How to Distribute Templafy Web Add-ins

About this article

In order to support Mac and Office Online users, a web add-in can be distributed to end-users through the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal. This article will detail the steps to distribute the manifest files.
Please follow the steps in this article to make sure our web add-in is deployed correctly. 

• Seamless SSO and provisioning
• Templafy Web Add-ins
• Step-by-step guide deployment
  • Uploading a new add-in
  • Updating an existing add-in

• How retrieve the original product ID if your manifest upload failed due to a product ID issue

 

Prerequisites

On a Windows device, Version 1704 or later of Office 365 ProPlus. On a Mac, Version 15.34 or later. Check all requirements here: Determine if Centralized Deployment of add-ins works for your organization You need to be a Global Azure Admin to perform the below steps

 

Please note: Centralized deployment of add-ins requires that the users are using Microsoft 365 Enterprise SKUs: E3/E5/F3 or Business SKUs: Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium (and are signed into Office using their organizational ID), and have Exchange Online and active Exchange Online mailboxes

 

Seamless SSO and provisioning

For SSO to work without user interaction, you must reach out to your Partner or Templafy Support for a custom manifest.xml file. This is to ensure that users are redirected correctly to your tenant-URL to initiate the SP-login and provision the users correctly to your own tenant.

 

Templafy Web Add-ins

There are 3 different web add-ins available for Templafy: Library Outlook, Library Word/PowerPoint/Excel, and Email Signature.

 

Library Web Add-ins

Both Library Outlook and Library Word/PowerPoint/Excel web add-ins require a manifest.xml file to be provided by Templafy due to the level of customization. Please reach out to your Partner or Templafy Support for the custom manifest.xml file.

 

Email Signature Web Add-in

In order to deploy Email Signature Web Add-in, a tenant specific manifest file can be retrieved in the Admin center following the steps below.

Email Signature Web Add-in module must be enabled in the tenant

1. Navigate to your Templafy tenant
2. Click Email Signatures
3. Click More Options ellipses menu in the top right corner
4. Click Settings
5. Click Modules
6. Click Download manifest

 

Step-by-step guide deployment

Uploading a new add-in

1. Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal (https://admin.microsoft.com)
2. Click Settings
3. Click Integrated apps
4. Click Upload custom apps

   
   
   
5. Select Upload manifest file (.xml) from device. and click Choose file
   Browse location of the manifest file (.xml) for upload, select it and click "Open"
   
   
   
   
6. Select which Users/Groups should have access (or Everyone) and click Next
   
   
   
   
7. Accept permissions request by clicking Next
   
   
   
   
8. Click Finish deployment to begin the deployment of the add-in
   
   
   
   
9. On this step, the progress for the deployment can be monitored
   

It will take up to 10 minutes or so for the add-in to be deployed. You will receive an email notification confirming your successful deployment. Users might need to relaunch ‎Office‎ to see the web add-in icon in the ribbon​.

 

Please note, the web add-in for Outlook Online will not work in incognito mode, since the API is blocked Internal/External email signatures on Mac requires Outlook New UI for Mac, version 16.38.506 or above (as well as Templafy manifest version 1.0.0.12 or above)

 

Updating an existing add-in

1. Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal (https://admin.microsoft.com)
2. Click Settings
3. Click Integrated apps
4. From the list of deployed apps, choose Templafy Company Templates
   
   
   
   
5. Double click the Templafy app to open the app overview 
6. In the app overview, select Update add-in from the Actions menu
   
   
   
   
7. Select Upload manifest file (.xml) from device. and click Choose file
   Browse location of the manifest file (.xml) for upload, select it and click "Open"
8. Click Next
9. Accept permissions and initiate the update by clicking Accept and update
   
   

 

If you receive an error message that your new manifest failed the validation by Microsoft due to a difference in product ID, the product ID (GUID) of your new manifest differs from the original manifest file and needs to be adjusted.

 

How retrieve the original product ID if your manifest upload failed due to a product ID issue: 

1. Open the developer tools from your browser (F12 for Windows, Cmd+Opt+J for Mac)
2. Reupload the manifest to trigger the error message
3. In the developer tools window, click on the "uploadCustomApp" request under the "Name" column
4. You can then find the original product ID under the "Payload" header tab as seen in the below screenshot (Form Data -> ProductId)
5. Please note, that the product ID can only be retrieved from the developer tools. IDs that might appear in upload error message are not related to the product ID. 

 

Notes

Office on Mac

If the Office version for Mac is lower than 16.36 (released on 04/13/2020) our web add-in may not automatically display in the ribbon. If this occurs, users will have to manually add the Web add-in from the Admin managed part of the Office add-in store (Web add-in is deployed to O365 devices but not being displayed)

Deployment time

Using Centralized Deployment from Microsoft, it can take a minimum of 24 hours for all users targeted to the web add-in to see it in their Office programs, but a maximum of 72 hours.

Reference: Microsoft's FAQ site - Centralized Deployment FAQ

 

Related articles

Templafy web Add-ins (For MS Office on-prem, Online & Mac)