Yeoman generator for Office Add-ins - YO OFFICE!

This Yeoman generator creates a Node.js Office Add-in project that can be managed with Visual Studio Code or any other editor. You can use it to create Office Add-ins for:

Excel
OneNote
Outlook
PowerPoint
Project
Word

In addition you can use it to create add-ins that use single sign-on or Excel custom functions.

Like other Yeoman generators, this generator simply creates the scaffolding of files for your Office Add-in project. You can choose to create Office Add-in projects using plain HTML, CSS & JavaScript, or using React, and can choose between JavaScript and Typescript as well.

Note: While you can also use Visual Studio to create Office Add-in projects, the Yeoman generator provides more options in terms of the types of projects you can create. For example:

The Yeoman generator can create Office Add-in projects that use plain HTML, CSS & JavaScript, or React; whereas Visual Studio can only create Office Add-in projects that use plain HTML, CSS & JavaScript.

The Yeoman generator can create Office Add-ins projects that use either JavaScript or TypeScript; whereas Visual Studio only creates JavaScript projects which you would need to convert manually if you want to use TypeScript.

The Yeoman generator can create add-ins for Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, and Word; whereas Visual Studio can only create add-ins for Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word.

For detailed information about installing and using the Yeoman generator to create Office Add-ins, see Create Office Add-in projects using the Yeoman Generator.

The generator is normally used in interactive mode, but you can use command line arguments and options as described in the sections below.

Usage

bash
yo office [arguments] [options]

Command Line Arguments

The following command line arguments are supported. If using the command line arguments, you must use them in the order cited below, or the generator will prompt you for the values.

Example

bash
yo office --projectType react --name "New Web AddIn" --host word --ts true

output
     _-----_     ╭──────────────────────────╮
    |       |    │   Welcome to the Office  │
    |--(o)--|    │   Add-in generator, by   │
   `---------´   │ @OfficeDev! Let's create │
    ( _´U`_ )    │    a project together!   │
    /___A___\   /╰──────────────────────────╯
     |  ~  |
   __'.___.'__
 ´   `  |° ´ Y `

`--projectType`

Specifies the project type to create.

Project Type	Description
taskpane	Task Pane add-in using HTML
react	Task Pane add-in using the React framework
excel-functions	Task Pane add-in with Excel Custom Functions
single-sign-on	Taskpane add-in supporting single-sign-on
nested-app-auth	Taskpane add-in supporting Nested App Auth single sign-on (preview)
manifest	Manifest and related files for an Office Add-in

Type: String
Optional

`--name`

Title of the project - this is the display name that is written the manifest.xml file.

Type: String
Optional

Note: The Windows command prompt requires this argument to be in quotes (e.g. "My Office Add-in")

`--host`

The Microsoft Office client application that can host the add-in. The supported arguments include Excel (excel), OneNote (onenote), Outlook (outlook), PowerPoint (powerpoint), Project (project), and Word (word).

Type: String
Optional

Command Line Options

The following command line options are supported. If these are not specified, the generator will prompt you for the values before scaffolding the project. The options should be specified after the projectType, name and host arguments.

Specifying --output tells the generator to create the project in a specific location. If the output parameter is not specified, the project will be created in the current directory. If the output option specifies a non-empty folder,
the generator will inform you so you don't accidentally overwrite existing files.

Type: String
Optional

Specifying --js tells the generator to use JavaScript.

Type: Boolean
Default: False
Optional

Specifying --ts tells the generator to use TypeScript.
Type: Boolean
Default: False
Optional

Specifying --details tells the generator to provide detailed help, including all the accepted values for each project type and host,
Type: Boolean
Default: False
Optional

`--skip-install`

After scaffolding the project, the generator (and all sub generators) run all package management install commands such as npm install & typings install. Specifying --skip-install tells the generator to skip this step.

Type: Boolean
Default: False
Optional

Running the Generated Site

Launch the local HTTPS site on https://localhost:3000 by simply typing the following command in your console:

bash
npm start

Note: Office Add-ins should use HTTPS, not HTTP, even when you are developing. If you are prompted to install a certificate after you run npm start, accept the prompt to install the certificate that the Yeoman generator provides.

Next, sideload the add-in in an Office application. See Sideload an Office Add-in for testing.

Validate manifest.xml

As you modify your manifest.xml file, use the included Office Toolbox to ensure that your XML file is correct and complete. It will also give you information on against what platforms to test your add-ins before submitting to the store.

To run Office Add-in Validator, use the following command in your project directory:

bash
npm run validate

For more information on manifest validation, refer to our add-in manifests documentation.

Contributing

Contributing Guidelines

If you are interested in contributing, please start by reading the Contributing Guidelines.

Development

Prerequisites

Ensure you have Node.js (version 8.0.0 or later) installed.

Install Yeoman.

bash
npm install -g yo

Initialize the repo

bash
git clone https://github.com/OfficeDev/generator-office.git
cd generator-office
npm install

Make your desired changes

Project templates can be found under src/app/templates
Generator script can be found at src/app/index.ts

Build and link your changes

bash
npm run build
npm link
cd ..
yo office

At this point, yo office will be running with your custom built office-generator changes.

Data usage

Yo Office collects anonymized usage data and sends it to Microsoft. This allows us to understand how Yo Office is used and how to improve it.

For more details on what we collect and how to turn it off, see our Data usage notice

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information, see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Generator office