Windows Security blocks Office Timeline when launching PowerPoint

Symptoms

When trying to launch PowerPoint with Office Timeline, your system blocks it and you get a warning from Windows Security that looks similar to the example below:windows-security-warning-officetimeline

Overview

We have recently implemented in the Office Timeline add-in a communication system that allows us to show pop-up notifications to users from inside the add-in. This helps us announce campaigns, special offers, demos, training sessions and other news that users might find useful.

When this system is active, it runs an external executable (Monitor.exe) whenever Office Timeline is launched, which some security systems may mistake for malware and therefore block the PowerPoint add-in.

Solutions

To solve the issue and stop your system from blocking Office Timeline, please try the following solutions:

A) Create an exception for Office Timeline in your security system

The first and simplest solution is to add an exception for Office Timeline in Windows Security or in the anti-malware system you are using. If this doesn’t work and you are still having trouble launching PowerPoint with Office Timeline, please move to solution B.

B) Disable Office Timeline’s new in-app notification system. 

  1. Open the Windows Registry Editor (simply type “Regedit” in the search bar).

  2. Under HKCU\Software\OfficeTimelineEx, right-click to add a new value and choose “String value” from the menu that pops up.regedit-add-new-string-value

  3. Name the new string as EnableShowInesCampaigns and set its value to False (you can just double-click on the new string to edit the value):enable-show-ines-campaigns-false

    Note:  Setting the “EnableShowInesCampaigns” string to “False” will impact only Basic, Pro and Pro+ licenses. It will not have any effect on the Free or Trial versions of Office Timeline.

If your access to the Registry Editor or HCKU is restricted by corporate policies, please ask your system administrator for help.

Option for system administrators

As a system administrator, you can disable the in-app notifications system by following these steps: in the Registry Editor, under HKLM\Software\OfficeTimeline, add the string value DisableInes and set its value to True.

If you still encounter issues launching Office Timeline after trying the solutions above, don't hesitate to contact us - our support team will be happy to help.