Office.js dialog makes Outlook hang after 5 minute

Question

I'm running a sample Outlook add-in dialog application. It just displays a dialog with 2 buttons, does not have any logic nor it makes any calls to REST service.

If more than 5 minutes elapse before closing the dialog, Outlook's compose frame becomes unresponsive and the user is forced to refresh the entire page

1. Is this behavior expected?
2. Is the timeout configurable?
3. Any recommendations how to handle such situation and provide the best user experience?

Answer 1

From your screenshot and the code you linked to, it looks like you're using an On Send add-in.

Is this behavior expected?

No, the behavior you're seeing is a bug. Specially, OWA shouldn't stop responding after 5 minutes.

Thank you for reporting this issue. We apologize for any frustration or inconvenience we have caused with this issue. Please be patient as we work to fix this issue as quickly as we can.

What is the expected behavior?

For Execute Function add-in commands, the add-in is automatically closed after 5 minutes, if event.completed() hasn't been called before then. Any open dialog is closed at that time.

For On Send add-ins, my understanding is the behavior should be the same as Execute Function, except that the email wouldn't be sent in the case of a timeout.

Is the timeout configurable?

It's not configurable. The 5-minute timeout applies to all Execute Function and On Send add-in commands.

Any recommendations how to handle such situation and provide the best user experience?

For recommendations, assuming that OWA doesn't stop responding, I don't think there is a single best option, and it depends on your On Send scenario.