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Office VSTO add-ins and Office add-ins using the Office JS API

Microsoft recently introduced the Office add-in architecture, which allows you to remotely host add-ins and run inside IFrames inside the office. I read a lot, trying to understand if this architecture is intended to replace VSTO or they have separate use cases. VS 2015 has templates for both.

In my specific case, I want to develop an add-in that extends Excel 2016 with custom import functions (for example, custom CSV, TSV, or even XLSX). I can’t say what type of project I should go with.

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Given the number of legacy applications developed as COM and VSTO add-ons, it's hard for me to believe that Microsoft will give up support over the next 10 years.

For me, the most important differences of one approach from another:

Office Add-Ins / VSTO Office

  • Access to the complete object model
  • Local interaction with the machine, for example. file system
  • Available on Windows since 2007

Office JavaScript Add-ins

  • Portable between Windows, OS X, iOS, etc. (but not complete, but still)
  • Easy integration with online services.
  • Simple distribution, no need to worry about installers.

In your case, I asked myself the following questions:

  • Will there be support for platforms other than Windows in the future? > JavaScript API
  • Are the requirements of the current JavaScript API implementation consistent?
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I found that VSTO is not 100% implemented. I abandoned the development of VSTO for Project, got into too many problems. Instead, I developed everything in VBA and refined some neat ways to install, distribute, and update VBA macros.

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