Word programming: _Application.AddIns collection always empty

[genossa]

Hello everyone!

I'm trying to enumerate installed Word add-ins from external .NET application, but the _Application.AddIns collection always contains 0 elements(it is empty). I definitely have a bunch of add-ins installed for MS Word both COM and document-level. It can be seen from the Word Add-in manager as well as from the registry (for COM add-ins).

Here's the code I use to do the trick:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
  Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application WordApp = null;
  try 
  {
    WordApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();
    //Do we really need this ?
    /*WordApp.Visible = true;
    WordApp.Activate();*/
    int count = WordApp.AddIns.Count;
    System.Console.WriteLine("Count of installed Word add-ins is ", count);
  } 
  catch (COMException ex) 
  {
    System.Console.WriteLine("Failed to obtain list of installed add-ins");
  }
  finally
  {
    if (WordApp != null)
    {
      object saveChanges = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdSaveOptions.wdDoNotSaveChanges;
      object format = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdOriginalFormat.wdWordDocument;
      object routeDocument = null;
      WordApp.Quit(ref saveChanges, ref format, ref routeDocument);
    }
  }
}

I'd very much appreciate any ideas on why this is happening. Thanks a lot!