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I am developing an Outlook add-in where I need to know what is the client release version like 2013, 2016, 2019, 365 etc.

While I can get client version using Office.context.mailbox.diagnostics.hostVersion but it returns version like 15.0.468.0. I want to know is there any way to get versions like 2013, 2016 etc or is there any way to get that from client version 15.0.468.0?

Irfan Alam
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  • You may be able to distinguish earlier versions this way (ie Outlook 2013) but I don’t believe there is a reliable or supported way of doing this in add-ins that would be future-proof. You could make a feature request with the reasons why apps in general need to do this. Perhaps this third party article may help if you are trying to distinguish current versions: https://www.msoutlook.info/question/200 . – Brian Clink Mar 24 '20 at 16:36
  • Thank you for the info but when I go to the said link, there is confusion between 2016 and 2019 versions. The said version for Outlook 2016 is the range 16.0.4229.1003 but when going to this link https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/officeupdates/release-notes-office-2016-mac the versions are from 16.16.2 -> 16.16.20 – Irfan Alam Mar 25 '20 at 07:15
  • The problem is that any answer here will not be future proof, so others who are looking to do the same thing will probably get dated information. – Brian Clink Mar 25 '20 at 17:59
  • Could you please share your scenario around figuring out client release versions like 2013/2016? In other words, how do you plan to use this information or the use case you're trying to target. – Outlook Add-ins Team - MSFT Mar 27 '20 at 02:50
  • @OutlookAdd-insTeam-MSFT We have Outlook add-in where sometimes people encounter some issue which we are unable to reproduce on our Outlook client. We thought of storing client version also so that it would be easy for us to debug. If we get info like 2013, 2016 etc it would be easy for us to check on that version and will be good for us to create a doc for our user to check for most commonly issue – Irfan Alam Mar 27 '20 at 07:19
  • @OutlookAdd-insTeam-MSFT If we can't get that info from office.js, is there a way or link or any doc to find out what is the release version like 2013, 2016 etc from client version 16.16.0.2 – Irfan Alam Mar 27 '20 at 07:21
  • What you could do is first use Office.context.diagnostics for the build number and the platform. If Office.context.diagnostics is missing, use Office.context.mailbox.diagnostics for the build number and the platform. Then use this information to look in the following links to figure out the Office Version: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office365-proplus-by-date https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-2013 – Outlook Add-ins Team - MSFT Mar 27 '20 at 23:39

1 Answers1

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For your scenario of using the client version to diagnose customer issues, I would recommended logging both the platform and the Outlook version.

Please use the Office.context.diagnostics.platform API to get the host platform. The version number can be retrieved from the Office.context.diagnostics.version API.

With the version number and platform (i.e. PC, Mac, or OfficeOnline) in hand, the Outlook release can be identified using the update history for each Outlook application. For example:

Outlook on Windows

Outlook on Mac

Outlook on the web (on-premise)

Outlook Add-ins Team - MSFT
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