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Publish SharePoint Add-ins by using Visual Studio

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Important

The SharePoint Add-In model in SharePoint Online has been deprecated as of November 27th 2023, checkout the full retirement announcement to learn more.

Deprecation means that the feature will not get any new investments, but it's still supported. SharePoint add-in model is retired fully on April 2nd, 2026 and is no longer available after that time. Primary replacement technology for the SharePoint add-in model is SharePoint Framework (SPFx) which continues to be supported also in future.

Learn how to publish your SharePoint Add-in by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 or Visual Studio 2012. If the add-in has an associated web application, you deploy it first.

Then, as for all SharePoint Add-ins, you package the SharePoint Add-in and then publish it. You can also optionally choose to submit your add-in for inclusion on the Office Store.

Prerequisites

Publish by using Visual Studio 2013

If your provider-hosted SharePoint Add-in has a web application, deploy the files for it first. You then, as for all SharePoint Add-ins, package the SharePoint Add-in and publish it.

Important

To ensure that your SharePoint Client ID and Client Secret values get published with your web project, which allows your web content to access SharePoint data, publish your SharePoint Add-in project from the Publish your add-in page. You access this page by opening the shortcut menu for the SharePoint Add-in, not the shortcut menu for the web app, and then choosing the Publish command.

Step 1: Deploy the web application

Your SharePoint Add-in typically has an associated host web application that you need to deploy to a web server. For more information about how to use the Publish Web wizard, see How to: Deploy a Web Project using On-Click Publishing in Visual Studio.

To open the Publish your add-in page

  • In Solution Explorer, open the shortcut menu for the SharePoint Add-in project, and then choose Publish.
  • The Publish your add-in page appears.

To select or create a profile

In the Current profile list, choose a profile to import, or choose <New …> to create a profile.

A publish profile specifies the server to which you're deploying the web app, the credentials that are needed to log on to the server, the databases to deploy (if applicable), and other deployment options. You can create different publish profiles to fit your needs. For example, you might create one profile for testing and another profile for publishing.

If you choose <New …>, the Create publishing profile wizard appears. You can use this wizard to import a publishing profile from a website hosting provider, such as Azure, or to create a profile and then manually add your server name, credentials, and other settings. If you created a new profile rather than imported an existing profile, you'll need to supply client Id and client secret values, as outlined in Guidelines for registering SharePoint Add-ins 2013 and How to: Create Client IDs and secrets in the Microsoft Seller Dashboard.

If you plan to submit your SharePoint Add-in to the Office Store, be sure to use client ID and client secret values that are created in the Seller Dashboard. You can use client IDs and client secret values that you generate by using the appregnew.aspx page during the development phase, but add-ins that you submit to the Office Store must use client IDs and client secrets that you get from the Seller Dashboard. Also, you should create the publishing profile on your Azure site and then import it into Visual Studio, rather than creating a profile in the Create publishing profile wizard. When you create a profile in Azure, all of the settings on the Connection tab are provided for you in Visual Studio. For more information about how to import or create a publishing profile, see Creating a Publish Profile.

Tip

If you can't publish web content directly, you can create a web deploy package that an administrator can deploy to the web for you. To create a web deploy package, create a new profile, choose the Connection tab, and then choose Web Deploy Package in the Publish method list.

To deploy your web app project

  1. On the Publish your add-in page, choose the Deploy your web project button. The Publish Web dialog box appears.

  2. On the Connection and Settings tabs, fill in any missing values.

    To change how the files for your SharePoint Add-in are published or if the add-in uses an external database, choose the Settings tab. See the section "Configuring the Settings Tab" in How to: Deploy a Web Project using On-Click Publishing in Visual Studio.

  3. To review what items will change when the web app is deployed, choose the Start Preview button on the Preview tab.

  4. Choose the Publish button to deploy the web app project.

Step 2: Package the Add-in

  1. On the Publish your add-in page, choose the Package the add-in button. The Publish Office and SharePoint Add-ins wizard appears.

  2. In the Where is your website hosted? text box, enter the URL of the website that will host the content files of your SharePoint Add-in.

    You must specify an address that starts with the "https" prefix. See Why do my add-ins have to be SSL-secured?.

    Note

    Azure websites automatically provide an https endpoint. If you publish your add-in on an Office Store site or to the Office Store, the address must start with an https prefix. However, if you publish the add-in to an on-premises site, you can use an http prefix.

    In the What is the add-in's client ID? text box, the client ID that you entered in the publishing profile should already appear.

    If you've used a placeholder value for the client ID until this point, you must add an actual client ID now. This information is embedded in the .app package and enables your web content to communicate with SharePoint on the live site.

  3. Choose the Finish button.

    Visual Studio generates the files that are needed to publish your SharePoint Add-in and then opens the publish output folder. For information about how to install the add-in, see Install and manage SharePoint Add-ins 2013.

Step 3: Publish your SharePoint Add-in on the Office Store

Perform the following procedure if you want to submit your SharePoint Add-in to the Office Store.

  1. On the Publish your add-in page, choose the Visit the Seller Dashboard button, and then sign in to your Microsoft Seller Dashboard account.

    See Use the Seller Dashboard to submit your solution to AppSource.

  2. Choose add a new app, fill out the information, and then submit the add-in to the Office Store. For details, see Use the Seller Dashboard to submit your solution to AppSource.

Publish by using Visual Studio 2012

When you're ready to package your SharePoint Add-in, open the Publish Office Add-ins wizard, which prepares the files in your SharePoint Add-in for publishing.

Step 1: Package the SharePoint Add-in

  1. In Solution Explorer, open the shortcut menu for the SharePoint Add-in project, and then choose Publish.

    The Publish Office Add-ins wizard appears. The type of SharePoint Add-in that you're packaging determines the pages that appear in the wizard. If your add-in will be SharePoint-hosted, only the Summary page appears. If your add-in will be provider-hosted, the Profile and Hosting pages also appear.

  2. If your SharePoint Add-in is provider-hosted, specify a publishing profile name in the Which profile do you wish to publish? list, and then choose the Next button.

    The publishing profile saves the information that you enter in the Hosting page.

  3. In the Where is your website hosted? list, specify the URL for the web application that will host your SharePoint Add-in.

  4. In the boxes under What is the identity of your add-in?, specify the client ID and client secret for your add-in, and then choose the Next button.

    See Authorization and authentication of SharePoint Add-ins.

  5. For all types of SharePoint Add-ins, select the Open output folder after successful packaging check box, if it isn't already selected, and then choose the Finish button.

    Visual Studio generates all of the files that you need to publish your SharePoint Add-in. You can find these files in the app.Publish folder of your project output folder (for example, %UserProfile%\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\MyApp\bin\Debug\app.publish). That folder will contain a .app file for your SharePoint Add-in and multiple files for the web application (if your SharePoint Add-in is cloud-based). All SharePoint Add-ins include a .app file, which is the add-in manifest to publish the SharePoint Add-in. Provider-hosted SharePoint Add-ins also include files for publishing the host web application.

Step 2: Publish the web application

If your SharePoint Add-in is provider-hosted, you'll typically have an associated host web application that you need to publish to a web server. Visual Studio generates a deployment package and a script to help you perform this task.

The deployment package of the web application project is contained in a compressed (.zip) file in the app.publish folder. In addition to the .zip file, the app.publish folder contains the following files:

File Description
ProjectName.deploy.cmd This file is a command-line batch file that invokes Web Deploy so that you can more easily install the package at a command prompt.
ProjectName.SetParameters.xml This file contains parameters that are passed to Web Deploy when you use the deploy.cmd file to install the package. The Visual Studio package settings determine the default value that's specified for each parameter. You can change these values if, for example, you want to install the web application to multiple servers and use different settings for each server.
ProjectName.SourceManifest.xml This file contains settings that Visual Studio passes to Web Deploy and that Web Deploy uses to create the web package. Web Deploy requires this file only to create the package. This file isn't used when the package is installed.

For step-by-step guidance, see How to: Install a Deployment Package Using the deploy.cmd File Created by Using Visual Studio

Step 3: Publish your SharePoint Add-in

To publish your SharePoint Add-in, upload the add-in manifest file (.app) of your add-in to the Office Store, the Office Add-ins catalog, SharePoint, a file share, or the Exchange catalog. The add-in manifest for your add-in is located in the app.publish folder, such as %UserProfile%\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\MyApp\bin\Debug\app.publish. For more information about how to publish your SharePoint Add-in, see Authorization and authentication of SharePoint Add-ins.

See also