Salesforce for Outlook 'Add Email' button is not available

Step 1 - Make sure Email to Salesforce is enabled in Salesforce

Step 2 - Try Resetting the Outlook customization

First confirm with the User that it is okay to reset their Outlook toolbar. To reset Outlook customization,
 

Get to the Customize the Ribbon window

Several options exist for this:
 

1. In the Customize the Ribbon window, click Reset.

2. Click Reset all customizations.

1. In the Customize the Ribbon window, select the default tab that you want to reset to the default settings.

2. Click Reset, and then click Reset only selected Ribbon tab.

1. In the Customize the Ribbon window, click Import/Export.  

2. Click Import customization file.

Step 3

Confirm that the Add Email is enable for your Outlook Configurations (Salesforce Group and Contact Manager Edition has it enabled within the default Outlook Configuration):
 

In Salesforce Classic: Your name | Setup | Desktop Integration | Salesforce for Outlook

In Lightning Experience: Your avatar | Settings | Desktop Add-Ons | Salesforce for Outlook
 

(Alternative click-path: Your Name | My Settings | Desktop Add-Ons | Salesforce for Outlook, click on View my configuration), and verify that the Add Email box is checked.
 

• You must be a Salesforce system administrator to be able to view or edit this setting. Note: Enabling the "Side Panel" option in the Outlook Configuration stops the "Add Email" button to be displayed in the Outlook ribbon, by design.
• In order to make the Add Email button work and add emails to Salesforce, add the User's email address to My Acceptable Email Addresses.
• For more information please see Enabling Email Options for Salesforce for Outlook.

Step 4:

Make sure the Salesforce for Outlook icon is running in System Tray and it is red and not gray. The Add Email button will never display if Salesforce for Outlook is not running in System Tray or it is in the gray state (not connected).

Note: Please perform all the steps in the same order listed below and do not open Outlook or SFO during this process. Once you are done with Step 6 then go ahead and open Outlook and SFO and try to reproduce the issue.

Step 5:

Once you have checked all the settings above, consider that it is possible that either the add-in was disabled by Outlook, the installation failed due to a security software or the User who installed the application did not have local administrator permission on the computer. 

Make sure the add-in is not listed under the Outlook Disabled items, look for:
 

• Salesforce for Outlook Add to Salesforce Toolbar 
• Salesforce for Outlook Side Panel

Take the following steps to enable the Salesforce for Outlook add-in Microsoft Outlook 2007
 

1. In Outlook, click on Help | Disabled Items…
2. If the Salesforce add-in is listed, select it and click Enable.
3. You need to restart Outlook and Salesforce for Outlook for changes to take effect.

Take the following steps to enable the Salesforce for Outlook Add-In in Microsoft Outlook 2010/2013/2016:
 

1. Click File | Options | Add-Ins.
2. Click the Manage drop-down menu and select Disabled Items and click on Go...
3. If the Salesforce add in is listed, select it and click Enable.
4. You need to restart Outlook and Salesforce for Outlook for changes to take effect

Note: You can click on each of the SFO add-ins in the list of Add-ins and then make sure the location points to the folder that you installed the application. For instance if you have installed it for everyone (per machine) then the location should point to C:\Program Files (x86)\salesforce.com\Salesforce for Outlook and if it is installed with 'Me Only' option (per User) then it should be under User's %LocalAppData%\Programs\salesforce.com\Salesforce for Outlook folder.

 

Step 6 - Turning off User Account Control

If the issue persists, and Salesforce for Outlook is listed as Active Application Add-ins in the Outlook Trust Center, please check the following settings and make the necessary changes:

For Windows 7 users
 

1. Click the Start menu and type UAC in the search field
2. Click Change User Account Control settings
3. In the window that comes up, move the slider down to Never Notify and click on Ok, and click on Yes on the User Account Control.
4. Restart your computer.
5. Open 'Outlook' and 'Salesforce for Outlook' and see if the Add Email button loads.
    

If Salesforce for Outlook is running, make sure that you have synced with Salesforce using Salesforce for Outlook. The add-in will get its configuration after Salesforce for Outlook finishes sync and ‘Add Email’ button will load in Outlook. If you have recently made any changes to your configuration, you must sync using Salesforce for Outlook for add-in to pickup latest configurations. You can do this by manually initiating Sync or by waiting for Auto Sync to initiate sync to get latest configurations. To sync manually: Right click on the Salesforce for Outlook System Tray icon in the Task bar located on the right bottom corner of the screen and click on sync and sync now.

If none of the steps above resolved the issue for you and the Add Email button is still missing, continue with the steps below.

 

Step 7 - Finding and deleting the Resiliency key in the Registry

1. Enter regedit in the Windows Search box, or press the Windows + R keys on your keyboard to bring up the Run box and then enter regedit.
2. On the left side, click on the Computer icon on top and click on Edit | Find.
3. In front of "Find what: "  enter Resiliency and make sure to select Match whole string only and click on Find Next.
4. If the search finds anything, select it, right click on it and click on Export.
5. Save it to a folder (You can create a new folder or save it on your Desktop).
6. After you export it, right click on the yellow Resiliency folder and click on Delete.
7. Press F3 on your keyboard to continue the search until you see "FInished searching through the registry."
8. Click on OK.
9. Next locate the following registry keys and delete them. Make sure you click on each and then right click and click on Delete (you may see 1 or 2, if none exist skip to step 7).

While you are in the Registry Editor, check to make sure the LoadBehavior value is set to 3. Sometimes this value changes to 2 that causes the Add Email not to load.

If it is set to 2 or any other value but 3, double click on the LoadBehavior key and change its value to 3 and press Enter.
 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\AddIns\SalesforceForOutlook

10. Close the Registry Editor.

Step 8 - Installation and prerequisites

These steps need to be performed by your IT department or a User who is a local administrator on the computer.

This issue may be resolved by uninstalling and reinstalling the Windows out of the box .NET installation.

1. Make sure Outlook is closed.
2. Uninstall Salesforce for Outlook as well as the following applications:

• Microsoft Visual Studio® 2010 tools for Office Runtime
• Outlook 2010 users: Uninstall the ‘Office 2010 Primary Interop Assemblies’
• Outlook 2007 users: Uninstall the ‘Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies’

3. Then while in the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features folder, from the left menu click on Turn Windows Features on or off.
4. In the pop-up list, deselect Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and click on Ok.
5. Wait until uninstallation is finished and then restart the machine.
6. For Windows 7 users, log back in as a local admin and turn the box back on to reinstall Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.
7. After you are done installing the .NET. restart the computer one more time.
8. Click on Start and enter %appdata%\salesforce.com\Salesforce for Outlook\ and delete everything in that folder.
9. Apply Step 6 again. Keep Outlook and SFO closed during this process.

Note: It is possible that the AppData and Application Data folder are hidden by default.

To view hidden files in Windows 7, 8, 10 see this Microsoft link. If you are unable to open any of the links above, here is how you can display hidden files and folders:

10. Download the Salesforce for Outlook plug-in and run the installer while logged in as local administrator.
11. On the installation prerequisites step make sure you check the boxes for all the prerequisite items and click on Next.
12. Finish the installation and make sure the Salesforce for Outlook runs in the taskbar.
13. Open Outlook and configure Salesforce for Outlook using its wizard (if the wizard does not start automatically, you can start it by right clicking on the Salesforce for Outlook icon on the System Tray icon at the bottom right corner of the screen and click on Settings) and the sync should start (you will see the Salesforce for Outlook icon will start spinning in the bottom right corner of the screen).

14. During the sync, or after sync is complete you should see the ‘Add Email’ button loading in Outlook.

 Another troubleshooting tip would be to create a new test profile in Outlook under local administrator or the affected User login with a no-mail data file and see if SFO works in the new profile.
 

15. If it loads, simply log off local administrator account and login as the User and see if the button loads.