Hello Ed,

The behaviors of #2, #3 are by design. When we create a VSTO Excel workbook
project, Visual Studio creates an Excel workbook file for us in the project
folder /Visual Studio/Projects/{Project Name}/{ Project Name }/. This Excel
workbook file is one we see in Visual Studio Designer. After we compile the
project, VS will create a new copy from this workbook to the sub folder
/bin/Debug, as well as other files like manifest and dll assembly. The new
workbook in the /bin/Debug folder is the one we see in debugging or after
the distribution.

For your question of how to update the workbook in the VSTO project without
losing the end user modification, you may consider this step list:

1. Distribute the VSTO solution to the end user (the files in the bin
folder), and the end user makes the modifications in the workbook.
2. We get the new workbook file from the end user.
3. Remove the customizations of the workbook by calling
Workbook.RemoveCustomization from a Excel automation client (You may build
such a client app by following the MSDN article
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb772099.aspx)
4. Replace the workbook in the Visual Studio/Projects/{Project Name}/{
Project Name }/ folder with the resulting xlsx of step 3.
5. Open the VSTO project and continue our programming.

Please note that the step 3 is a must, otherwise, you may get the error "An
error occurred while attempting to persiste the data. The message returned
is: The document is already customized". The reason is explained at the
MSDN forum thread:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/Sho...74217&SiteID=1

Please have a try and let me know whether this step list fits your
requests. If you have any other concerns or questions, DON'T hesitate to
tell me.

Have a nice day!

Regards,
Jialiang Ge , remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

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