Add-In missing in list; despite following all the instructions

[danny.lewisA9QBW]

I can't figure out why my new add-ins aren't showing up in the add-in list for Inventor. I get the add-in showing up and saying that it's blocked by default, but then it doesn't show up in the add-in list. Everything that this help document describes, but none of the solutions fix it: (Add-in is missing in the list of blocked add-ins and in the list of add-ins in Inventor)

I think I've checked everything, but because Inventor doesn't list out anything; I'm flying blind.

I've gotten another add-in to work correctly... but even comparing everything to that: there's nothing different in the settings... but it's not working. (Different GUIDs of course)

I have:
Confirmed that I'm publishing to .NET Framework 4.8:

Publishing to the appropriate Add-in folder: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor Addins\{addin name}

(Note: I've blanked out the 'build events' so it's not making any duplicates of the build files anywhere)

Running Inventor 2024 as the debugger:

Reviewed the contents of the build:

Reviewed the Addin file:

Reviewed the manifest file:

and I've made sure that only the .manifest and the .addin are being "copied if newer" from VS2022 when I do a new run.

I've even gone so far as to just copy the .addin and the .dll to a different computer. I get the add-in showing up in the "we've blocked this" prompt, but it's STILL not showing up in the add-in list.

[JelteDeJong]

You might want to have a look at my blog post "Help: My addin won't load"

Because Inventor is showing you the blocked dialogue, I expect that you copy the files to the correct location. And you already checked a lot of stuff that I would also check. If you don't find any issues using my blog post, then you might want to check if your DLL is working correctly while running out of process. By starting your functions from a separate application. Have a look at this blog post "Debugging without restarting Inventor"

[Curtis_Waguespack]

@danny.lewisA9QBW , I've had issues with spaces in add-in name or add-in folder name, you might try it with no spaces.

example

spaces

no spaces

Hope that helps,

Curtis

[danny.lewisA9QBW]

I tried starting a new project with the name 'Point_Cloud_Tools' and that seemed to work, but it still leaves me scratching my head as to why the others won't show up.

hmm... I then had a look at the location and noticed it was coming from the 'user roaming' and was also being copied to the ProgramData location; I thought this would NOT make it work. I then deleted the user/roaming location files and it pointed to the programdata files (just re-running Inventor, not running it through VS2022).

I removed the build functions that created the user/roaming files and ran Inventor through the debugger.... everything seemed to work fine, but I still don't know why my other ones are broken.

So then I tried another project that I had started. It ONLY exists in the ProgramData>Autodesk>Inventor Addins folder; but still won't show up on the add-in list.

[danny.lewisA9QBW]

alright... another piece to the puzzle.
I moved both of the add-ins over to a new computer so that I could be 100% sure that there wasn't any vestigial remnants of a past build that was causing issues.

The Point_Cloud_Tools showed up, but the DSL_CustomBrowswerNodes did not. I think that pretty much points to the contents of the add-ins being the problem (attached for your reference).

If you're wondering; I also removed the absolute path from the DSL CustomBrowswerNodes.addin.... still didn't work.

[JelteDeJong]

I did have a look at your .addin files. I noticed the following:

I expect that that is not the correct location of the dll.

I would remove the full path and only use the DLL file name. (Then you need to make sure the DLL is in the same directory as your .addin file)

[danny.lewisA9QBW]

I already deleted that and checked... no change.

[danny.lewisA9QBW]

I have an 'acceptable' work around now:

• I create a new add-in per the SKD tool in VS2022
• Give it a name with "_" instead of spaces
• Set the .addin/.manifest to "Copy if newer"
• Set the target framwork to 4.8
• Set the output path to C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor Addins\{Addin Name}
• scroll down on compile, click 'Build Events' and delete everything in there
• set my debug to start up C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2024\Bin\Inventor.exe
• Put in a small MsgBox("successfully added") into the Private Sub AddToUserInterface()
• Start-up Inventor... unblock the add-in

THEN.... I start programming.

I still think it's BS that I can't figure out why the other programs aren't showing up.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi @danny.lewisA9QBW,

I've tried in the past to fix and add-in I created with spaces in the name/folder and was not successful. It's been too long ago now to remember the details, but the name with spaces was used through out. I don't know what issue spaces in the name or path creates, but it was more than I was interested in working through.

In any case, I just started a new project with no spaces, and copied over my actual code, etc. and moved on. Maybe that would be the path forward for your existing projects too?

Hope that helps,

Curtis

[bradeneuropeArthur]

What version of Inventor are you using?

[danny.lewisA9QBW]

---

@bradeneuropeArthur wrote:

What version of Inventor are you using?

---

Inventor 2024.3.2, but I'm also firing up Inventor 2026 and seeing the same issues.

[JelteDeJong]

Did you try unloading all add-ins and then restarting Inventor? Just to see if the problem addin will load then. 
If it loads there might be a conflict while loading your problem add-in. At least that would give you a direction to look at.

[bradeneuropeArthur]

@

Maybe you should refer to one of your addin conversion tutorial, Jelte!

[jjstr8]

In the files you attached, the dll has no underscore but there is one in the .addin file. It showed up for me once the underscore was added to the dll name.