12. Deploying agents and add-ins
The Setup page, Windows and macOS installation, Office web add-ins, upgrade and removal.
This chapter covers everything that gets Ada onto endpoints: the Agents → Setup page, the Windows and macOS agent installers, the Office web add-ins (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), agent enrolment and approval, upgrades, and removal.
Ada has three kinds of client component. Choose them per platform:
| Component | Platforms | What it does | How it is deployed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows agent | Windows 10/11 | A SYSTEM service plus guard service. It also installs the four Office COM add-ins (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, classic Outlook), the tray helper, the screen-watermark helper and the right-click classifier. | Enterprise installer (SCCM / Intune / GPO) or a one-line PowerShell command |
| macOS agent | macOS (Apple silicon and Intel) | A root daemon, a per-user file agent, a per-user AI worker and a menu bar helper. It also sideloads the Word/Excel/PowerPoint web add-ins and adds a Finder Quick Action. | Console-generated .pkg or a one-line Terminal
command |
| Office web add-ins | Office on the web, new Outlook, Outlook for Mac, Office for Mac, and optionally Office for Windows | Task pane for labelling, plus send-time checks in Outlook | Microsoft 365 Centralized Deployment, Exchange New-App,
the Windows trusted catalog share, or macOS sideload (automatic with the
agent) |
In this topic
- 12.1 Agents → Setup
Agents → Setup is where you get everything a client needs. It shows the install commands with the server address already filled in, builds the enterprise installers, reveals the agent token, offers the manual…
- 12.2 Windows deployment
Install-time options map to components like this: - -WithEnforcement (or the EXE without /AGENTONLY ) adds everything in the COM, lock, pin, toolbar and right-click rows. - -WithAgent turns on file monitoring. - The…
- 12.3 macOS deployment
The package’s post-install step reads .adacfg , downloads macos-client-setup.sh from the server, and runs it with --with-agent . Its log is /var/log/ada-install.log .
- 12.4 Manifest access (IP
allow-list)
Administration → Settings → Security → Sign-in & access → Manifest access restricts which networks may download manifest-*.xml from the client address (port 443).
- 12.5 Office web add-ins
Use this to offer the web task pane in Office for Windows without Microsoft 365. Configure it in Policy → Rules → Agent Rules → Web add-in catalog (Windows only; covered fully in the Rules chapter):
- 12.6 Agent enrolment and
approval
By default, any agent holding a valid enrolment token joins automatically. To require approval, open Administration → Settings → Security → Agents & enforcement → Agent enrolment :
- 12.7 Upgrades
Note A downgrade (an older installer) is allowed. Policy-version rollback protection is unaffected.
- 12.8 Removal
Tamper protection ( Policy → Rules → Agent Rules → Tamper protection ) makes removal deliberate. With it on, even administrators cannot stop or delete the Windows services. Removal paths: