Word Plugin Not Loading

When the Pactly Word Plugin doesn’t appear in Word, opens to a blank panel, or won’t sign you in, the cause is almost always one of a handful of things: a stale add-in cache, a missing or disabled add-in, a network rule blocking Pactly, or an unsupported Word version. Work through the symptom that matches yours.

Most loading problems clear with one of these. Try them in order before going further.

• Check your connection. The plugin needs internet access. Confirm you can reach other sites, and that your network isn’t blocking Pactly (see Network and firewall below).
• Fully restart Word. Close every Word window, quit the app completely, then reopen. Add-ins often recover on a clean start.
• Sign out and back in. In the plugin panel, open your profile or avatar, choose Sign Out, close and reopen Word, then sign in again.

If the plugin still won’t load, find your symptom below.

If there’s no Pactly button on the Home tab, the add-in is either not installed or disabled.

Confirm it’s installed. Go to Insert then My Add-ins (or Get Add-ins) and look for Pactly in the list. If it isn’t there, install it by following Installing the Word Plugin. If your organization can’t install from the Microsoft marketplace, use Install the Word Plugin via Manifest File instead.

Re-enable it if Word switched it off. The Pactly plugin is a web add-in, so it’s managed under Insert then My Add-ins, not the COM Add-ins list. If the entry is there but greyed out, select it to re-enable it. If Word has parked it as a disabled item, go to File then Options then Add-ins, pick Disabled Items from the Manage dropdown, click Go, and re-enable Pactly.

Check whether IT manages it for you. If your organization deploys add-ins centrally, go to Insert then My Add-ins then Admin Managed and look for Pactly there. If it’s missing, your IT team controls the rollout, so contact them.

When the panel opens to a white screen or an error, the add-in’s cache or its browser component is usually at fault.

1. Close Word completely.
2. Press Win + R to open Run.
3. Enter %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef and press Enter.
4. Delete the folders inside the Wef folder.
5. Reopen Word.

1. Close Word completely.
2. In Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G.
3. Enter ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Caches and press Go.
4. Delete the folders that start with com.microsoft.
5. Reopen Word.

The plugin renders inside your system’s web component. On Windows, make sure Edge WebView2 is installed and up to date. On Mac, make sure Safari is up to date.

The plugin has to reach Pactly’s app and API. If your network blocks them, the panel won’t load even when the add-in is installed correctly.

Ask your IT team to allow Pactly’s app and API domains through the firewall and any web filter. The plugin loads from app.pactly.ai; if your organization is on a self-hosted (on-premise) deployment, allow the Pactly server your users connect to instead. If you’re unsure which hosts to add, contact support and we’ll confirm the exact list for your deployment.

On a VPN, try disconnecting briefly. If the plugin loads without the VPN, work with IT to allow the Pactly domains through it. Behind a proxy, confirm the proxy is set up correctly in your Windows or Mac settings, and check with IT if you’re unsure.

The plugin needs a recent Word build:

To update Word, open File then Account, click Update Options then Update Now.

If the panel loads but won’t accept your sign-in, the issue is usually your account rather than the add-in. Confirm you can sign in to the Pactly web app in a browser; if you can’t, the problem isn’t specific to Word, so see Login and access issues.

Your Pactly role also has to include Word plugin access. If you sign in to the web app but the plugin still won’t let you in, ask your administrator to confirm your permissions, or see Why can’t this user do X?.

Some loading failures come down to a specific Word build, an org policy, or a bug on our side that these steps can’t clear. If you’ve worked through the relevant section and the plugin still won’t load, contact support, don’t keep retrying the same fix.

Before you reach out, gather:

• Your Word version (File then Account)
• Your operating system version
• A screenshot of any error message
• The steps you’ve already tried

Then email [email protected] with that detail, or use the Contact Support option in the web app. Include your company name and the email on your account.

• Troubleshooting overview: find the right fix for any symptom
• Installing the Word Plugin
• Install the Word Plugin via Manifest File
• Why the Plugin Shows the Wrong Contract
• Login and access issues