Build apps for Office

In Office 2013, you now have the ability to create apps for Office. So what's an app? It's best described as a solution that carries a light footprint and uses web standards-based technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3, XML, and REST APIs. Apps have a light footprint because they don't actually install on the computer running the host application, they run from a browser control in a secure app runtime environment, and that means they are easily maintained and updated.

In this section of the docs, we outline all the concepts you need to know up front to build great apps. The docs are organized to step you through the app development lifecycle that we recommend—start, design, develop, and later, publish. Figure 1 shows you what that lifecycle looks like.

In Start, we tell you all the basics—about the app model in general, and about discovering the technologies that you'll need to learn or those you might already know and can apply right away to your app for Office development. We've provided links to deeper info, code samples, and how-to tasks to help you get started building great apps. If we succeeded with providing what you need to know in Start, you should have all the info you need to navigate the rest of the docs. If we didn't, we want to hear from you about where we can make the docs better. We are constantly updating topics based on customer feedback and questions, and offering new articles. See Send feedback for ways to reach us and participate in making the docs better.

Jump directly to Start

Let's say you have a killer idea for an app. In this section, we'll guide you through the design decisions you need to make and offer best practices to build your app. For example, what makes a good user interface? What are the app "shapes" available? When should I use one instead of another? What options do I have for data access? You get the picture.

Jump directly to Design

Develop is the heart of the docs. We've got in-depth overviews, how-to articles, and code snippets to help explain the different things you can do in an app for Office.

And, code is key, so take a look at the "Samples" menu in the Dev Center. It's a direct link to our code samples for apps. As soon as you've set up your development environment, you should check out a few of our samples. Take advantage of a community feature that lets you request a code sample if we don't have one you'd like to see. We take those requests, along with other doc feedback and use them in our continuous updates to the content and samples. So please, let us know if you'd like to see something!

Jump directly to Develop

So now you've built your app, and you're ready to share it. Publish teaches you how to deploy the app to an app catalog on SharePoint or a network share app catalog. You can come here to learn how to list apps in the Office Store.

Jump directly to Publish

Each article in the SDK has a "Did you find this helpful?" section at the bottom, and there is a free-form "Tell us more..." section to help you better express any issues you have. Please use these to send us your comments; we monitor this daily and make changes based on your suggestions.

You can also amend each topic using the Community additions section at the bottom of each topic. We also monitor this daily and make changes based on your suggestions.

Do you have feedback on how we're doing? Another way to send feedback is via email. Contact us at docthis@microsoft.com.

If you have a support issue, the best way to get a quick response is to post to the Developing Apps for Office 2013 forum on MSDN.

Learn how to download apps in Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, or Project, and then run them with a document, spreadsheet, email, appointment, presentation, or project.

Apps are available to download from the Office Store, so that you can install and try them out.

To download and install an app for Office for Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013, or Project Professional 2013

After you've downloaded some sample apps, you can run them in the Office client applications that they support.

To run an app for Office Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013 or Project Professional 2013

To download and install an app for Office for Outlook 2013 or Outlook Web App

1. Start Outlook 2013 or Outlook Web App.

   • In Outlook 2013, on the File tab choose Manage Apps.

   • In Outlook Web App, choose the Settings (gear) icon in the upper right corner, and then choose Manage apps.

   If you are prompted to log in to the Exchange Admin Center (EAC), enter your account and password.

2. On the apps for Outlook page, choose the New (plus) icon, and then choose Add from the Office Store.

3. The Apps for Outlook 2013 download page in the Office Store opens in the browser.

   The download page for each app opens with details, reviews, and requirements.

4. Choose the Add button to download and install the app.

Once the app is installed, a page that contains instructions about how to start using the app opens in the browser.

Note
If you install a mail app from Outlook 2013, that mail app will also be available when you access the same Exchange account from Outlook Web App (and vice versa).

• Get started developing apps for Office

• Design apps for Office

• Develop apps for Office

• Publish apps for Office

• Apps for Office API and schema references