MS Office Add-ins

Cognidox version 10.4 and later supports two versions of the Microsoft Office Add-in:

  • The original Office (Win) Add-in. This is Windows-only, and works with Office 365 and standalone MS Office installations.

  • The new Cross-platform MS Office Add-in. This is cross-platform (Windows and Mac) and is compatible with the following products:

    • Office 365 for Windows (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

    • Office 365 for Mac (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

    • Office 365 Online (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

    • Office 365 iPad (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Note:

You need Office 365 for cross-platform compatibility, as it’s distributed through 365 itself.

There are different installation / deployment instructions, depending which version you want to use, and the functionality and UI are also different. Functional differences are given below. Instructions are given in the following topics:

There are different use cases, depending on your needs:

  • Use the Office (Win) Add-in if you need Outlook support. However, note that Microsoft is dropping support for VSTO add-ins in the new Outlook (you can find more information here).

  • Use the Office (Win) Add-in if you want the Compare feature in Word.

  • Use the new Cross-platform MS Office Add-in if you are on Mac or Office online.

  • Use the new Cross-platform MS Office Add-in if you want deploy a centrally-managed solution to users.

The list below is an overview of the differences between the two versions of the Office Add-in:

  • Cross-platform MS Office Add-in has no support for Outlook in (due to deficiencies in the new MSFT API).

  • Cross-platform MS Office Add-in has no Compare function in the Word add-in.

  • Cross-platform MS Office Add-in needs an MSFT 365 license; it won't work on stand-alone Office installs.

  • Cross-platform MS Office Add-in has a new layout.

  • Cross-platform MS Office Add-in does not support opening documents from other apps in the Browse and Search tabs. In the Office (Win) Add-in, you could double-click an Excel file in the Word add-in and the file would open in Excel.

  • Cross-platform MS Office Add-in has no download folder because new add-ins can't assume a file system.

  • Opening an existing file from your PC may not open the Related Info tab in the add-in. This is because new style Office add-ins have to store additional data in the file itself and can't access the existing properties. Only documents newly saved by the new Cross-platform MS Office Add-in will have their part numbers recognised.

  • There are no configuration settings in the Cross-platform MS Office Add-in; they are all dealt with by the centrally-deployed manifest file (see Deploy the Cross-platform MS Office Add-in).

The table below lists all the functions supported by the different Office Add-in versions.

Group Function Office (Win) Add-in Cross-platform MS Office Add-in
Search Find by title or part number Y Y
Display number of matches Y Y
Open found document in current Office application Y Y
Start default application and open found document Y N
Open found document details in a browser window Y Y
Show found document's location in the repository tree Y Y
Browse Explore a single Cognidox repository Y Y
Expand/Collapse Categories Y Y
Refresh Category Y Y
Add new category Y Y
Add new document Y Y
Delete category Y Y
Rename category Y Y
Open document in current Office application Y Y
Open document details in a browser window Y Y
Clone document Y N
Create a blank document with Cognidox metadata Y Y
Create a document from a list of Cognidox templates Y Y
Upload document contents as a new draft Y Y
Upload document contents as a new issue Y Y
Delete document Y Y
Change document title Y Y
Info Author Y Y
Part Number Y Y
Title Y Y
Read only Y Y
Approved version Y Y
Editing version Y Y
Latest version Y Y
Open document details in a browser window Y Y
Actions Save document's content as a new draft Y Y
Save document's content as a new issue Y Y
Compare two Word documents side by side Y N
Configuration Set Cognidox server URL Y N/A
Select whether to use an SSL connection or not Y N/A
Automatically check-out documents on open Y N
Select authentication method Y N/A
Download documents to a specific folder Y N
About Copyright declaration Y N
Software version Y N

 

Concept Link IconSee Also