Error. Is Admin Managed Add-ins supported for Mac?

Question

We have an issue with seeing Add-ins in the MacOS Word-desktop client.

We have deployed a few Word-apps via the Microsoft 365 admin center -> Integrated apps.

We can see the Add-ins in the web-browser on both PC and Mac. We can also see the Add-ins on the PC Desktop client of Word. But when we try to open Office Add-ins, and the Admin Managed-pane, via Word (or other Office-apps like Excel) on a Mac we get following error: Cannot connect to catalog

This error is seen for all users in the tenant.

We have tried the following:

• Re-installed the MacOS.
• Upgraded to latest version macOS Ventura, 13.2.1.
• Secured that the Office version number is the latest: 16.71.
• We have "Turn on optional connected experiences" enabled on the Mac-clients.
• We have allowed full disk access to Word, Outlook etc.

Is Admin Managed Add-ins supported for Mac or not?

Answer 1

Hi @securebeam

According to 'Prepare to deploy add-ins in Integrated apps', if you distribute your add-in to users in your organization by using the Microsoft 365 admin center through Integrated Apps, the add-ins are supported on Mac.

As this issue is related to Microsoft 365 Admin Center, it's recommended to post a new thread on Microsoft Tech Community --- Microsoft 365 admin center.

Thanks for your understanding.

Following information is my personally opinion.

• Remove 3rd-party add-ins from Office for Mac if there is.
• • How did you reinstall Office for Mac, I suggest you download the installation file from this link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac#release-history-for-office-for-mac
• Make sure that the account you are currently using is the licensed account.
• Create a new user account on Mac for a test.

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Answer 2

For others reference: Workaround is to downgrade to older version, where Admin Managed Add-in works.

See my Github-post here: https://github.com/OfficeDev/office-js/issues/3221

Answer 3

Hi @securebeam

Thanks for your kind sharing.

Since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others.", and according to the scenario introduced here: Answering your own questions on Microsoft Q&A, I would make a brief summary of this thread:

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Issue Symptom:

Try to open Office Add-ins on Mac, which are distributed by using the Microsoft 365 admin center through Integrated Apps, the error message is 'Cannot connect to catalog'.

These Office Add-ins are avaliable in web-browser on both PC and Mac.

Current Status:

As a workaround, please downgrade Office for Mac to older version 16.69 (23010700).

For more, here is the reference link: https://github.com/OfficeDev/office-js/issues/3221

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