Microsoft Office Online / WOPI Integration

About

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.

Please bear in mind:

  • WOPI is only available for ownCloud enterprise. It is not available in the community version.

  • Out-of-the box only the on-premise version of Microsoft Office Online Server is supported.

  • This app requires at minimum ownCloud Version 10.1 and php 7.1.
If you want to integrate the Office 365 (cloud) version of Microsoft Office Online, you need to get in touch with us.

Preparing the Environment

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.

Configuring the WOPI App in ownCloud

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:

'wopi.token.key' => 'replace-with-your-own-random-string',
'wopi.office-online.server' => 'https://your.office.online.server.tld',

Restrict Usage to Users in a Specific Group

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.

'wopi_group' => 'admin'

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

If the key is not defined, then all users have access to this Microsoft Office Online service connected via WOPI.

Locking the Document

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 with 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.

Lock Timeout

If a user is editing a file and loses their internet connection, the lock will timeout, freeing the lock after 30 minutes. Refer to the WOPI documentation for further information.

Known Issues

Document Locks Are Not Released When Using Google Chrome

When editing a document with Google Chrome (and Chromium) via ownCloud in Microsoft Office Online, the document lock is not released when the document is closed. The document lock is only released after the 30-minute timeout or a manual lock release. To mitigate the issue, try to remember to manually unlock the document before closing it.

More information about this issue is available in the following links:

Troubleshooting

Checklist if something is not working:

  1. Client can reach the ownCloud Server (browse to web page and log in)

  2. Client can reach the Office Online Server (via hosting/discovery url with https)

  3. ownCloud Server can reach the Office Online Server (via hosting/discovery url with https)

  4. Office Online Server can reach ownCloud Server (browse to web page and log in)

Make sure TLS 1.2 is being used: