0

I'm trying to host an Excel add-in.

I have a few questions:

  1. Do I need a domain for that, or can I use an IP address? I assume I have to use a domain since I need HTTPS.
  2. Should a domain be a separate domain for hosting add-in, and not this where I host a website? What is a good practice?
  3. Do you know any free Excel (or Word, etc) plugin where I can download a manifest file from a website and sideload it from a directory? I can't find any.

Thanks.

Tomasz Decker
  • 114
  • 2
  • 14

1 Answers1

1

Here is what MS states for that:

  1. While not strictly required in all add-in scenarios, using an HTTPS endpoint for your add-in is strongly recommended. Add-ins that are not SSL-secured (HTTPS) generate unsecure content warnings and errors during use. If you plan to run your add-in in Office on the web or publish your add-in to AppSource, it must be SSL-secured. If your add-in accesses external data and services, it should be SSL-secured to protect data in transit. Self-signed certificates can be used for development and testing, so long as the certificate is trusted on the local machine.

  2. It is up to you. For all types of add-ins (content, Outlook, and task pane add-ins and add-in commands), you need to deploy your add-in's webpage files to a web server, or web hosting service, such as Microsoft Azure. For content and task pane add-ins, in the supported Office client applications - Excel, PowerPoint, Project, or Word - you also need either an app catalog on SharePoint to upload the add-in's XML manifest file, or you need to deploy the add-in using Centralized Deployment. To test and run an Outlook add-in, the user's Outlook email account must reside on Exchange 2013 or later, which is available through Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, or through an on-premises installation. The user or administrator installs manifest files for Outlook add-ins on that server.

  3. When a user acquires an Office Add-in from the store (for Windows Desktop version of Office), a copy of the add-in manifest file is cached locally. The manifests can be found in the following place:

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\{some-guid}\{opaque-hash}\Manifests\AppId_{version-number}

So, after installing any add-in from the store you can find a corresponding manifest file locally.

Eugene Astafiev
  • 47,483
  • 3
  • 24
  • 45
  • Thanks. When I host an add-in on a web server, can I have a manifest file as a download link on my website? Do users have to sideload that manifest file from a catalog in order to use it? I want to use it as a form of promotion, so I don't want to add it to MS Store. – Tomasz Decker May 31 '21 at 17:34
  • It is up to you. You can provide the manifest file to users in the way you like. – Eugene Astafiev May 31 '21 at 17:40