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Understanding the Differences Between the Microsoft Add-in and Microsoft Plug-in

Actionstep offers a few Microsoft integrations, each designed for a different purpose. The Microsoft plug-in (which will soon be deprecated) lets you access and manage Actionstep documents directly from within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The Word add-in provides different functionality in that it gives you a tool for inserting merge fields in a document template. The following sections offer a little more detail about what each integration does:

Note: There are other options for working with Microsoft files, including a OneDrive integration, a Microsoft 365 for the web integration, and an Outlook integration. 

 

Actionstep Add-in for Word

This add-in is a template builder in Word and is a separate integration from the Microsoft Plug-in. The Word add-in is often confused for the Microsoft plug-in which can be used to edit documents in Word. It is supported for use with Microsoft Word 365. 

The Word add-in appears as a panel on the right side of your document.

To learn more, see these resources:

 

Microsoft Plug-in for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel

CAUTION:  The Microsoft Office plug-in is considered legacy technology which neither Microsoft nor Actionstep supports. Support for it will soon be fully terminated while Actionstep works on a replacement option. Although it may still work for some users, it's recommended you use the OneDrive integration instead. To learn more, see Using Microsoft OneDrive with Actionstep. 

The plug-in is available only to Windows users.

The Microsoft 365 plug-in is used to manage your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in Actionstep.  This tool allows you to:

  • Access your Actionstep documents directly from the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint application.
  • Select these types of files in an Actionstep matter and launch the associate application to edit them.

Please note, this is a locally installed software program. It may require an administrator to install this on your computer. The installation can also be affected by anti-virus programs your organization may have installed on your system.

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