appreciated. MCAnonymous
January 16, 2008
Mitesh, please check if you're using a third party toolbar with popup blocker functionality. Please remove these or disable them and test if it works. I have seen many cases where these caused the problem.Anonymous
January 24, 2008
Same problem, have also installed clients Outlook 4.0 laptop clients with Outlook 2007 (with Business manager). All accounts have local admin rights. Checked the machines and removed third party toolbars, Outlook does not hang, but cannot load the CRM system. All machines can use the CRM server website. Also the com addin's are enabled.Anonymous
June 18, 2009
PingBack from http://barstoolsite.info/story.php?id=1942Anonymous
November 09, 2009
Oh, nooo... We have crm 4 with offline outlook 2003 client. with the last crm update rollup 7 installed on the server and clients. The problem is that when we open outlook offline, it tells that we're not connected and we are not able to work with outlook. I tried your solution but when I try to choose that dll again and press ok, the addon is not installed. So now, I don't have crm for outlook anymore 8-/ I'll try to reinstall it now...