Enabling and configuring the opening of Microsoft Office files

You can configure whether users can open and edit Microsoft Office files directly from OpenPages®.

Restriction: This feature is not available for OpenPages as a Service or IBM OpenPages for IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Before you begin

Verify that Microsoft Office 2016 or Microsoft 365 is installed locally for users.

Verify that SSL is enabled.

Test that users can open Microsoft Office files from OpenPages.

If the OpenPages application server is using a self-signed certificate, users must import the certificate into the truststore on their local computer. Otherwise, a blank screen is displayed when they try to open a Microsoft Office document from within OpenPages. This type of certificate might be used in certain situations, for example, in a test environment.

  1. Click the lock icon in the browser URL (Chrome).
  2. Click Certificate.
  3. Click the Details tab and click Copy to File to export the certificate.
  4. Click Next and accept all defaults.
  5. Enter a file name and click Finish.
  6. From the Control Panel, type Manage User certificates to open the certmgr tool.
  7. Click Trusted Root Certificates > All Tasks > Import to import the certificate you saved.
  8. Close the browser.
  9. Open a new browser session.

About this task

How this feature works 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 Microsoft Office files in the following places in the OpenPages UI:
  • In a Task or Admin View for an object type, where the view contains a Grid relationship field for the File object type.
  • In a Task or Admin View for the File object type, in the Versions section.

The feature is available:

  • Only on Microsoft Windows clients. It is not available on Mac operating systems.
  • Only if Microsoft Office 2016 or Microsoft 365 is installed locally for users.
  • Only for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files with the following extensions: .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, ppt, pptx. This feature is not available for other file types, such as PDF files and text files.
  • Only if the OpenPages URL has an HTTPS protocol, not HTTP.

The following settings are already set to the recommended defaults, but administrators can decide to change them to preserve the behavior of previous versions:

  • Deciding whether to display the View button

    The View button is no longer displayed by default. The View button provides a user the ability to view the file if another user has it checked out. It is not to be used to edit the file because the user would get no reminder about checking the file back in. However, the user can choose to edit the file after clicking the View button. This action can lead to a situation where the user tries to edit a file while another user is editing the file, and there is no easy way to resolve the conflicts. The Microsoft application displays a dialog box with some options, but only View a read-only copy works.

    A dialog shows a message that the file is locked

    Without the View button, if a user wants to look at the file while another user has the file checked out, the user downloads the file and opens it manually. If the user wants to just look at the file and not edit it, they can click the Edit button and then either cancel the checkout or check in the file when they are done.

    If you want to display the View button, ensure that all users know to select only the View a read-only copy option in the Microsoft application File In Use dialog box.

    To display the View button, click Applications > Common > Configuration > MS Office desktop > Show View button and set the Value to true.

  • Deciding when the file gets checked out

    By default, a file is checked out as soon as the user clicks the Edit button. Checking out the file immediately prevents other users from trying to edit the file. However, the file always gets checked out, even if the user never edits it. If the user doesn't edit the file, the user must manually undo the checkout.

    If you want to restore the behavior from pre-8.3.0.2 releases, you can do so. In the past, the default behavior was to delay the check out until the user clicks Enable Editing and automatically cancel the check out if the user closes the document with no changes. If you choose to restore this behavior, ensure that all users know to select only the View a read-only copy option in the Microsoft application File In Use dialog box.

    To restore the checkout behavior from versions before 8.3.0.2, set Applications > Common > Configuration > MS Office desktop > Checkout immediately on edit to false.

View and Edit are displayed in Task and Admin Views if the following conditions are met:
  • The application setting Applications > Common > Configuration > Disable opening files with MS Office desktop is set to false. This setting is the default.
  • View is displayed if the user has read access rights to the file and the application setting Applications > Common > Configuration > MS Office desktop > Show View button is set to true.
  • Edit is displayed if the user has write access rights to the file and if no other users have the file checked out.

Procedure

  1. Log on as a user with administrative privileges.
  2. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Settings.
  3. Click Applications > Common > Configuration > Disable opening files with MS Office desktop.
    In the Value field, type a value:
    • false - editing is enabled so that users can open and edit Microsoft Office files directly from OpenPages. This setting is the default.
    • true - editing is disabled so that users cannot open and edit Microsoft Office files directly from OpenPages.

    Click Done.