Microsoft Office Online / WOPI Integration

The WOPI (Web Application Open Platform Interface) app, which is bundled with ownCloud Enterprise Edition, is the connector between ownCloud server and Microsoft Office Online Server.

It allows Microsoft Office Online users to collaboratively work with Office documents in ownCloud in the browser, by connecting ownCloud with your Microsoft Office Online Server via the WOPI protocol. To use it, you need to have a running Microsoft Office Online Server in your data center.

You need an Office Online Server installed.

All involved servers (OfficeOnline Server and the ownCloud server) need to be accessible by HTTPS with valid certificates.

To configure the WOPI app in your ownCloud installation, add the following configuration to config/config.php, and adjust it based on the details of your setup:

Microsoft Office Online access can be restricted to users in a specific group, by use of the wopi_group configuration key (in config/config.php), as in the following example.

In the example above, only users in the admin group would be able to access Microsoft Office Online.

If you open a document with Microsoft Office Online in ownCloud, it makes use of the WebDAV file locking functionality, available in ownCloud server. The idea is to lock the file so other users, who have access, can’t make changes to the document while you’re editing it.

In other words: the feature ensures that you are the "master editor", your changes will always be the "master state". Other users can make changes, e.g., with the desktop client, but those will create conflict files for them, which can be resolved afterward. When you close the document, Microsoft Office Online unlocks the file, so others can edit it.

You can always click on the lock icon next to your file name and unlock it manually using the button in the sidebar.