I have an OfficeJS Excel add-in that I want to deploy in an environment, where neither centralized deployments, nor a SharePoint catalog is available for distribution.
Loading the add-in via a shared network drive works, but according to the microsoft docs this is not an option for a production deployment.
Other add-ins in that environment are all VSTO based.
Now my question is, if it's somehow possible to deliver the web-based add-in via a VSTO wrapper?
Would it alternatively be possible to provide the manifest on the the local drive for each user somehow?
EDIT: Just to make it clearer - still want to serve the web-app via a server. I basically only want to distribute the manifest differently.
Loading the add-in via a shared network drive works, but according to the microsoft docs this is not an option for a production deployment.
When production options are not available, all other possible ways are good.
my question is, if it's somehow possible to deliver the web-based add-in via a VSTO wrapper?
To deliver the manifest is not enough, so you need to sideload the add-in by adding the manifest file to the Office application. Isn't better to provide URL to the network share where manifest resides to users? VSTO is useless in that scenario. OfficeJS (not Excel) doesn't provide any API for loading web add-ins programmatically.
Would it alternatively be possible to provide the manifest on the the local drive for each user somehow?
There is no need to keep the manifest on the local drive. You can provide URL of the manifest to sideload the add-in if the centralized deployment is not available (via the Office365 admin center).
Read more about possible routes in the Deploy and publish Office Add-ins article.