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In the "Custom Functions' section of the Excel API documentation, there is a subsection for "UI-less custom functions". However, while they talk about authentication issues, how to debug, and runtime differences, they never explicitly state how to create such a project. How is this done?

Just for the sake of clarity, I'm hoping to create an Excel add-in that provides a few custom functions but does not have a taskpane and thus (hopefully) does not require a web server to serve the corresponding html to end users. Is this within the scope of a UI-less custom function?

Rick Kirkham
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Permittivity
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1 Answers1

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Custom Functions require 2 additional files regardless of any UI features (taskpane, ribbon, etc.). Those are:

  1. The Metadata (JSON) file. Defines the function signatures.
  2. Either the Script (JS) file or the Page (HTML) file. Contains the function implementations. If you have a default Runtime, Script will be used. If you have a Shared Runtime, Page will be used.

So, you will have to serve 2 additional files. Luckily, those files are static and could be served from any public location like OneDrive or GitHub.

To make your add-in, UI-less, just don't include any UI definitions for taskpane, tabs, menus, etc. in the manifest. There isn't anything special.

Zlatko Michailov - MSFT
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  • By the "script" file, are you referring to the file found at `./dist/functions.js` which is generated from `./src/functions/functions.js` when running `npm run build`, correct? Also, do you know of any tools similar to Yeoman which would allow me to generate a manifest which would have the bare minimum information to be used in my UI-less custom function add-in? – Permittivity Aug 04 '20 at 23:38
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    I am not an expert on the tools - I am a Runtime guy. However, I am sure support for custom functions is included in the Office add-ins tools. In the manifest, there is a "CustomFunctions" extension point that has a and a – Zlatko Michailov - MSFT Aug 04 '20 at 23:43