All the questions/answers I have seen so far are old and do not provide a definitive answer.
Also what can I use locally and what can I use online?
what can I use locally and what can I use online?
You may use your VSTO and VBA add-ins for Office Desktop application on Windows.
Office applications on Web (online) has extensibility via Office.js API. Microsoft current name is "Office Add-ins", you may try them by loading into your Office application (excel) from Office Store. If you want to develop add-in based on this technology I would suggest to start over here: Office Add-ins platform overview. The conception behind of this technology is "build once, use everywhere where Office runs". That means your add-in may work for Office Desktop on Windows, Office Desktop on Mac, Online versions as well as some mobile platforms (subject to availability)
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I want to create an Office Add-In with some HTML + JavaScript for sell in Office Store. And this add-in no need using any server side facilities.
But if I understood https://dev.office.com/getting-started/addins the source files of Add-in must hosted on some Web server.
So main question: can I somehow pack all sources and all resources of Add-in to the output DLL file and push to Office Store only the Manifest and DLL files without any web servers?
I need this for allow users from Office Store, install this Add-in to his Office and let work with it even offline (without internet connection).
Also such configuration a little complicate for reverse Add-in, if someone decide steal my sources and create duplicate of Add-in.
No, it is not possible because office add-in have to be located somewhere. When the user "installs" a web based office addin, in reality he just subscribes to a server where the addin is hosted. Microsoft doesn't host the dlls, (i.e they don't provide a server to run your dll), they just establish a link between the final user and your server via the office store and provide an API to ease interaction.
If you want to build an add-in that can be completely offline, you should look VSTO addins, XLA addin , XLL addins or COM addins. However none of these addins can be published on the office store.
It has been possible to use appcache to make offline webapp add-ins for office 2013 (https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/Apps-for-Office-Enable-bdcb7a2f).
Its unclear whether this works with newer versions of Office.
This is definitely not possible via the Office Store.
I was trying to find a way to publish an outlook add in to office store.
But I found out that we can publish only office apps and not the add ins to the office store.
Hence I wanted to know what is the difference between an office app and an office add in?
And is there an easy way to convert an already built add in to an app?
Or will I have to implement the functionality all over again, while developing the app?
Hence I wanted to know what is the difference between an office app and an office add in?
Not so long ago (at #build2015) MS named Office Apps as "add-ins" as well. Classic Office add-ins are based on the IDTExtensibility2 interface (COM). They can't be run on any device or web browser. Office COM add-ins are for the desktop editions of MS Office (x86 and x64). COM add-ins can be implemented using a wide range of programming languages: from unmanaged C++ or Delphi to managed ones (C#, VB.NET and etc.). On the opposite side Office Apps (also called as add-ins now) are a small web based applications (HTML, CSS, JS) that have a limited access to the object model (typically related to the selection or opened item).
And is there an easy way to convert an already built add in to an app?
No, they are entirely different type of applications.
Or will I have to implement the functionality all over again, while developing the app?
Yes, you need to develop an Office App from the ground.
It is not lear what Office application you are talking about, but in case of Outlook you may find the Selecting an API or technology for developing solutions for Outlook 2013 article in MSDN helpful.
Sorry for the confusion. "Add-in" is just the new name for "App". So, you should be able to publish your add-in (built using HTML and JavaScript) to the Store. This is different from the really old COM add-ins.
Is it possible to use interop dll from Office 2013 in Sharepoint 2010 solutions? I need to use excel in my Sharepoint solution, but on server was installed Office 2013 and i cant chose Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.
Thanks a lot
Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, ASP.NET, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when Office is run in this environment.
If you are building a solution that runs in a server-side context, you should try to use components that have been made safe for unattended execution. Or, you should try to find alternatives that allow at least part of the code to run client-side. If you use an Office application from a server-side solution, the application will lack many of the necessary capabilities to run successfully. Additionally, you will be taking risks with the stability of your overall solution.
You can read more about that in the Considerations for server-side Automation of Office article.
Consider using Open XML SDK or any other third-party components instead.
I have a couple of Excel Add ins. If I move to Office 365, will these add ins be available ? Is there any development support(VSTO) for Office 365 ?
I to have been curious about the answer to this, so went looking online. From the following site, I'd say the answer is no. It looks like developing for Office 365 is more along the lines of SharePoint development.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/donovanf/archive/2011/06/29/office-365-developer-guidance-and-resources.aspx
I have seen advertisements online for products such as this... http://www.ocxt.com/products that look like they could provide a possible solution for taking a vsto application to the web.
I think things have moved on substantially since this question was asked. Microsoft seem to be fully committed to the Add-in approach with Office 2013 and the equivalent VSTO tooling available in VS2012.
The Office Dev Center home page has Office 2013 and VSTO Add-ins written all over it.
This MSDN Blog Post also clearly shows Add-ins are still part of the strategy.
Until the full capabilities of Desktop MS Office are available in a browser, I can't see this situation changing.
If you mean Office 365 installed on client PC then there is no issue with VSTO Add-ins. Our Chem4Word Add-in is using Office 2010 VSTO and happily works with 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, O365.
If you mean Office 365 on-line then you have to redesign them using the Office 365 Javascript API
I have a site developed in Microsoft Office SharePoint server 2007 and I have installed Microsoft office 2010 on my machine. When I try to access excel file stored in document library. It gives me an error saying that it requires a Windows SharePoint Services compatible application.
It was working fine when I have Microsoft office 2007. So I am confused whether SharePoint is compatible with office 2010 or not...?
Thanks
Sachin
Yes it is compatible and it should work. A number of things could be going on.
The OWSSUPP.DLL may not be registered correctly.
You could register it manually or reinstall
If you have the 64 bit version of office there are some known issues opening data in SharePoint.
http://www.knowsharepoint.com/2010/06/sharepoint-datasheet-view-and-office.html
Windows SharePoint Services Support files may not be installed.
in this case install these through Add/Remove programs. It's in the office tools section of the MS Office application.
If you have some applications that were part of Office 2003 or earlier you may need to uninstall them.