Nodus Navigator

Back/forward navigation history for Excel — like a browser, for your workbook.

Every cell you click becomes part of your trail. Jump back to where you were, forward again, or straight to any earlier stop from the history list. Indispensable for working through large, multi-sheet workbooks.

• ✅ Works on any workbook — no setup, no account
• ✅ Nothing leaves your machine — history lives in memory for the session; the add-in makes no network calls beyond loading itself
• ✅ Free, from Nodus

Install

One command (Mac or Windows, needs Node.js):

npx nodus-navigator

That registers the add-in with desktop Excel and opens it with the pane showing. npx nodus-navigator uninstall removes it.

Or manually:

1. Download the manifest: manifest.xml (right-click → Save As)

2. Sideload it into Excel:

   Excel on the web — Insert → Add-ins → Upload My Add-in → choose manifest.xml.

   Excel for Mac — copy manifest.xml into ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Documents/wef/ (create the wef folder if it doesn't exist), restart Excel, then Home → Add-ins → More add-ins → MY ADD-INS (older builds: Insert → My Add-ins ▾ → Developer Add-ins).

   Excel for Windows — put manifest.xml in a folder shared as a network share, add that share under File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings → Trusted Add-in Catalogs, restart Excel, then Home → Add-ins → More add-ins → SHARED FOLDER (older builds: Insert → My Add-ins).

3. Click Nodus → Navigator on the Home ribbon to open the pane.

Step-by-step instructions with screenshots-level detail (incl. the Windows trusted-catalog setup and uninstall): INSTALL.md.

For organizations: admins can push the add-in to everyone via the Microsoft 365 admin center's Integrated Apps deployment — the manifest URL above is stable.

Use

• Click cells anywhere in the workbook — each visit is recorded (consecutive re-clicks of the same cell are collapsed).
• ◀ / ▶ step back and forward through your trail.
• Click any row in the history list to jump straight there.
• 🗑 clears the trail; − / + in the footer adjusts the pane's text size.

Privacy

Navigation history is kept in memory only and discarded when the pane closes. The add-in loads its static files from GitHub Pages and Office.js from Microsoft's CDN; it sends nothing anywhere. Full policy: nodustax.github.io/nodus-navigator/privacy.html.

Troubleshooting

• Blank pane — check that https://nodustax.github.io/nodus-navigator/ loads in your browser; corporate proxies sometimes block it.
• Add-in not listed after sideloading — fully quit and reopen Excel; on Mac, confirm the manifest is in the wef folder.

Development

npm install
# optional HTTPS for the dev server (Office requires https for sideloaded panes):
npx office-addin-dev-certs install
cp ~/.office-addin-dev-certs/localhost.crt dev-cert.pem
cp ~/.office-addin-dev-certs/localhost.key dev-key.pem

npm run dev        # serves https://localhost:3002/
npm run sideload   # sideloads manifest.dev.xml into desktop Excel

npm run build produces the static site in dist/; pushes to main auto-deploy to GitHub Pages via .github/workflows/deploy.yml. npm run validate-manifest checks the production manifest.

License

MIT