Outlook Add-in

The Outlook add-in puts a Create CoderFlow task button on the email you are reading. It opens a pane in Outlook where you choose an environment, optionally pick a task template, type instructions, and choose which attachments to include. CoderFlow then starts a task with the email and its attachments, and the pane links to it.

The add-in is optional and off by default. Nothing about it appears for users, and none of its pages answer, until an administrator turns it on.

The add-in does not monitor mailboxes. Through the add-in, an email reaches your CoderFlow server only when a user selects Create task for that email. It can read only the message that is open, and only when the user uses it. Microsoft 365 mailbox monitoring is a separate, opt-in environment automation that starts tasks from new mail and follows up on replies.

What the task receives

What	Where
Your instructions, followed by the email's sender, recipients, date, subject and body	The task instructions
The whole email as readable Markdown	outlook-email.md
The original HTML (or plain-text) body	outlook-email-original.html or outlook-email-original.txt
The original message with headers and attachments, if Attach the original message (.eml) was checked	outlook-email.eml
Each attachment you checked	Its own file, with its original name

All of these are task attachments, so they appear on the task page like any other attached file.

The agent is told that the email was written by its sender, not by you. It follows your instructions and treats the email as information about the work, not as instructions to it. If you add no instructions, it works on what the email asks for, within the environment you chose. Text the sender hid with HTML styles is left out of the readable copy, and the task notes how many parts were removed: elements marked hidden or styled display: none, visibility: hidden, opacity: 0, Outlook's mso-hide: all, zero font size, or zero height with hidden overflow. Text that is only colored to blend into its background (white on white, for example) is not detected, so the instruction to treat the email as information still matters. Links to remote images are removed.

Task name

CoderFlow names the task, as it does when you leave the name blank in the Web UI. The server's Utility AI writes a short name from the template you chose, the email's subject and the start of your instructions. The email body is not sent to it. If the Utility AI is not set up, fails or takes more than five seconds, the task is named after the subject, without RE:, FW: or tags such as [EXTERNAL], and after the template's title when you chose one. Like other automatic names, it can be updated during the first few follow-ups (the Auto-update generated names preference), and you can rename the task at any time.

Requirements

• An HTTPS address. Outlook loads add-ins only over HTTPS, so users' computers must reach CoderFlow at an https:// address with a certificate they trust. Set the server's Site URL to that address. Microsoft's servers do not need to reach CoderFlow unless you install the add-in by URL (see below).
• Microsoft 365 mailboxes for organization-wide deployment from the Microsoft 365 admin center. Individual users can also add the add-in themselves for testing.
• Network access to Microsoft's Office.js library. The pane loads Office.js from https://officeapis.public.onecdn.static.microsoft. If your network uses an allow list, allow *.static.microsoft.
• No Microsoft registration. The add-in does not use Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) app registrations, Microsoft Graph or Microsoft Marketplace (AppSource). Users sign in to CoderFlow the same way they normally do.

Supported Outlook versions

Outlook	Supported
New Outlook for Windows	Yes
Outlook on the web	Yes
Classic Outlook for Windows (Microsoft 365)	Yes. Attachments need Version 1910 or later; attaching the original message needs Version 2404 or later.
Outlook for Mac	Yes. Attaching the original message needs the new Outlook for Mac.
Outlook on iOS and Android	No

On older versions the pane still works but says which parts are unavailable, such as attachments or the original message. The task always gets the readable copy of the email.

Turn on the add-in

1. Open Settings → Outlook (the Outlook Add-in panel under Integrations).
2. Turn on Enabled. If people will also install add-ins from other CoderFlow servers, enter a Name in Outlook (see More than one CoderFlow server). Select Save.
3. Check the Manifest address. It is built from the Site URL, or from the address you are using when no Site URL is set. If it is not https://, set the Site URL first; CoderFlow will not offer a manifest Outlook cannot load.
4. Select Download manifest to save coderflow-outlook-addin.xml.

You can also set the OUTLOOK_ADDIN_ENABLED environment variable (true or false) for the server process. While it is set, the switch in Settings shows its value and cannot be changed there.

The manifest is generated for your server. It contains your server's address and an add-in ID that CoderFlow creates the first time you turn the add-in on and then keeps, so a manifest you download later updates the same add-in rather than adding a second one.

Deploy it to your organization

In the Microsoft 365 admin center:

1. Go to Settings → Integrated apps and select Upload custom apps.
2. Choose Office Add-in, then upload the coderflow-outlook-addin.xml file you downloaded.
   • You can provide the manifest URL instead, but only if Microsoft's servers can reach your CoderFlow server. Uploading the file works for internal servers too.
3. Choose who gets the add-in (everyone, specific users or groups), review the permissions, and finish.

It can take up to 24 hours for the button to appear for everyone. The add-in asks for Outlook's read item permission: it can read the message a user has open, and nothing else in the mailbox.

Microsoft documents these steps in Deploy and manage Office Add-ins.

Try it yourself first

To test before deploying, add the manifest to your own mailbox:

1. In Outlook, open aka.ms/olksideload (or Get Add-ins in Outlook on the web and new Outlook).
2. Select My add-ins, then under Custom Addins select Add a custom add-in → Add from File.
3. Choose coderflow-outlook-addin.xml and confirm.

In classic Outlook on Windows it can take a while for a manually added add-in to appear.

Updating the add-in

Most changes reach users automatically, because the pane is served by your CoderFlow server. Download the manifest again and replace it in Integrated apps only when:

• the server's address (Site URL) changes,
• you change the Name in Outlook, or
• a CoderFlow release notes that the Outlook add-in manifest changed.

Outlook replaces an installed add-in only with a manifest that has a higher version, so CoderFlow raises the version each time you change the name. If you added the add-in yourself for testing, remove it under My add-ins and add the new file.

More than one CoderFlow server

Each CoderFlow server has its own add-in. Its manifest names that server's address and an add-in ID of its own, and its pane works only with that server. Signing out and back in does not move the pane to another server.

To create tasks on several servers from one mailbox, install each server's add-in. They appear side by side in Outlook, and users sign in to each one separately.

Give each server its own name so users can tell them apart:

1. On each server, open Settings → Outlook, enter a Name in Outlook such as CoderFlow Presales or CoderFlow Demo (up to 40 characters), and select Save.
2. Download that server's manifest and deploy it as described above.

Outlook shows the name in its add-in list and on the ribbon group, and the button reads Create task on CoderFlow Presales. Without names, every server's add-in is called CoderFlow with a Create CoderFlow task button. The pane always shows the server's address under its heading.

Using the add-in

1. Open an email in Outlook.
2. Select Create CoderFlow task, or Create task on followed by the name your administrator gave the add-in. Depending on your Outlook, it is on the ribbon, under Apps, or in the … menu of the message.
3. The first time, select Sign in to CoderFlow. A CoderFlow window opens; sign in as you normally do (including single sign-on and two-factor authentication), then select Allow. Outlook or your browser may ask you to allow the window first.
4. Choose the Environment. Only environments where you can create tasks are listed; your last choice is remembered.
5. Optionally choose a Template. Templates that need values other than the instructions are listed but can't be selected here; start those from CoderFlow.
6. Type Instructions (optional), such as "Fix the problem the sender describes and add a test."
7. Check the attachments to include and select Create task.

The pane shows Task created with a link that opens the task in CoderFlow. In classic Outlook the link opens in your default browser. You can pin the pane to keep it open while you move between emails.

If the connection drops or the server doesn't answer while you are creating a task, select Create task again without changing anything. The pane resends exactly the same request, and if CoderFlow already created the task it shows that task instead of starting a second one. If you move to another email while the pane is still reading the first one, nothing is sent; select Create task again.

If your sign-in ends while an earlier attempt is still unanswered, sign in again as the same user and select Create task: the pane puts back your earlier choices and checks that same request, so a task CoderFlow already created is shown rather than created again.

Attachments

• Files are included as they are. Up to 20 attachments, 50 MB each and 150 MB for the whole email, can be sent.
• Attached emails are included as .eml files, and attached calendar items as .ics files.
• Inline images (pictures in the message body) can be included like other files. Small ones, usually signature logos, start unchecked.
• Cloud attachments (links to OneDrive or SharePoint files) can't be included. The task gets their names only.
• An attachment Outlook can't read, such as some items attached by drag and drop, is skipped, and the pane says so.

Sign-in and security

• Who can do what. A user creates tasks under their own CoderFlow account and roles. They need permission to create tasks in the environment, as in the web UI.
• Where the email goes. The pane is served by your CoderFlow server and sends the email only to it. Nothing is sent to Profound Logic or to any other service.
• What a sign-in can do. The sign-in saved in Outlook can only list the user's environments and templates and create tasks from emails. It is not an API key and is not accepted anywhere else in CoderFlow. It ends after 30 days without use, after 90 days at most, or when the user selects Sign out in the pane.
• Ending sign-ins. Settings → Outlook shows how many people are signed in from Outlook. Sign out all ends every Outlook sign-in. Turning the add-in off also ends them all.
• Confirming sign-ins. The sign-in window asks the user to confirm with Allow. Users should only allow it right after selecting Sign in to CoderFlow in Outlook.

Troubleshooting

The button doesn't appear

• After deploying from the admin center, allow up to 24 hours.
• Check that the user is in the users or groups the add-in was assigned to in Integrated apps.
• The button appears only when reading an email, not while writing one, and not in Outlook on iOS or Android.

"Outlook loads add-ins only over HTTPS"

The manifest address isn't https://. Set the Site URL to the HTTPS address users reach, then download the manifest again.

The pane is blank or says the add-in is not available

• Check that Settings → Outlook → Enabled is on. While it is off, the pane and manifest return "Not found".
• Check that users' computers can reach the server's HTTPS address and trust its certificate, and that *.static.microsoft is allowed.

The sign-in window doesn't open

Allow the window when Outlook asks. In Outlook on the web, allow pop-ups for Outlook in your browser.

"You cannot create tasks in any CoderFlow environment"

The user has no environment where they may create tasks. Give them a role with the tasks:create permission on an environment, such as Developer (see Users & Roles and Permissions).

"An earlier attempt for this email may already have created a task" or "CoderFlow is still processing this email"

An earlier attempt for this email got no clear answer, so CoderFlow may already have created the task. Check your tasks in CoderFlow. If it isn't there, select Send as a new task to send the email again as a new task.