Office document editor

Introduction

Starting from v8.8, Aurora Files offers editing office documents in Files storage. The following document formats are currently supported:

• Office Open XML - Microsoft Word (.docx, .docm, .dotm, .dotx), Excel (.xlsx, .xlsb, .xlsm), Powerpoint (.pptx, .ppsx, .pptm, .potm, .ppam, .potx, .ppsm);
• Microsoft binary file formats - Microsoft Word (.doc), Excel (.xls), Powerpoint (.ppt, .pps)
• Open Document Format - OpenDocument Text (.odt), OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.odx)

IMPORTANT: only Office Open XML files (.docx, .xlsx and so on) can be edited directly. Other formats such as .doc and .odt are converted into files of Office Open XML format, so you edit the files obtained upon converting.

Configuration

To enable office document editor in Aurora Files, you need OnlyOffice Docs installed. It can be installed on the same server as Aurora Files or a different one. Since OnlyOffice Docs comes as a bundle with its own webserver, we recommend installing it on a separate physical or virtual machine or in another container (in case of Docker).

NB: Current version 7.x of OnlyOffice is fully supported starting from v9.5 of Aurora Files. If you're using an older version of the product, installing previous version 6.x of OnlyOffice is advised. If you encounter any issues with either v6 or v7 of OnlyOffice, please notify us via HelpDesk.

We've extensively tested the integration with OnlyOffice Docs installed on Debian/Ubuntu. Installation instructions are also available for CentOS and derivatives, Windows server, it can also be installed with Docker Compose. If you choose to have Aurora Files and OnlyOffice Docs installed on the same server (without Docker used), be sure to check these guidelines.

Once OnlyOffice Docs is installed, it will be available via URL pointing to the installation location, if you enter it in web browser you should see a welcome screen of the following kind:

Welcome screen URL is automatically obtained from OnlyOffice Docs URL by appending /welcome/ to it. If you append /healthcheck/ instead, you'll be redirected to module that tests OnlyOffice Docs installation, and if everything's OK, the output there will be: true

Then you'll need to edit data/settings/modules/OfficeDocumentEditor.config.json file of your Aurora Files installation, set Disabled to false there, and specify OnlyOffice Docs URL as DocumentServerUrl value.

In that file, you'll also find ExtensionsToEdit list that denotes format which can be edited directly, and ExtensionsToConvert list of documents which can be converted. As for ExtensionsToView list, that one applies to office document viewer we explain further down this documentation page.

NB: We're assuming that you start with a free OnlyOffice license that allows up to 20 documents edited simultaneously. Should you exceed that limitation, please consider purchasing OnlyOffice Docs license.

For advanced configuration and troubleshooting, check this documentation page. In particular, we recommend to decrease delay after document editing is done, setting it to 1 or 0 seconds.

Version history

Starting from v8.8.1, OnlyOffice Docs integration supports Version History. When you finish editing the document and close the editor, the previous version of the document is stored as well as the latest one. Subsequently, you can browse through versions and download specific version of the document.

Aurora Files supports collaborative editing of the documents, including version history as well. In that case, a new entry is added to version history whenever one of those editing the document closes the editor.

If you have Aurora Files and OnlyOffice Docs installed on different domains, and you'd like to use Version History feature, be sure to setup CORS on the server that hosts Aurora Files. It's explained in our Using Web API guide as it's the same approach used there as well.

If you're using Apache, you may need to add the following directive to webserver config file so that history files are fetched correctly:

AllowEncodedSlashes On

Office document viewer

By default, Aurora Files uses online viewer for displaying files of office document formats. With OnlyOffice Docs integration enabled, it will also be used for viewing documents, see Office document viewer for more info.

Configure for viewing only

It's possible to configure the integration so that OnlyOffice Docs is used just for viewing documents, not editing. See Configuring OnlyOffice Docs for viewing documents for more info.