Opening Microsoft Office files directly from OpenPages

It is now possible to open and edit Microsoft Office files directly from OpenPages®.

Whether this feature is enabled is controlled by the new setting: Applications > Common > Configuration > Disable opening files with MS Office desktop. It is enabled by default.

The functionality of this feature is similar to inline editing. Users can open Microsoft Office files directly from OpenPages. Every time a user clicks save within a file that is opened in this way, the file is saved in the OpenPages file repository. However, other users cannot see the changes until the file is checked in.

If enabled, users can open and edit Microsoft Office files from the following access points in the Task Focused UI:

In a Task View for an object type, where the Task View contains a Grid relationship field for the File object type.
In a Task View for the File object type.

The feature is available:

When SSL is enabled on the application server.
Only on Microsoft Windows clients. It is not available on Mac operating systems.
Only if Microsoft Office 2016 or Microsoft 365 are installed locally for users.
Only for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files with the following extensions: .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, ppt, pptx.

The following example shows the new view icon (View) and Edit icon (Edit) icons. A Task View for a Control is displayed and one Word document is attached to the Control. The Word document can be opened, viewed, and edited in Microsoft Word directed from the Control. Every time a user clicks save, the file is saved in the OpenPages file repository. The user must check in the file. Then, the latest version of the document is available to other users to view and edit.

Task View for Controls with new buttons for View and Edit