Adding custom Add-in in Outlook Desktop Application This section outlines the steps required to manually add the add-in to Microsoft Outlook. You can add the add-in to the Outlook Desktop application using the downloaded xml file. Steps Open the new Microsoft Outlook 2016. Go to new Email and then click Apps. Click Get add-ins. Click My add-ins. Click Add a custom add-in and then click Add from File. Select the downloaded xml file. Click Install. Add-in should be added to the account.