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Requirements for running Office Add-ins

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This article describes the software and device requirements for running Office Add-ins.

Note

If you plan to publish your add-in to AppSource and make it available within the Office experience, make sure that you conform to the Commercial marketplace certification policies. For example, to pass validation, your add-in must work across all platforms that support the methods that you define (for more information, see section 1120.3 and the Office Add-in application and availability page).

For a high-level view of where Office Add-ins are currently supported, see Office client application and platform availability for Office Add-ins.

Server requirements

To be able to install and run any Office Add-in, you first need to deploy the manifest and webpage files for the UI and code of your add-in to the appropriate server locations.

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.

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.

Tip

When you develop and debug an add-in in Visual Studio, Visual Studio deploys and runs your add-in's webpage files locally with IIS Express, and doesn't require an additional web server.

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-formatted add-in only manifest file, or you need to deploy the add-in using Integrated Apps.

To test and run an Outlook add-in, the user's Outlook email account must reside on Exchange 2016 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.

Note

POP and IMAP email accounts in Outlook don't support Office Add-ins.

Client requirements: Windows desktop and tablet

The following software is required for developing an Office Add-in for the supported Office desktop clients or web clients that run on Windows-based desktop, laptop, or tablet devices.

  • For Windows x86 and x64 desktops, and tablets such as Surface Pro:

    • The 32- or 64-bit version of Office 2016 or a later version, running on Windows 7 or a later version.
    • Excel 2016, Outlook 2016, PowerPoint 2016, Project Professional 2016, Project 2016, Word 2016, or a later version of the Office client, if you're testing or running an Office Add-in specifically for one of these Office desktop clients. Office desktop clients can be installed on premises or via Click-to-Run on the client computer.

    If you have a valid Microsoft 365 subscription and you don't have access to the Office client, you can download and install the latest version of Office.

  • Microsoft Edge must be installed, but doesn't have to be the default browser. To support Office Add-ins, the Office client that acts as host uses webview components that are part of Microsoft Edge.

    Note

    • Strictly speaking, it's possible to develop add-ins on a machine that has Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) installed, but not Microsoft Edge. However, IE11 is used to run add-ins only on certain older combinations of Windows and Office versions. See Browsers and webview controls used by Office Add-ins for more details. We don't recommend using such old environments as your primary add-in development environment. However, if you're likely to have customers of your add-in that are working in these older combinations, we recommend that you support the Trident webview that's provided by Internet Explorer. For more information, see Support older Microsoft webviews and Office versions.
    • Internet Explorer's Enhanced Security Configuration (ESC) must be turned off for Office Web Add-ins to work. If you are using a Windows Server computer as your client when developing add-ins, note that ESC is turned on by default in Windows Server.

  • One of the following as the default browser: Internet Explorer 11, or the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari (Mac OS).

  • An HTML and JavaScript editor such as Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio and the Microsoft Developer Tools, or non-Microsoft web development tool.

Client requirements: OS X desktop

Outlook on Mac, which is distributed as part of Microsoft 365, supports Outlook add-ins. Running Outlook add-ins in Outlook on Mac has the same requirements as Outlook on Mac itself: the operating system must be at least OS X v10.10 "Yosemite". Because Outlook on Mac uses WebKit as a layout engine to render the add-in pages, there is no additional browser dependency.

The following are the minimum client versions of Office on Mac that support Office Add-ins.

  • Word version 15.18 (160109)
  • Excel version 15.19 (160206)
  • PowerPoint version 15.24 (160614)

Client requirements: Browser support for Office web clients and SharePoint

Any browser, except Internet Explorer, that supports ECMAScript 5.1, HTML5, and CSS3, such as Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari (Mac OS).

Client requirements: Non-Windows smartphone and tablet

Specifically for Outlook running on smartphones and non-Windows tablet devices, the following software is required for testing and running Outlook add-ins.

Office application Device Operating system Exchange account Mobile browser
Outlook on the web (modern)1
  • iPad 2 or later
  • Android tablets
  • iOS 5 or later
  • Android 4.4 KitKat or later
 On Microsoft 365, Exchange Online
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Chrome
  • Firefox
  • Safari
Outlook on the web (classic)
  • iPhone 4 or later
  • iPad 2 or later
  • iPod Touch 4 or later
  • iOS 5 or later
 On on-premises Exchange Server 2016 or later2
  • Safari
Outlook on Android
  • Android tablets
  • Android smartphones
  • Android 4.4 KitKat or later
 On the latest update of Microsoft 365 Apps for business or Exchange Online Browser not applicable. Use the native app for Android.3
Outlook on iOS
  • iPad tablets
  • iPhone smartphones
  • iOS 11 or later
 On the latest update of Microsoft 365 Apps for business or Exchange Online Browser not applicable. Use the native app for iOS.3

Note

1 Modern Outlook on the web on iPhone and Android smartphones is no longer required or available for testing Outlook add-ins.

2 Add-ins aren't supported in Outlook on Android, on iOS, and modern mobile web with on-premises Exchange accounts.

3 OWA for Android, OWA for iPad, and OWA for iPhone native apps have been deprecated.

Tip

You can distinguish between classic and modern Outlook in a web browser by checking your mailbox toolbar.

modern

The section of the modern Outlook toolbar that says 'Outlook' in blue and white.

classic

The classic Outlook toolbar that says 'Office 365' and 'Outlook' in black and white.

See also