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ms-wordoffice-jsoffice-store

For add-ins that support "Word 2016", exactly which versions are supported?

I've got a Word add-in on AppSource. Under "products supported", the AppSource page lists:

  • Word 2016+
  • Word 2016 for Mac
  • Word Online

However, for some versions of Word 2016, people are not able to install it. Here are some examples:

  • It has always worked for Office 365 (this is indicated as Word version 16.31 though it is apparently not Word 2016).
  • It works now for personal Word 2016 (non-subscription) but it didn't about a month ago (a Word upgrade seems to have fixed this).
  • It doesn't work for the latest business Word 2016 (also non-subscription). People get an error saying that the add-in is not supported on their version of Word.

Here is an example error message:

enter image description here

which isn't helpful since the store says it works in Word 2016!

How can I know which versions of Word are actually supported by my add-in?

Is it possible that the add-in can be installed on business non-subscription Word, but that it isn't being installed correctly?

=== UPDATE ===

In case it matters, these are the requirements in my manifest:

<Requirements>
   <Sets DefaultMinVersion="1.1">
      <Set Name="File" MinVersion="1.1"/>
      <Set Name="AddinCommands" MinVersion="1.1"/>
   </Sets>
</Requirements>
Solution

  • I'll present my best understanding based on the comments and answers here. I'll try to update this as I get better info.

    • Office 365 Word (aka subscription word) -- Supports all add ins because Office 365 Word is updated frequently. It would be great if the AppSource page listed Office 365 Word as a supported platform to avoid confusion.
    • Personal Word 2016 (aka non-subscription Word) -- Supports my add-in with the two requirements in the original question. The Microsoft docs here are incorrect since that page says that the AddInCommands 1.1 requirement is supported in Outlook only.
    • Business Word 2016 (aka non-subscription Word)
      • No <Requirements> tag in manifest -- Your add-in can be installed, but functionality is greatly reduced and is a bad UX. It seems that you can't add ribbon buttons. Users need to "Insert" the add-in each time you want to use it which is kind of like installing it.
      • <Set Name="AddinCommands" MinVersion="1.1"/> in manifest -- You can't use the add-in at all.

    The Microsoft folks pointed me to this Microsoft page a few times, but I honestly don't understand what info that page provides about Word 2016. This appears to be the only relevant paragraph:

    The build number for Office 2016 installed via MSI is 16.0.4266.1001. This version only contains the WordApi 1.1 requirement set.

    My add-in does not work on installations of business Word 2016 with a more recent build number.