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Inline editing of Microsoft Office documents

warrenzhai

My company is looking to adapt a content management system at the department level. One of the features we are looking for is inline editing of office documents. Is there any possibility that Alfresco would support this in the near future?

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Comments

janvg

I've been working as an Opentext consultant for many years and had this questions a dozen of times. With the possibility to map Alfresco as a drive and to edit office documents as if you were on a file server might answer the question. Remember, these functionalities come in as extra modules (extra costs) or different licence types.

I believe inline editing for open office documents would be closer in the scope for Alfresco

kevinr

Hi,

As warrenzhai says, if you edit Office documents through the CIFS drive mapping then they will load into the appropriate app.

Also in the web-client you can change the default way in which documents are specified as URLs. By default the web-client simply points you to the content URL for a document, but if you change the web-client-config.xml (preferably using the config override mechanism) then you can instruct the web-client to create WebDav URLs instead. WebDav URLs open directly in Office apps and can be edited directly - including inline in the IE browser as an embedded Office app.

The config section to edit is:

   <config>
      <client>
         <!– can be: http|webdav|cifs –>
         <edit-link-type>http</edit-link-type>
      </client>
   </config>
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Change the value to "webdav" to get webdav URLs generated in the web-client by default.

Thanks,

Kevin

simon

You could have a look at http://www.ajaxwrite.com/

It's still in beta, few weeks out now but it looks interesting. They try to launch new Ajax applications weekly.

It's an Ajax version that looks like MS Office. Not the same functionality but a great idea and free. Imagine AjaxWrite with Alfresco…

kevinr

You could have a look at http://www.ajaxwrite.com/

It's still in beta, few weeks out now but it looks interesting. They try to launch new Ajax applications weekly.

It's an Ajax version that looks like MS Office. Not the same functionality but a great idea and free. Imagine AjaxWrite with Alfresco…

That does look really interesting, looks like it's using the browser editing APIs (like most inline HTML editors do) with some fancy AJAX menus etc. as well - but the really interesting bit is the ability to import/export Office, Open Office, PDF etc. formats. I think it's definitely worth looking at as a future integration.

Thanks,

Kevin

simon

It certainly looks promissing and I can see some great added functionalities when this would work together with Alfresco.

AjaxWrite is only one of the apps they made, the full list can be found on http://www.ajaxlaunch.com/.

Good luck!

warrenzhai

Wow, didn't expect this many replies in so short a time. I am trying to introduce Alfresco into our department. So far everyone is very impressed. Alfresco is really an amazing product.

So far the greatest concern we have is that sometimes our customers travel outside the company and need to edit certain Office documents in Internet Cafes where MS Office is not available. Inline editing support would greatly help.

warrenzhai

1. I changed the entry in web-client-config.xml to webdav, but the link is still the external download link.

2. I opened a document through the WebDAV link on the document detail page, but the document was opened in read-only mode. How would I be able to open it in read/write mode?

I have Office 2000.

Thanks again,

Warren

warrenzhai

AjaxWrite (AjaxOS) + Alfresco = Windows Vista

Well, not quite, but a content management system which is accessible anywhere in the world with built-in word-processor, spreadsheet, etc. certainly is an intriguing business idea.

unknown-user

I am experiencing the same behaviour :

* using default webdav in config file does not make the link beeing effectively webdav
* using webdav link (even using IE, and double checked the link string is really in the webdav root) opens the document in read only mode ("open or save-as" dialog)

I am trying sharepoint services and alfresco on a 2003 server. Is it possible to have a sharepoint-like document link? Which trigger a special IE dialog warning for security and then permitting to edit the document in read-write mode if accepted?

Thank you !

Aur?lien

unknown-user

double post sorry (forum reply displays an error each time, for me, even if the message is posted)

warrenzhai

ditto on the interest.

gavinc

Hi,

Here is the scenario where the edit link should open Office documents in edit mode.

1. The config item kev mentioned is set to "webdav"
2. The item is NOT set to be inline editable, this will take precedence
3. You are using IE
4. You have the "SharePoint.OpenDocuments.1" ActiveX object installed on your machine.
5. The file has an extension of .doc, .dot, .xls or. ppt

Furthermore, this will only work from the edit icon. The link in the view details page is a read-only link so it will not attempt to open the file in edit mode.

The handling of opening the file is done in /scripts/webdav.js if you want to investigate what is going on in there.

What version of Alfresco are you using?

unknown-user

Thank you for helping!

Presently, i use windows version of alfresco 1.2.1 (fresh install)

I checked what you point out.. it looks fine.

When i click the edit icon, it leads to the the checkout alfresco dialog, here is the edit icon html link :

<a href='#' onclick="document.forms['browse']['browse:act'].value='browse:_id104';document.forms['browse']['id'].value='870387b4-d9e3-11da-86c8-e9dc056ac461';document.forms['browse'].submit();return false;" class=inlineAction><img src="/alfresco/images/icons/edit_icon.gif" border=0 alt="Editer" title="Editer" align=absmiddle></a>‍

and then, even with correct web client config (webdav instead of http), and using IE, the link on the dialog is the following :

http://xxxxxxx:8080/alfresco/download/attach/workspace/SpacesStore/870387b4-d9e3-11da-86c8-e9dc056ac461/test%20doc%20word.doc‍

This does not make the document open itself using the Sharepoint activeX

When everything work, the webdav edit link is the first one, (edit icon in the Space) or the second one (checkout dialog) ?

unknown-user

I switched to linux debian, everything work as expected (see above)

The only settings i changed is the default behavior (webdav instead of http). I ran alf_stop.sh and then again alf_start.sh, and now i can edit my Office documents inline.

Thank you! (im adding this on the bug report i raised)

akshayakher

Hello there,

I just went through this whole thread, it was just great to see that i will be able to edit office documents inline…so i followed the procedure step by step..

1. I added

<!– the type of edit link to use, NOTE: inline editable will always take precedence –>
<!– can be: http|webdav|cifs –>
<edit-link-type>http</edit-link-type>

in the file web-client-config.xml file

I have tried with http and also with webdav.

2. stopped and started the alfresco server.
3. Then when I clicked on the edit button of the document, there is no action.
4. So I went to the view details page, and made the document "Allow Inline Editing" even then "Edit Inline: No " shows NO.
5. After this when you click to edit the document, It takes you to the checkout page, which again does not solve the purpose.

I am going through the AJAX website to check the functionality, meanwhile if anybody has tried this and has been sucessful will be able to help me out.

Thanks
Akshaya

akshayakher

I have noticed one more thing, If I keep the EditInline feature NO, and then click on the edit icon. It asks me for the Alfresco DAV Server's Username and Passowrd.

Does anybody have any idea where can I locate this username and password.

Thanks
Akshaya

schneika

The Alfresco Roadmap 2007 speaks from a Office-Plugin. Are there more informations. is it possible to edit office-document inline?

mikeh

Hi,

The Office Add-In will integrate with Word 2003 (initally) and allow you to manage the current open document and the Alfresco repository - you won't need to launch the web client separately to check in/out, etc.

Thanks,
Mike