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How do I use the Add-In Manager in Visual Studio? Here is the problem and solution.

I want to add this SmartPaster addin and need to get these 3 files listed in the Add-In Manager dialog?

  1. SmartPaster2010.AddIn
  2. SmartPaster2010.dll
  3. SmartPaster2010.xml

Edit: Microsoft Add-In Registration says:

To install the add-in on another computer, the .addin file must be placed in a location where Visual Studio checks for add-ins. These locations are listed in the Options dialog box, in the Environment node, on the Add-in/Macros Security page.

I went to Tools > Options > Environment > Add-In/Macro Security, checked some paths put the AddIn files in a couple of these directories, restart VS2010 but still no luck!

Jeremy Thompson
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3 Answers3

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Make a folder called "C:\VisualStudioPlugins"

Open up Visual Studio > Tools Menu > Options > Environment > Add-In/Macro Security > Add the path "C:\VisualStudioPlugins"

Restart Visual Studio and the add-in is listed!

ps I didn't know the answer before I asked the question and hope it helps the .Net community.

Jeremy Thompson
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  • Thanks, the addin is now found, but I get an exception on both versions you refer to. Which version did you get working? (I am using VS2010 prof) – pauldendulk Mar 05 '11 at 17:19
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    @Paul I'm using VS2010 Prem and the version for SmartPaster2010 is v1.0.3811.21587. This maybe a red herring but I've actually got two menu items in the right click context menu. One of the "Paste As" has Comment, String, StringBuilder and the other has those items plus Region and Configure. Can you post the exception and stacktrace? @Paperino (Alex Papadimoulis) might even take a look too – Jeremy Thompson Mar 08 '11 at 23:36
  • My Visual Studio has %VSAPPDATA%\Addins listed. Which resolves to: C:\Users\tinyRacoon\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Addins. I assume this is where Visual Studio is suggesting I put Addin files. – TinyRacoon Feb 24 '16 at 15:02
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I had a similar issue, but it was that I was trying to use a VS Addin that was made for VS 2008.

Even with the new folder added, it wasn't picking it up in vs 2010.

By making a copy of the vs addin, and editing the .addin file, changing 9.0 to - you guessed it... 10.0... it works :) lol

Lawren Smith
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    I'm using the VS2015 preview and I wanted to force install a plugin that I can't live without. I had the `vsix` for the plugin, which is just a zip, so based on your answer I extracted it and edited `extension.vsixmanifest` (an XML file) to include `` in ``. Worked like a charm!! Thanks so much :) :) – Martin T. Nov 25 '14 at 13:45
  • Thank you - for your one and only answer, its obviously helped the .Net community:) – Jeremy Thompson Mar 27 '15 at 11:05
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The product didn't come with installation instructions?

It sounds like you can probably just put the files into %DOCUMENTS%/Visual Studio 2010/Add-Ins (where %DOCUMENTS% is your documents folder, where VS likes to shove stuff by default) and reboot VS. But that's just a guess.

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    based on this article, your guess is as good as mine. Unfortunately no cigar: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/19dax6cz.aspx – Jeremy Thompson Jan 11 '11 at 02:22
  • Yeah we should probably add some instructions for this, but for the most part what is listed in this answer is correct except the "default" add-in directory is '%DOCUMENTS%/Visual Studio 2010/Addins' (without the dash) – John Rasch Jan 11 '11 at 23:55
  • @John Rasch - are you sure? if so why doesn't it work? @Mark Hall pointed me to an MZTools article and he even points out there is a bug with incorrect hardcoding... Its such an easy repro. XP sp3, vs2010, the SmartPaster Addin. I'm tempted to repro this at home and put it on connect.microsoft.com – Jeremy Thompson Jan 12 '11 at 00:07
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    @Jeremy - interesting, I just copied it into the `%VSMYDOCUMENTS%\AddIns` directory at home (Win7 Ultimate, VS2010 Ultimate) and it worked fine - I'm interested to see if it works on your home machine now! – John Rasch Jan 12 '11 at 03:07
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    I get that you told us what you mean by `%DOCUMENTS%` -- but it's not a real environment variable (not one that exists by default anyway) -- please don't just make things up, instead please just write it out. – BrainSlugs83 Sep 06 '14 at 07:29