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If your users currently see the Draftable COM add-ins in their Office ribbon and you want to standardise on the modern JavaScript add-ins, this article is the process for doing it cleanly.
This article covers one direction only: moving from the COM add-ins to the JavaScript add-ins. If you need to go the other way, contact Draftable Support so we can advise on your specific environment.New to the distinction between the two? Start with COM add-ins vs JavaScript add-ins.

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Why you would do this

Running both generations at once is supported, but it leaves Word and Outlook showing two separate Draftable entry points with different capabilities behind each and nothing to tell them apart. Consolidating removes that ambiguity, and moves your estate onto the add-ins that update centrally and receive new capability.

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Before you start

1

Confirm you can deploy to your tenant

You need Microsoft 365 Global Administrator rights, or equivalent permission to use Integrated apps in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
2

Confirm endpoints can reach dl.draftable.com

The JavaScript add-in manifests and runtime are served from dl.draftable.com. If your web filter or proxy blocks it, deployment will fail validation and the add-ins will not load. Check this before you disable anything.
3

Check your desktop version

Each JavaScript add-in states a minimum Draftable Legal desktop version in its installation article. Confirm your fleet meets it, and upgrade first if not.
4

Decide which add-ins replace what

Map each COM workflow your users rely on to its replacement so nobody loses a workflow mid-migration:
Deploy the replacements before you disable the COM add-ins. The order matters: disabling first leaves users with no Draftable entry point in Office until central deployment propagates, which can take up to 24 hours.

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Step 1: Deploy the JavaScript add-ins

Deploy the add-ins you selected above through the Microsoft 365 admin center. Each has its own installation article with the manifest URL and the exact admin center steps: Allow up to 24 hours for the deployment to reach every user, then confirm with a sample of users that the add-in appears and works before continuing.

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Step 2: Stop the COM add-ins reinstalling themselves

This is the step most migrations get wrong. The Draftable Legal desktop application checks three settings each time it launches and reinstalls any enabled COM add-in it finds missing. Until you set these to 0, anything you remove in Step 3 comes straight back on next launch. All three live in the Draftable Feature namespace:
The Word add-in has a working Group Policy setting. In the Draftable Legal administrative template, set:Enable VSTO Add-In (Word) → DisabledThat writes:
You can also write the value directly if you prefer to deploy registry items rather than policy.
Do not rely on the Enable VSTO Add-In (Outlook) Group Policy setting for this. In the current shipping template (26.8.000) that policy writes the value name OutlookVstoAddInEnabled, while the application reads OutlookVstoAddInEnabledSetting. Setting the policy to Disabled will appear to apply and the Outlook add-in will keep reinstalling.
Write the value the application actually reads, using a Group Policy Preferences registry item, an Intune configuration profile, or your deployment tooling:
Note the Setting suffix. It is easy to miss and it is the difference between the change taking effect and doing nothing.
There is no Group Policy setting for the Excel add-in in the administrative template. Write the value directly:
Draftable resolves settings in the order HKCU policy → HKLM policy → HKCU user, so a value written under HKLM:\Software\Policies\Draftable\Feature also works and applies to every user on the machine. Use it where you are configuring shared or non-persistent machines.

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Step 3: Remove the COM add-ins already installed

Setting those values to 0 stops Draftable installing or upgrading the COM add-ins. It does not remove an add-in that is already registered on a machine — those users keep their existing Draftable ribbon tab until it is removed. You have three ways to clear them:
Suitable for a small number of users, or for testing before a fleet-wide change.
1
In Word, Outlook or Excel, go to File → Options.
2
Select Add-ins, choose COM Add-ins in the Manage dropdown at the bottom, and click Go.
3
Clear the checkbox for the Draftable Add-in and click OK. To remove the registration entirely rather than just unload it, select it and click Remove.
The same dialog is used in reverse in How to re-enable Draftable Word Add-in, which is useful if you need to undo this on a machine.
Each COM add-in is registered as a registry key named after the add-in, under the Office application’s Addins key. Deleting the key unregisters the add-in from that host application:
Two things to watch:
  • On a 64-bit version of Windows running 32-bit Office, the keys sit under Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\... instead.
  • Where Draftable was installed machine-wide with the MSI, the registration may be under HKLM rather than HKCU. Check both.
Complete Step 2 first. If the Feature values are still set to 1, the next launch of Draftable Legal will simply recreate these keys.
Uninstalling the Draftable Legal desktop application removes the Word and Outlook COM add-in registrations as part of its clean-up. If you are rebuilding or repackaging endpoints anyway, that handles those two for you.Be aware that this clean-up covers Word and Outlook only — an Excel add-in registration can be left behind, so check for the Excel key above on machines where the Excel add-in had been installed.

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Step 4: Verify

1

Check a sample of user machines

Open Word, Outlook and Excel. The old Draftable COM ribbon tab should be gone, and the JavaScript add-in should be present — under the Home tab, or in My Add-ins, depending on your Office version.
2

Relaunch Draftable Legal and check again

This is the test that proves Step 2 worked. Close and reopen the desktop application, then reopen the Office applications. If the COM tab has reappeared, one of the three Feature values did not apply — the Outlook Setting suffix is the usual culprit.
3

Confirm the desktop app agrees

In Draftable Legal, open Settings and select the Integrations tab. It reports which add-ins are installed and at what version, so you can confirm the state of the machine without going through each Office application.

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If you need to roll back

Set the three Feature values back to 1, or remove them so the defaults apply, then relaunch Draftable Legal. It reinstalls the COM add-ins for the current user at launch. Users already have the JavaScript add-ins at that point, so remove those from Integrated apps in the Microsoft 365 admin center if you want to return to a single entry point.