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Office Timeline tab missing from PowerPoint

Symptoms

After a successful install, the Office Timeline tab (also known as the Office Timeline ribbon) is missing from PowerPoint.

Office Timeline is not supported when PowerPoint runs in administrator mode. If PowerPoint is launched with "Run as administrator," the Office Timeline tab will not appear. This is a known limitation of the current architecture. To use Office Timeline, open PowerPoint in standard (non-administrator) mode. Right-click the PowerPoint shortcut and verify that "Run as administrator" is not checked under Properties > Compatibility.

Overview

Typically, when the Office Timeline ribbon does not appear in PowerPoint (or disappears), the cause is Office Timeline becoming disabled or conflicting with other add-ins.

Solution

Download and install the latest version of Office Timeline by going to www.officetimeline.com/updates. If your Office Timeline ribbon is still missing, try the following steps (A, B, C) in this order:

A) Make sure Office Timeline is enabled and not conflicting with other add-ins:

  1. Open PowerPoint, click File (or the Office button), click Options, and choose Add-Ins on the PowerPoint Options dialog box that opens.

    Add-ins-default.fw

  2. In the details pane, check t Office Timeline appears in the Disabled Application Add-ins list.

    Add-ins-disabled.fw

    If the tool is listed in Disabled Application Add-ins...
    Enable Office Timeline by selecting Disabled Items from the Manage drop-down list and clicking Go.

    Addins-disabled-go
    Then, select Office Timeline from the list of disabled add-ins and click the Enable button.

    Add-ins-disabled-enable.fw

  3. Select COM Add-ins in the Manage drop-down list and click Go.

    Add-ins-com-go.fw

  4. In the COM Add-Ins dialog box, check Office Timeline and uncheck all other add-ins (you can re-enable them one at a time later).

    Select-only-Office-Timeline.fw

  5. Click OK. PowerPoint will add Office Timeline to the ribbon.

If solution A does not work, try solution B next:

B) Check for a conflicting registry entry

If the add-in was previously installed using an older version of Office Timeline, a leftover registry entry may be preventing it from loading.

  1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
  2. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\PowerPoint\Addins\OfficeTimeline
  3. If this key exists and contains a value named Manifest, delete the entire OfficeTimeline key.
  4. Restart PowerPoint.

This entry is left behind when upgrading from an older VSTO-based version of Office Timeline. Removing it resolves a conflict that prevents the current version from loading.

C) Reinstall Office Timeline

  1. Go to Settings > Apps (or Control Panel > Programs and Features) and uninstall Office Timeline.

  2. Download the latest installer from officetimeline.com/updates.
  3. Run the installer. No administrator rights are required.
  4. Open PowerPoint and check whether the Office Timeline tab appears.