Add-ins

Install & deploy

Two deployment paths — centralised admin push or single-machine sideload.

Choose an install path

Path	Who it's for	Reach
M365 admin centre (centralised)	IT admins rolling out to a team, department, or whole org.	All Microsoft 365 apps — desktop, web, mobile — for everyone you assign.
Sideload (per machine)	Individuals trying the add-in, or developers testing.	One machine, current user only.

Recommendation

For pilots, sideload on one machine to validate the add-in works in your tenant. For real rollout, use the M365 admin centre — it's the only path that survives machine rebuilds.

Centralised deploy (M365 admin)

The most robust path. Once deployed, the add-in shows up automatically for every user you've assigned it to, on every Microsoft 365 app they sign into. No per-machine work.

Prerequisites

You're a Global Admin or Exchange Admin in the M365 tenant
You have the add-in manifest URL from Alloovium (provided during onboarding)
Multi-factor authentication ready on the admin account

Steps

1
Sign in to admin.microsoft.com
Use a Global Admin or Exchange Admin account. MFA is required for Integrated apps.
2
Settings → Integrated apps → Get apps
"Get apps" opens the catalogue. The Alloovium add-ins may not be in the public catalogue yet — use "Upload custom apps" instead and choose "Provide link to manifest file".
3
Paste the manifest URL
Word and Excel each have their own manifest URL. Repeat the upload step once per add-in.
4
Assign users
Pick "Specific users / groups" and select who gets it. Or pick "Entire organization" for a full rollout. "Test deployment" is also an option for a pilot group.
5
Confirm and wait
Microsoft propagates the deployment to users' Office apps within a few hours (sometimes up to 24h on the first push). Users will see "Open Alloovium" in the Home ribbon next time they restart.

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M365 admin centre — Integrated apps

The Integrated apps page where Alloovium add-ins are uploaded as custom apps.

Manifest URLs

Your tenant's manifest URLs are provided during onboarding. They look like https://addins.alloovium.com/word/manifest.xml (and /excel/). Don't host a copy — point directly at the canonical URL so Microsoft picks up updates automatically.

Sideload on one machine

Sideloading installs the add-in for a single user on a single machine. Useful for quick trials before committing to a full rollout — or for development.

Word and Excel on macOS

1
Download the manifest
Save manifest.xml from the URL Alloovium provides (Word and Excel have separate manifests).
2
Drop the manifest into the Word/Excel WEF folder
Word: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Documents/wef/. Excel: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Documents/wef/. Create the wef folder if it doesn't exist.
3
Restart Word or Excel
The add-in appears in the Home ribbon as "Open Alloovium".

Word and Excel on Windows

1
Put the manifest on a network share or local folder
Anywhere both the user and the trust setting can reach.
2
Trust the folder in Office
File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings → Trusted Add-in Catalogs. Add the folder path and tick "Show in Menu". Restart Office.
3
Insert → My Add-ins → Shared Folder
The add-in appears in the list. Click it once to install for this user; it stays installed until you uninstall.

Word and Excel on the web (any OS)

1
Open Word or Excel on the web
office.com → Word or Excel → any document.
2
Insert → Add-ins → Upload My Add-in
Browse to the manifest.xml file and upload. The add-in installs for the current document and this user's account.

First-run sign-in

The first time a user opens any add-in they'll be asked to sign in to Alloovium. The sign-in is a popup that uses the same identity provider as the web app — if your tenant uses SSO, the popup completes silently.

Popup blockers

The sign-in dialog opens as a popup. If users have a strict popup blocker, they may not see the prompt. Whitelist *.alloovium.com in your default browser's popup settings.

Updates

Add-in code and UI updates happen on the Alloovium side — there's nothing for you to redeploy. The manifest URL stays stable; Microsoft fetches the latest assets from it each time the pane opens.

If the manifest itself changes (a new entry point, a new ribbon button, a new permission), users' Office apps will pick up the new manifest within a few hours. For centralised deploys, Microsoft pushes manifest changes through the same background sync as the initial deploy.

Troubleshooting

The Open Alloovium button doesn't appear

Centralised deploy: give it 24h after first push. Restart the Office app.
Sideload (Word/Excel macOS): make sure the manifest is in the right WEF folder for the host app — Word and Excel each have their own.
Sideload (Windows): re-check the Trusted Add-in Catalogs entry has "Show in Menu" ticked.

Sign-in popup doesn't appear or fails

Whitelist *.alloovium.com in popup blocker settings.
If your tenant uses Conditional Access, ensure the Alloovium app is granted access. Talk to your Alloovium contact for the app ID.
Clear cached Office credentials on the machine, then re-open the pane.

Add-in shows but actions hang

Check the network — the pane needs HTTPS access to api.alloovium.com.
For self-hosted Alloovium, confirm the API endpoint is HTTPS (HTTP is blocked by Office).
Open the add-in's developer tools (right-click inside the pane → Inspect) and check for blocked requests in the network tab.

Next steps

→Back to the Add-ins overview.