Roadmap & Community
This page covers three things: what the current release contains, the known limitations (with workarounds), and where to send feature requests / bug reports so that they actually arrive.
No release schedule announced in advance
DVDAddin is developed by one person and released according to real user demand — there is no committed quarterly schedule. The "Known limitations" section below lists the things the add-in currently cannot do — written down so that you do not waste time looking for them and so that you know how to work around them, not as a list of promises.
Current release — 2.8.3 (2026-08-19)
The size of the toolset in this release:
| Ribbon tabs | 2 — DVD Addin (office) and DVD Cons (construction) |
| Ribbon commands | 186 — see the Full command reference |
| Worksheet functions (UDF) | 47 — see the Function reference |
| Commands available in the PRO plan only | 19 — schedule analysis, QA/QC test plans, AI cost estimating |
| Platform | C# / .NET 8, Excel-DNA, installs into C:\DVDAddin |
What is in release 2.8.3: a fix for Duration drifting when a schedule moves between Excel and MS Project — Export XML now forces the Finish date to match the Duration column, so MS Project no longer recalculates the duration on open.
Recent releases
| Release | Date | Main content |
|---|---|---|
| 2.8.3 | 2026-08-19 | Fixes Duration drift when syncing a schedule with MS Project |
| 2.8.2 | 2026-07-06 | Rest days in the diary; PDF annotations with background fill / font change; windows that move aside during range picking; fix to the PRO/STANDARD license evaluation |
| 2.8.1 | 2026-07-02 | Schedule (custom range); Import XML / Export XML for P6 and MS Project; smart picture insert with 4 modes; no more crash when printing to PDF |
| 2.8.0 | 2026-06-14 | Acrobat-style PDF annotation set; PDF Manager page copy/paste; the Assign Level command; full light/dark theme coverage; hold ESC to stop a running command |
Item-by-item detail: Changelog.
How to update
Check Update compares the version on your machine with the latest one; Download Tool downloads the installer directly. Close Excel completely before running the installer — Excel keeps the add-in code in memory, so installing over a running instance leaves the old build active and you will think the new version is broken.
Known limitations
The most frequently asked questions, with the way they are handled today:
| Limitation | Current workaround |
|---|---|
Runs on Excel for Windows only. The add-in is a .NET 8 .xll file; there is no build for Excel on macOS or Excel on the web. | On a Mac: run Windows in a virtual machine / Parallels and install as usual. |
No .msi package. The installer is an .exe built with Inno Setup, so Group Policy "Software installation" cannot be used. | Deploy with silent-install switches or as a Win32 package for Intune — see Deploying to many machines. |
| No custom AI base URL can be declared. Only OpenAI, Gemini, Groq and NVIDIA can be used; you cannot point it at a self-hosted endpoint or a local Ollama. | Adding a new model name does work — see Custom AI models. |
| The construction-specific translation prompt cannot be edited from the interface. | For documents outside the industry, pick the Google service in Translate — that route does not go through the domain prompt. |
There is no command that reads a table straight out of a .docx file. | Word → PDF then Extract Table — see Integration: Word. |
| Connect stores no data on the server side. No database, no snapshots. | Each machine presses Ctrl+S for itself before disconnecting — see Backup & Restore. |
Many commands write straight into the worksheet and cannot be undone with Ctrl+Z. | Press Ctrl+S immediately before running a bulk-write command, so that you can still close without saving and go back. |
Feature requests & bug reports
Real contact channels
All of these contact points are already in the add-in's About window — open it and click straight through:
| Channel | Address | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Zalo group | zalo.me/g/yqzwvk121 | Quick questions, sending screenshots |
| [email protected] | Bug reports with files attached, invoicing / licensing matters | |
| Phone | +84 988 909 382 | Urgent matters, direct support |
| Website | dvdaddin.dvdpm.net | Product overview and installer download |
| YouTube | @DVD-18 | Tutorial videos |
For security issues, send a separate email with a subject line starting with [SECURITY] — see Security & Privacy.
Bug report template
Copy this template, fill it in and send it over Zalo or by email. Take the version number from the About window — it is the first piece of information you will be asked for:
## Bug description
[Short description]
## Steps to reproduce
1. ...
2. ...
3. ...
## Expected result / Actual result
[Description + screenshot]
## Environment
- DVDAddin: 2.8.3 (About window)
- Excel: Microsoft 365 / 2021 — 32-bit or 64-bit
- Windows: 11 Pro 24H2
- Regional format: Vietnamese or EnglishAttaching a log file makes it much faster. The logs the add-in actually writes:
| File | Command that produces it |
|---|---|
%TEMP%\DVDAddin\case.log | The Case command group (UPPERCASE / lowercase / Sentence case…) |
%TEMP%\DVDAddin\ribbon-labels.log | Ribbon label dump, used when a tab shows the wrong text |
%TEMP%\dvdaddin-chat.log | DVD Chat |
%LocalAppData%\DVDAddin\diary.log | New Diary |
Do not attach settings.reg
The registry export contains API keys in plain text. If you need to send your settings, delete the API Keys branch first — see Backup & Restore.
How to make a request likely to be built
A description of "what I am doing, on which form, and which step I still have to do by hand" is far more useful than a sentence saying "add feature X". Attaching a sample Excel file (with sensitive figures removed) is the fastest way to turn a suggestion into a real command.
What the GitHub repository is for
The github.com/dangdvd/DVDAddin repo is where the installer is published: the Check Update and Download Tool commands download the DVDAddin.rar file from the Releases section of that same repo.
The source code is not public — this is commercial software, no pull requests are accepted and there is no code contribution process. If you want to take part, the two things below help right away:
- Send real forms. Word mail-merge templates, the client's acceptance report template that your company actually uses — these shape the construction commands more than anything else.
- Report bugs with a reproduction file. A workbook that reproduces the bug usually cuts the fix time from a few days to a few hours.
Supporting the author
DVDAddin is developed and maintained by Đặng Văn Đằng. The most direct way to support it is to buy or renew a license — Buy License right inside Excel, paying with a VietQR code.
Prices change on 01/01/2027
The current price list holds until the end of 2026; from 01/01/2027 new prices apply (an increase of roughly 38%). Buy before that date and you keep the old price, and a perpetual license already bought remains usable forever. Details in License.
If you are not buying, recommend it to a colleague, or record a short video of the workflow you run — both help keep the toolset alive.
Technical foundations
DVDAddin stands on the following open-source libraries:
- Excel-DNA (Govert van Drimmelen) — loads the .NET add-in into Excel as an
.xll, together with IntelliSense for the 47 UDFs. - Microsoft .NET 8 + WPF — the runtime and every interface window.
- PDFsharp and PdfiumViewer — build, merge and display PDFs for Read PDF / PDF Manager.
- MQTTnet — the internet transport of Connect.
- NAudio — audio recording for the Transcribe Audio command.
- ZXing.Net — generates the QR codes for the
dvdQRfunction. - NPOI — reads/writes Excel files outside the running Excel session.
- FuzzySharp — approximate matching for the lookup commands and the quick-input suggestions.
- Newtonsoft.Json — all configuration and API communication.
- Cloudflare Workers and Firebase — the license server and the DVD Chat infrastructure.
- The Vietnamese construction engineering community — feedback and real dossiers, the thing that shaped nearly every command on the DVD Cons tab.
Related
- Changelog — the full version history.
- Update the add-in — the correct upgrade procedure.
- Full command reference — 186 commands in exact ribbon order.
- Best Practices — day-to-day experience.
- License — price list, activation, moving to another machine.