The Partner Website Is Terrible!

Question

I just wanted to recreate an old thread from 2008 that has been getting consistent comments up until 2019.
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/92665b4b-fa04-4b76-983c-781e493fcd2d/the-partner-website-is-terrible?forum=isvpartneringwithmsft
These problems have not been fixed and im running into constant and pervasive errors bugs and crashes of this website. And im sure others are to. after 13 years of working on this how is this not fixed especially given how large a company Microsoft is. I recently created an account paid for UWP store access then had to recreate and repay for an account since with no warning you aren't actually allowed to use a business email ( has to be Gmail or yahoo) or you will run into constant crashes. once i recreated the account with a Gmail address i was able to make the store page however now im struggling through verifying the account again. a process that originally took a month due to having to fight back and forth with support and the website crashing or not allowing my to verify my email.

Answer 1

OMG, I completely agree with you!

I spent all day, all forking day, trying to publish an app, a free app for fork's sake!!!

I am still stuck at the first step to get the account verified!!!!

I was forced to select business account even though I wanted to use individual, for whatever the hell reason, the individual option was disabled, with no explanation! Luckily I have a free token, so I didn't care.

Then the nightmare started!

I was stuck half day, half day, repeat, half day!!! at the step of verifying my email. I got the email multiple times, clicked multiple times, sometimes it opens a 500 error page, sometimes it opens a page showing me "something is wrong" but didn't tell me how to fix it. For whatever reason, it eventually worked, I didn't know how many hours were wasted already.

Now at night, I finally reached to the step to verify the business, and of course it's rejected. Sigh... I didn't even know why it was rejected.

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On the other side, in the submission process, why the fork all the strict asset requirements? And when building the solution in VS.NET, it never complains all those pixel perfect and size limit restriction, until the moment you want to create it for the store.

why the fork using a CSV to update meta data?
Look at this page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/import-and-export-store-listings
It says: "For example, if your root folder is named my_folder, and you want to use an image called screenshot1.png for DesktopScreenshot1, you could add screenshot1.png to the root of that folder, then enter my_folder/screenshot1.png"

Where the fork is my root folder?????
I don't understand, where can I create a root folder in Partner Center?

WHY WHY WHY???
PUBLISHING THE APP IN STORE IS THE WORST EXPERIENCE I EVER HAVE, AND I HATE EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

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Here is an alternative that will make me feel much better:

• let me register the account easily in the website
• allow me to upload my package in the store, don't forking verify my account first, it's freaking stupid;
• now show my app in store with "unverified" or "preview" state, don't force me to include all the assets and descriptions
• at this stage, as a developer, I can see the app showing up, but it is not fully published, however, I can copy a link and share with another person to test the store installation. I am now half-committed in store.
• From here, directly in store, allow me to upload image, I don't care what "root folder" is; allow me directly edit the description, and all other meta data in the PDP page. Don't force me to use CSV! Who came up with the stupid idea of using CSV?
• Now if I want to finally publish it, in store, request me to verify the rest of my information. At that stage, I have fully committed my app. I am more willing to complete the process.

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Honestly, this partner center experience is extremely painful, it's almost like you guys don't want anyone to submit any app!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, at this point, I really don't want to publish my app!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

I completely agree. Last year I purchased an Action Pack Subscription after weeks of struggling with the verification process, but finally I was verified.
This year my company address has changed. I tried to change it on the site, but no matter what document I attach, it gets declined.
I do not understand why Microsoft needs the verify everything again, what was verified before.
I created a support request after about 30 minutes. It is a much more difficult process than last year.
Currently I am unable to renew my subscription, because my account is in pending status.

Answer 3

I am in the same boat,

I have been trying for over a week now to get registered to publish an office add-in and not only is the documentation not consistent, the support links targets don't exist and the page to sign up is riddled with errors (just open devtools on https://partner.microsoft.com/)...

After I paid my $20 and had to spend days waiting for support due to a faulty payment page... they told me that I have to register a company and open a company account in order to publish an Office add-in.

Documentation clearly states that an individual developer account will allow you to submit apps
By now all this "we value your business" and "thanks for promoting Microsoft Products" in every useless reply from support is actually insulting.

Seems like Microsoft doesn't want to extend their products with community contributions, so much for open-source mentality ... more like red tape and bureaucracy...

Spend months developing, abiding by their rules and now this - most frustrating vendor experience I had so far.