Manage the App Catalog in SharePoint Server
APPLIES TO: 
2013 2016 2019 Subscription Edition 
SharePoint in Microsoft 365
You can store apps for SharePoint and Office apps for your organization's internal use in an App Catalog site. This article contains an overview of the App Catalog site and shows how to configure the App Catalog for a web application.
Be sure you've configured your SharePoint environment to support apps before getting started.
Configure the App Catalog site for a web application
The App Catalog site is a special site collection. Because an App Catalog is scoped to a web application, all apps that you want to make available for a web application have to be in the App Catalog site collection for that web application.
When you create an App Catalog site, you get two libraries for apps:
Apps for SharePoint
Apps for Office
You create the App Catalog site collection from SharePoint Central Administration.
To create an App Catalog site collection for a web application
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm administrators group.
In Central Administration, on the Apps page, in the App Management section, click Manage App Catalog.
If no App Catalog exists for the farm, the Web Application page opens, so you can select a web application.
On the Web Application page, select the web application for which you want to create a catalog.
In the App Catalog Site section, select Create a new app catalog site, and then click OK.
On the Create App Catalog page, in the Title box, type a title for the App Catalog site.
In the Description box, type the description for the site.
In the URL box, fill in the URL to use for the site.
In the Primary Site Collection Administrator section, in the User Name box, type the user who will manage the catalog.
Only one user name can be entered. Security groups are not allowed.
In the End Users section, in the Users/Groupsbox, type the names of the users or groups that you want to be able to browse the catalog.
Added users or groups have read access to the App Catalog site. You can add multiple user names and security groups. Users must be added as End Users to be able to browse the App Catalog from their site collections.
In the Select a quota template list box, select the quota template to use for the site.
Click OK.
Once the site has been created, a link to it is available on the Manage App Catalog page in Central Administration.
Configure app requests
By default, site owners can purchase and download apps from the SharePoint Store. If you don't want site owners to be able to purchase apps directly, you can configure the SharePoint Store settings in Central Administration to only allow site owners to request apps. Apps can then be approved or denied by the App Catalog administrator.
To configure app requests in the SharePoint Store settings
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group.
In Central Administration, on the Apps page, in the SharePoint and Office Store section, click Configure Store Settings.
On the SharePoint Store Settings page, verify that the selected web application is the web application that you want to configure.
If you want to switch to a different web application, click the down arrow next to the web application URL to change to a different web application.
To allow or prevent purchases, select an option for Should end users be able to get apps from the SharePoint Store?
Select Yes to allow site owners to purchase apps.
Select No to prevent purchases but allow users to request apps.
- To allow or prevent apps for Office from the Office Store to be started when a user opens a document in the browser, select an option for Should apps for Office from the store be able to start when documents are opened in the browser?
Select Yes to allow apps for Office from the Office Store to start.
Select No to prevent apps for Office from the Office Store from starting.
- Click OK.
Manage app requests
When site owners request an app for SharePoint from the SharePoint Store, they can request a specific number of licenses and provide a justification for the purchase of the app for SharePoint. Submitted requests are added to the App Requests list in the App Catalog of the web application that contains a user's site collection. The app request includes the following fields:
Requested by The user name of the person requesting the app for SharePoint.
Title The title of the app for SharePoint.
Seats and Site License The number of licenses the user requested for that app for SharePoint.
Justification The reason why the app for SharePoint would be useful for the organization.
Status By default, the status is set to New for new requests. The person who reviews the request can change the status to Pending, Approved, Declined, Withdrawn, Closed as Approved, or Closed as Declined.
View App Details A link to the app details page in the SharePoint Store.
Approver Comments The person who reviews the request can add comments for the requestor.
To view and manage app requests
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the site Owners or Designers group for the App Catalog.
On the App Catalog site, click the App Requests list.
Select a request in the list, and then click the Edit button.
Review the details of the request.
Change the Status to the appropriate value - Approved if you want to user to be able to purchase the app, or Declined if you do not want to allow the app to be purchased.
Add any comments in the Approver Comments box, and then click Save.
To view a request, requestors can go to the Add an App page in their site collection, and then click Your Requests.
Add apps to the App Catalog
After you have configured the App Catalog, you can add apps that users can then install to their SharePoint sites or use in their Office documents.
To add an app to the App Catalog
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the site Owners or Designers group for the App Catalog (site collection administrator for SharePoint Server 2019).
On the App Catalog site, click the Apps for SharePoint list.
On the Apps for SharePoint page, click new item.
In the Choose a file box, click Browse, and then locate the folder that contains the app that you want to upload.
Tip
You can also click Upload files using Windows Explorer instead to drag and drop an app for SharePoint into the App Catalog.
Select the app, and then click Open.
Click OK to upload the app.
In the Item details box, verify the Name, Title, Short Description, Icon URL, and other settings for the app.
Be sure that the Enabled check box is selected so that users can see the app in their sites.
You can select the Featured check box to list the app in the Featured content view of the App Catalog.
Click Save.
You can also categorize apps in the App Catalog. To add categories, edit the Category field for the App Catalog list and add the category names you want to use.
Remove apps from the App Catalog
If you no longer want to offer a particular app to your users, you can remove it from the App Catalog. Removal does not uninstall or remove the app from sites to which it has been added. It merely removes the app from the App Catalog, and users cannot add the app to other sites.
To remove an app from the App Catalog
Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the site Owners or Designers group for the App Catalog (site collection administrator for SharePoint Server 2019).
On the App Catalog site, click the Apps for SharePoint list.
On the Apps for SharePoint page, select the app that you want to remove.
In the ribbon, on the Files tab, click Delete Document to remove the app.
In the dialog, click OK to confirm that you want to send the item to the site Recycle Bin.
The app is removed.