Hey, Where did my Visual Studio Add-In Go? I know I Installed it.

I recently installed the 2005 version of the excellent CopySourceAsHtml Visual Studio Add-in. Then I started up an instance of the IDE, opened a project and …couldn’t find the right click option to copy as HTML. So then I went to Tools -> Add-In Manager and it’s blank! WTF? This is weird. I know I just installed it.

I try repairing the installation, nothing; then I try reinstalling, nope.

Quick! To the web!

It appears Visual Studio has a set list of folders from which it will load add-ins. If your add-in’s path is not on the list, then VS won’t load it. It’s easy to override, as Eric S says in the comments of this post:  

in VS.NET 2005:
1. Go to Tools > Options
2. Under Environment, select “Add-in/Macros Security”
3. Click the “Add…” button
4. Browse to the installation folder (C:\Program Files\J.T. Leigh & Associates\CopySourceAsHtml2005)
5. Click the necessary “OK” buttons
6. Restart VS.NET 2005.

Now I can see the option in the right-click menu.

Now you know.

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