Office Add-in商店托管内容及加载项发布机制的技术咨询

Great questions—let me break this down clearly based on my experience submitting multiple add-ins to the Office Add-in Store:

1. What content does Microsoft host for add-ins published to the Office Add-in Store? #

Microsoft’s hosting responsibilities split into two parts, depending on the deployment option you select during submission via Partner Center:

• Mandatory hosted content: No matter which path you choose, Microsoft will always host your add-in’s manifest.xml file (the core config that defines your add-in’s ID, permissions, activation rules, and more) plus all store-facing metadata. That includes your add-in’s name, detailed description, category tags, icons, screenshots, and pricing info—everything users see when browsing the store listing.
• Optional web resource hosting: If you pick Microsoft’s managed hosting option, they’ll also host all your add-in’s web assets: HTML files, JavaScript bundles, CSS stylesheets, images, and any other static/dynamic resources your add-in needs to run. This eliminates the need to manage your own server or cloud hosting for the add-in’s functionality.

2. Does the Office Add-in Store only store manifest directories, or also host HTML, JS, and other files? #

This depends entirely on how you deploy your add-in:

• Self-hosted add-ins (most common): In this case, the Office Add-in Store only stores your manifest.xml and the store metadata. All your HTML, JS, CSS, and other web resources live on your own hosting service—think Azure, AWS, GitHub Pages, or your private server. The manifest file just includes a public URL pointing to these resources, so Office can load them when the add-in is activated.
• Microsoft-hosted add-ins: If you use Microsoft’s managed hosting during submission, the store’s backend will host both your manifest and all your web assets. You’ll upload your full add-in package (including every web file) during the submission process, and Microsoft handles hosting, scaling, and serving those files to end users.

For most developers, self-hosted is the go-to because it gives full control over web resources and updates, but Microsoft’s managed option is perfect if you don’t want to deal with server maintenance or scaling.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者brae walker