Free and Open-Source Add-in Manager – Disable Revit Add-ins from Loading

Sometimes you might want to stop Revit add-ins from loading. The obvious reason is if you use them infrequently and simply want to clean up the interface. Another reason might be to diagnose Revit software problems by returning Revit to a "safe mode" if you will.

Recently we here at Revit Add-ons presented a session titled "Essential Revit Add-ons." To do so, we installed about a dozen add-ins. There were some negative effects: Revit sometimes stopped responding momentarily, and Excel would not respond when files were opened from Windows Explorer with a double-click. Because these problems weren't occurring previously, it's likely that they were caused by one or more of the freshly installed add-ins. But which one(s)? With the free and open-source Add-in Manager from Stantec, each add-in could quickly be tested by disabling the others from loading.

From the Stantec blog:

Ladies and gentleman, I give you “Add-in Manager,” which acts as a safe mode for Revit. This ridiculously simple tool requires no installation.

Here’s how to get it up and running on your machine:

1. Download the tool from Bitbucket here.
2. Find where you downloaded the zip file and unzip it.
3. When unzipped, there will be a BIN folder; browse into the BIN folder then the Debug sub-folder.
4. Run the tool by double-clicking on the exe file.
5. In the window that opens, pick your version of Revit (or go with all if you like).
6. The data grid will update to display all of the machine wide and the logged in user specific add-ins installed. You can pick and choose, invert, select all, then simply click on the “Enable/Disable” button to either enable or disable the selected add-ins.
7. Once you’ve made your choices, start Revit in the normal manner. Simple and easy.

Here’s what the Add-in Manager shows you:

The Add-in Manager renames the *.addin file(s) so you can manually take charge any time you like. The download also includes the full source code. You’re welcome to do what you want, fork the code, make it your own, and even give back yourself.

I hope you find this tool useful and that you appreciate our willingness to contribute to the larger design technology community.

The free and open-source Add-in Manager is brought to you by Stantec.

The original post announcing the Add-in Manager may be read on the Stantec blog.