Sideload Office Add-ins on Windows from a network share

Use a network share to test an Office Add-in in Office on Windows after localhost testing is complete. In this flow, you place the manifest in a shared folder, trust that folder in Office, and then install the add-in. This deployment option is intended to be used when you've completed development and testing on a localhost and want to test the add-in from a non-local server or cloud account.

This article applies only to testing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Project add-ins and only on Windows. If you want to test on another platform or want to test an Outlook add-in, see one of the following topics to sideload your add-in.

• Sideload Office Add-ins in Office on the web for testing
• Sideload Office Add-ins on Mac for testing
• Sideload Office Add-ins on iPad for testing
• Sideload Outlook add-ins for testing

The following video walks you through the process of sideloading your add-in in Office on the web or desktop using a shared folder catalog.

Share a folder

1. In File Explorer on the Windows computer where you want to host your add-in, go to the parent folder or drive of the folder that you want to use as your shared folder catalog.

2. Open the context menu for the folder you want to use as your shared folder catalog (for example, right-click the folder) and choose Properties.

3. Within the Properties dialog window, open the Sharing tab and then choose the Share button.

   

4. In the Network access dialog window, add yourself and any other users or groups with whom you want to share your add-in. You need at least Read/Write permission to the folder. After you finish choosing people to share with, choose Share.

5. In the Your folder is shared confirmation, note the full network path shown after the folder name. You enter this value as Catalog Url when you specify the shared folder as a trusted catalog. Choose Done to close the Network access dialog window.

   

6. Choose the Close button to close the Properties dialog window.

Specify the shared folder as a trusted catalog

There are two ways to configure this trust. Follow the option that fits your setup.

• Configure the trust manually.
• Configure the trust with a Registry script.

Configure the trust manually

1. Open a new document in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, or Project.

2. Choose the File tab, and then choose Options.

3. Choose Trust Center, and then choose the Trust Center Settings button.

4. Choose Trusted Add-in Catalogs.

5. In the Catalog Url box, enter the full network path to the folder that you shared. If you didn't note the full path earlier, get it from the folder's Properties dialog window, as shown in the following screenshot.

   

6. After you enter the folder path in Catalog Url, choose Add catalog.

7. Select the Show in Menu check box for the newly-added item, and then choose the OK button to close the Trust Center dialog window.

   

8. Choose the OK button to close the Options dialog window.

9. Close and reopen the Office application so your changes will take effect.

Configure the trust with a Registry script

1. In a text editor, create a file named TrustNetworkShareCatalog.reg.

2. Add the following content to the file.

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   
   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\WEF\TrustedCatalogs\{-random-GUID-here-}]
   "Id"="{-random-GUID-here-}"
   "Url"="\\\\-share-\\-folder-"
   "Flags"=dword:00000001
   

3. Use an online GUID generation tool, such as GUID Generator, to generate a random GUID. In TrustNetworkShareCatalog.reg, replace the string -random-GUID-here- in both places with the GUID. Keep the enclosing {} symbols.

4. Replace the Url value with the full network path to the folder that you shared. Any \ characters in the URL must be doubled. If you didn't note the full path earlier, get it from the folder's Properties dialog window, as shown in the following screenshot.

   

5. The file should now look like the following. Save it.

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   
   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\WEF\TrustedCatalogs\{01234567-89ab-cedf-0123-456789abcedf}]
   "Id"="{01234567-89ab-cedf-0123-456789abcedf}"
   "Url"="\\\\TestServer\\OfficeAddinManifests"
   "Flags"=dword:00000001
   

6. Close all Office applications.

7. Run TrustNetworkShareCatalog.reg just as you would any executable, such as by double-clicking it.

Sideload your add-in

1. Put the add-in manifest XML file in the shared folder catalog. Deploy the web application itself to a web server, and make sure the manifest's <SourceLocation> element points to that web app URL.

   Important

   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 Microsoft Marketplace, 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.

   Note

   For Visual Studio projects, use the manifest built by the project in the {projectfolder}\bin\Debug\OfficeAppManifests folder.

2. In Excel, Word, or PowerPoint, select Home > Add-ins from the ribbon, then select Advanced. In Project, select My Add-ins on the Project tab of the ribbon.

3. Choose SHARED FOLDER at the top of the Office Add-ins dialog box.

4. Select the name of the add-in and choose Add to insert the add-in.

Remove a sideloaded add-in

You can remove a previously sideloaded add-in by clearing the Office cache on your computer. Details on how to clear the cache on Windows can be found in the article Clear the Office cache.

See also

• Validate an Office Add-in's manifest
• Clear the Office cache
• Publish your Office Add-in