This workflow is broken, and it doesn't have to be. When you build a useful Office Script, you should be able to share it with your team in seconds, not force them to open a new script, navigate through a maze of folders, and manually import a file one at a time. The user who posted this is right to be frustrated: the current process is a series of unnecessary hurdles that punish the very people trying to improve their team's productivity.
The core problem is that Microsoft has built a sharing mechanism that assumes every script belongs to a single user's private OneDrive folder. That assumption might work for a solo analyst, but it collapses the moment you try to distribute tools across a department. Sending `.osts` files sounds logical, but there is no import button, neither in the desktop app nor the web version. The only workaround requires colleagues to create a dummy script, then hunt through their own file tree to locate the shared file and attach it. That is not sharing. That is a scavenger hunt. And the SharePoint alternative adds security warnings that erode trust and slow adoption.
What this reveals is a gap between Microsoft's vision for Office Scripts and the reality of how teams actually work. The product promises automation that is accessible and collaborative, yet the sharing experience feels like an afterthought, designed for a single user in a vacuum, not for a team that needs to move fast. The user in this story is not asking for anything exotic. They want scripts that appear in the Automate gallery, run in any workbook, and can be stored in a shared folder without triggering warnings. That is a reasonable, practical request.
The fix is not complicated. Microsoft should add a simple import button for `.osts` files directly in the Automate pane. The gallery should support shared folders, OneDrive or SharePoint, where scripts can be published once and appear for everyone with the right permissions. Warnings should be suppressible by an admin for trusted scripts. Until then, teams will keep wasting time on a workaround that should have been solved years ago. The tool is smart. The sharing should be just as smart.