Edit Microsoft Office Documents Online

[luminary_mb]

Hi,

I'm just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction to finding some step-by-step instructions on how to configure Alfresco so that I can edit Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel, etc) online within Alfresco, rather than having to download documents and edit them offline each time.

I am using Alfresco Community version 3.0, running on an Ubuntu Linux server. Any links to articles or documentation on how to do this would be helpful.

Thanks.

[luminary_mb]

I have now found a way to display the 'Edit Online' action next to the list of actions for a Microsoft Office content item within the Alfresco Web Client interface. Basically what you have to do is the following:

- From your apache-tomcat installation directory, navigate to the following directory: 'webapps/alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco'
- Open the 'web-client-config.xml' file
- Change the value within the '<edit-link-type>' tag from 'http' to 'webdav'
- Restart Tomcat

You should now be able to see the 'Edit Online' action icon next to a Microsoft Office document. When you click this, it will open the document in the relevant Office application (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint). You can then edit the document, save it as normal, and close the Office application. Next you simply click the 'Done Editing' action next to the working copy version of the document in Alfresco, and the file will now be checked in and updated with your relevant changes.

I have noticed that this still works even without installing the SharePoint protocol, or installing OpenOffice. However it only properly works in Microsoft Internet Explorer. I have tried doing this using Mozilla Firefox with the IE tab plug-in, but when I click the 'Edit Online' action, it prompts me with a runtime error in the browser. If I just select 'No' from the error prompt, it continues to function as normal, in that it allows me to make changes to the document, save it, and check it back in via the 'Done Editing' action.

Has anyone else got this 'Edit Online' feature to properly work within Mozilla Firefox using the IE tab plug-in?

[pankajmi]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum as well as webDAV.
I have scenario where I want to open word document in IE while clicking a hyperlink and want to edit. I am doing this using following code. But the document is opening in read only mode only. Can anyone suggest me alternate approach if any ? or tell me any configuration that I have to do for this to work. I also tried to change web-client-config.xml <edit link type> to webDav but same problem.

—code—

function onClick() {
   var docUrl = "some url";
   
   try {
        var objEditor = new ActiveXObject('SharePoint.OpenDocuments.3');
        if (docUrl.toString().indexOf(".doc") != -1 || docUrl.toString().indexOf(".docx") != -1
            || docUrl.toString().indexOf(".ppt") != -1 || docUrl.toString().indexOf(".pptx") != -1
            || docUrl.toString().indexOf(".xls") != -1 || docUrl.toString().indexOf(".xlsx") != -1
            || docUrl.toString().indexOf(".htm") != -1 || docUrl.toString().indexOf(".html") != -1) {
            if (!objEditor.EditDocument3(window, docUrl, false)) {
                alert("unable to open");
            }
        }
        else {
            window.showModalDialog(docUrl);
        }
    }
    catch (e) {
        unableToOpen = "You dont have the required software to open this file.";
        alert(unableToOpen);
    }
}

[kyriakos]

Hello i am using 3.2r community edition on windows xp with microsoft office 2007 and internet explorer 8
i have read that vti module is installed automatically on this version and i checked it to be sure.so it is installed
but i can't see 'Edit Online' button on .doc files. any ideas if it is possible and where do i have to look ?

[kyriakos]

i solved it on my system let me know if you need anything

[pankajmi]

Hi kyriakos
I want to know your solution to my problem, I mentioned in the memo. Please tell me what should I do to resolve that issue. I tried changing config files in alfresco as mentioned by many people.

Thanks
Pankaj Mittal

[kyriakos]

Hello Pankaj Mittal

i just added this code before 

</alfresco-config>‍‍

<config> 
      <client> 
         <!– the type of edit link to use, NOTE: inline editable will always take precedence –> 
         <!– can be: http|webdav|cifs –> 
         <edit-link-type>webdav</edit-link-type> 
      </client> 
   </config> ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

in the file web-client-config-custom.xml at ….\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco\extension folder
and i made a change on registry following those directions http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870853


let me know if it worked for you
Cheers  :lol: