Word add-in for Word desktop(win + macOS) only. How to deal with Word online? Especially in validation

1
votes

Firstly

I noticed a question Office add-in for Word desktop only, which is very helpful.

And I found these code can distinguish the hosts:

if (Microsoft.Office.WebExtension.context.document instanceof OSF.DDA.WordWebApp) {
    // App running on the web
} if (Microsoft.Office.WebExtension.context.document instanceof OSF.DDA.WordDocument) {
    // App running in desktop
}

Secondly

From that answer, I know that I can't make add-in available only for Desktop version via manifest.

But when I submitted in https://sellerdashboard.microsoft.com, it said the add-in must support these platforms:

  • Word 2016 or later
  • Word Online
  • Word 2016 for Mac
  • Word for iPad

Thirdly

I don't need to support Word online. In the past few validations, there're always questions in Word online. Somehow I don't know the reason. And Word online (or one drive) page can not be opened well in my area (loading and loading and loading ...).

Finally

I want to know if I only shows a not supported page in Word online, will it pass the validation? Or I will get this again? Any advice?

Your app or add-in must be fully functional with the supported operating systems, browsers, and devices for Office 2013, Office 2016, SharePoint 2013, and Office 365.

Edit

OK, in consideration of the comments, I must edit this question.

The last validation said that:

We encountered an error in Word Online, when using your add-in in Internet Explorer 11 (Version: 11.0.9600) on Windows 7. We encountered the following “This page can’t be displayed” error after clicking login with the provided credential.

But we cannot open Word Online via IE11 on Windows 7 (or 10) because the above reasons. Therefor I cannot address where the bug is. So we decided not to support online. And shows a page shows that We are not support Word Online when the add-in opened in Word online.

Is that OK? What I can do to fix this?

Thanks for the comments.

1
office-jsoffice-addins
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because we are not customer support for your favorite company. Direct support questions to that company via their web site instead. Microsoft can provide you with information regarding submissions to their store and whether something will pass validation or not. We are not Microsoft. Guidelines for this site can be found in the help center. - Ken White
OK, I came here to ask this, because someone suggested me to in github. If this question is kind of off-topic then I will answer it myself when I find a solution. Maybe some one need it too. - Zhili
someone in github doesn't set the site guidelines here. Stack Overflow does. Read the links I provided for you in my previous comment. - Ken White
Rather than asking if "x will pass validation", try asking about the issues raised during validation. Stack Overflow can help you solve problems with your code, it can't help with the vast array of validation policies imposed by various stores/catalogs. After all, the goal should be to fix the bugs in your code rather than simply subverting a platform's requirements. - Marc LaFleur

1 Answers

2
votes

There isn't a way to drop support for Word Online for add-ins submitted to the Store.

I would recommend investigating to see what the actual problem is - why can't the add-in work in Word Online? If it's some bug with the add-ins platform, please let us know. (Debugging might be slow, unfortunately, if your internet connection makes it difficult for you to access Word Online).

If the issue is only with a specific browser (eg. Internet Explorer 11), then you may be able to debug more easily by making a regular web-page version of your code that runs in a regular iframe independently of Office (and doesn't depend on the Office APIs).

If you do happen to find some unexpected platform bug preventing your add-in from working in Word Online and you're waiting for Office to fix the bug, I would recommend building a "reduced-functionality" version of your add-in. Think creatively about how you could offer a slightly-less-functional version of the same add-in - perhaps you could write a version that has some of the options turned off, for example.