Sharing Excel Workbooks dependent on Add-ins can cause irrecoverable corruption
Requirement: If an Add-in is present in a workbook, and it is shared with a user who does not have the add-in installed, that user should be prompted to install it.
You can https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/develop/automatically-open-a-task-pane-with-a-document#tag-the-document-on-the-client-side using the Excel API but this does not address the requirement.
Currently, there is no way to achieve this without https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/develop/automatically-open-a-task-pane-with-a-document#use-open-xml-to-tag-the-document as there is no https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/requirement-sets/common/office-add-in-requirement-sets?view=common-js-preview&irgwc=1&OCID=AID2200057_aff_7815_1243925&tduid=(ir__vldi9j3htokf6numxvgw0cx1fe2xvzvakanikzm900)(7815)(1243925)(je6NUbpObpQ-1NhT.kkKrquj7YwXAsY7QA)()&irclickid=_vldi9j3htokf6numxvgw0cx1fe2xvzvakanikzm900#ooxmlcoercion available in Excel (only Word).
However, webextension and taskpane parts cannot be updated using this method while the document is open, (ie. using JavaScript within a Task Pane app) which means you cannot share an Excel Workbook dependent on an Excel Add-in without ensuring that the recipient has the Add-in installed.
If a Excel Workbook dependent on a Add-in, is shared with a User without the Add-in installed and active, and that user makes changes to the workbook data, the workbook will likely be irrecoverably corrupted.
See https://github.com/OfficeDev/office-js/issues/2610
Suggestions
1. Extend https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/requirement-sets/common/office-add-in-requirement-sets?view=common-js-preview&irgwc=1&OCID=AID2200057_aff_7815_1243925&tduid=(ir__vldi9j3htokf6numxvgw0cx1fe2xvzvakanikzm900)(7815)(1243925)(je6NUbpObpQ-1NhT.kkKrquj7YwXAsY7QA)()&irclickid=_vldi9j3htokf6numxvgw0cx1fe2xvzvakanikzm900#ooxmlcoercion to Excel
2. Extend https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/office/office.settings?view=common-js-preview to cover the requirements
3. Extend https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/develop/automatically-open-a-task-pane-with-a-document#step-1-specify-the-task-pane-to-open to cover requirements
2 Comments
lindalu-MSFT tagging you as requested in 10 Aug Office Add-ins Community call about triaging this idea/issue. Thanks!
The related issue was opened on 3 Jun 2022 https://github.com/OfficeDev/office-js/issues/2610 but not resolved after extensive discussion.
The response to a solution I proposed in Github :
"If you are requesting a JS API to change the Visibility property's value, I'd recommend going to Microsoft 365 Developer Platform Ideas Forum and request a new feature. Our PM team will consider it at the Quarterly planning."
This current suggestion, posted on 1 June is that request.
This is an urgent critical issue.
