Design time and runtime support for VSTO add-ins that target Office 2013 and .NET Framework 4.5

Question

Hi Visual Studio Tools for Office Users!

I am pleased to inform you all that we have just released the latest preview of Office Developer Tools, Microsoft Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 - Preview 2:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/officeapps/archive/2012/11/12/announcing-the-latest-release-of-office-developer-tools.aspx

This Preview release includes design time and runtime support for VSTO add-ins that target Office 2013 and .NET Framework 4.5. We also fixed the top customer reported issues in the VSTO runtime.

To allow you to distribute VSTO add-ins that require the new runtime, we have also released the new version of the VSTO runtime on the Microsoft Download Center  , and also plan to make it available soon via Microsoft Update and WSUS.

We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback!

Regards

Mark Wilson-Thomas

ProgramManager, Visual Studio

---

Mark Wilson-Thomas Program Manager, Visual Studio Office Tools Team

Answer 1

Hi Mark,

Thanks for posting in the MSDN Forum.

I learned that Office add-in has been supported via .NET Framework 4.5 when you install

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/office/apps/fp123627. I have used this update and found the add-in project targeted to .NET Framework 4.5

Have a good day,

Tom

---

Tom Xu [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

That's correct Tom; if you install the latest Microsoft Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 - Preview 2 (from Web Platform Installer, here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/handlers/WebPI.ashx?command=GetInstallerRedirect&appid=OfficeToolsForVS2012GA ) you will get the same version of the VSTO runtime that we have posted on the Microsoft Download Center as mentioned above.

Mark

---

Mark Wilson-Thomas Program Manager, Visual Studio Office Tools Team

Answer 3

The VSTO isn't available anymore?

Yesterday I could download the VSTO but today, I the site is not available (could not be found).

Is there a new one which isn't indexed in the search?

Answer 4

Hi Tom

I've "unstuck" this message as I have already posted it, when it appeared, as a Forum Announcement. It takes less room that way...

---

Cindy Meister, VSTO/Word MVP, my blog

Answer 5

Hi Daniel,

If you’re looking for the runtime for development purposes, the runtime already comes with your installation of Preview 2, as per Mark’s link above.  Preview 2’s runtime contains .NET 4.5 support, so you can develop against it on your developer box.

For  standalone download, we had discovered a potential issue that we wanted to address before continuing to ship the runtime to end-users.  As such, we had temporarily disabled the link above.  I do apologize for the inconvenience, and rest assured that we’re working hard on getting the latest 4.5-supporting runtime back up for download in a timely manner.  I will respond to this thread once we have the runtime available for consumer download.

If all you need is the VSTO runtime, but don't explicitly require .NET 4.5 support, the current version of the runtime should be more than sufficient for your needs.  It can be downloaded at this permalink: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140384.

Let me know if you have further questions,

- Michael

---

Michael Zlatkovsky | Program Manager, Visual Studio Tools for Office & Apps for Office

Answer 6

Hi Daniel,

UPDATE:  The latest runtime is now available to the public, and eliminates the issue I'd mentioned in an earlier email. 

If you're using the web bootstrapper (for add-ins developed using Visual Studio 2010), the bootstrapper will automatically chain in the latest version, so no action is required on your part, or on that of your users.  If you're deploying from Visual Studio 2012,  you'll need to enable the bootstrapper functionality manually:  please see http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vsto/archive/2012/12/21/creating-a-bootstrapper-package-for-an-office-2013-vsto-add-in-with-visual-studio-2012.aspx.  End-Users can also download the latest runtime from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140384. 

All the best, and let me know if you have any questions,

- Michael

---

Michael Zlatkovsky | Program Manager, Visual Studio Tools for Office & Apps for Office