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Developing Cross Platform MS Office Add-in to support both Desktop and Mobile Devices

In earlier times, you would use COM Add-in or VSTO Add-in SDK to develop an Add-in for Office Applications such as Word, Powerpoint, Excel or Outlook. Custom Add-in Developed using COM and VSTO Add-in SDK would only support Windows Desktop Environment and only work with Desktop Versions of Office Applications. Microsoft has come up with a new app model that enables developers to develop Add-ins for Office Applications using web technologies. This SDK is called Web Apps SDK for Office.

Custom Add-ins Developed for Office 365 using Apps For Office SDK works with both the web versions of Office Tools and Desktop Versions of Office Tools. These Add-ins also support Mac Environment and Office Apps running on smartphones and tablets. Using Office 365 Apps SDK you not only get the opportunity to enhance the features in Office Applications but also enhance Office 365 user experience.

• More Platforms Supported : Add-ins Developed using Apps SDK support Office applications running on Windows, Mac, Web Browser, Android, iOS and iPad.

• Use of Web Technologies : Add-ins are developed using web technologies such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS3 and XML. This attracts more developers to develop such Add-ins for Office Applications.

• Marketplace from Microsoft: Microsoft has launched a marketplace to host the Add-in from third party developers which users can search and install without hassle in their office applications

• Enterprise Wide Install: Add-ins can be installed by an administrator across all users using office 365 applications. This makes the process of deploying enterprise wide add-ins very easy.

• Add Rich Objects : Create new rich, interactive objects that can be embedded in Office documents - Embed maps, charts, and interactive visualizations that users can add to their own Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.

• Create rich User Interface Elements: You can create a rich user interface to augment existing user interfaces of office 365 applications by leveraging the capability of web technologies and modern Web Controls, CSS3 and JavaScript Frameworks.

There are few pitfalls to using Apps SDK for Office 365. The major disadvantage being the current scope of available API in Apps SDK is limited compared to the control you get with COM Add-in SDK, hence you can do more. Another limitation, which should not affect many users is backward compatibility which is limited to Office 2013 Version with Apps SDK of office 365.