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How to force Microsoft Office Addin to use Edge Webview2 runtime

I read this nice article from Microsoft explaining how the Addin runtime works.

I am using Windows 10 Enterprise and the system has already Microsoft Edge WebView2:

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My Office 365 version is 16.0.13801.20442 32-bit and hence it is Microsoft 365 ver. >= 16.0.13530.20424, which according to this table would force the Addin to use Microsoft Edge with WebView2.

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But it is not using it. It is using the legacy EdgeHTML runtime

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TLDR

If these 2 conditions are met:

  • Microsoft 365 ver. >= 16.0.13530.20424
  • Edge WebView2 installed

Why the runtime of Addin is the old EdgeHTML?

Solution

  • This blog post may have the answer Understanding the Office Add-ins runtime. Scroll down to this note:

    Note: Customers on the Semi-Annual Enterprise channel of Office can expect to receive version Version 2102 in July 2021. Admins at these customers will need to take an additional step to enable the use of WebView2. They must create the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\WEF\Win32WebView2 and set its value to dword:00000001.