SharePoint 2016 project templates missing on Visual Studio 2015

imageWhen you open Visual Studio 2015 (with Update 3) on a SharePoint 2016 developer machine, it may occurs that the SP 2016 templates are missing (it displays only SP 2010 and 2013 templates). In that case, don’t panic ! Just follow the following process :

  1. If you don’t have a version of Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2015, download “Microsoft Office Developer Tools Preview 2 for Visual Studio 2015” with the following link : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51683  (don’t go to aka.ms/officedevtoolsforvs2015 , the link is broken)
  2. Install the Microsoft Office Developer Tools Preview 2 for Visual Studio 2015 on your machine
  3. Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features
  4. Uninstall SharePoint Client Components (with the version number 16.0.xxx)
  5. Download the SharePoint Server 2016 Client Components SDK from www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51679
  6. Start developing your successful SharePoint Addins !