ONLYOFFICE SharePoint integration solution

This solution enables users to edit office documents from SharePoint using ONLYOFFICE Docs.

Features

  • Currently, the following document formats can be edited: DOCX, XLSX, PPTX.
  • The following formats are available for viewing only: PDF, DJVU, TXT, CSV, ODT, ODS, ODP, DOC, XLS, PPT, PPS, EPUB, RTF, HTML, HTM, MHT, XPS.
  • The plugin will create a new Edit in ONLYOFFICE menu option within the context menu of the file and the ribbon for Office documents. This allows multiple users to collaborate in real time and to save back those changes to SharePoint.

Installing ONLYOFFICE Docs

You will need an instance of ONLYOFFICE Docs (Document Server) that is resolvable and connectable both from SharePoint and any end clients. If that is not the case, use the official ONLYOFFICE Docs documentation page. ONLYOFFICE Docs must also be able to POST to SharePoint directly.

The easiest way to start an instance of ONLYOFFICE Docs is to use Docker.

Installing ONLYOFFICE SharePoint integration solution

To start using ONLYOFFICE Docs with SharePoint, the following steps must be performed:

  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, then choose Administrative Tools, and click Services. Make sure that SharePoint Administration service is started.
  2. Click Start -> SharePoint Management Shell, go to the directory with the .wsp file.
  3. Run the Install.ps1 script: PS> .\Install.ps1

  4. Enter your SharePoint site address:

    https://<yoursharepointsite&gt;

    Alternatively to steps 3 and 4 you can type the following command: Add-SPSolution -LiteralPath<SolutionPath>/onlyoffice.wsp On the SharePoint Central Administration home page, click System Settings -> Farm Management -> Manage farm solutions. On the Solution Management page, click onlyoffice.wsp -> Deploy Solution.

  5. On the SharePoint Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage web applications.

  6. Make sure you select your site and click the Authentication Providers icon.
  7. In the Authentication Providers pop-up window, click Default zone.
  8. Under Edit Authentication, check Enable anonymous access and click Save.
  9. Go back to Web Application Management and click the Anonymous Policy icon.
  10. Under Anonymous Access Restrictions, select your Zone, set the Permissions to None – No policy and click Save.

Configuring SharePoint ONLYOFFICE integration solution

In SharePoint, open the /_layouts/15/Onlyoffice/Settings.aspx page with administrative settings. Enter the following address to connect ONLYOFFICE Docs:

https://<documentserver>/

where the documentserver is the name of the server with the ONLYOFFICE Docs installed. The address must be accessible for the user browser and from the SharePoint server. The SharePoint server address must also be accessible from ONLYOFFICE Docs for correct work.

Please note, that if you have subsites set up with SharePoint, you will need to additionally configure ONLYOFFICE Docs connection with each of them, in order for it to work properly. Go to each subsite settings and enter the Document Server address to the proper field.

Starting from version 7.2, JWT is enabled by default and the secret key is generated automatically to restrict the access to ONLYOFFICE Docs and for security reasons and data integrity. Specify your own Secret key in the SharePoint administrative settings. In the ONLYOFFICE Docs config file, specify the same secret key and enable the validation.

If JWT protection is enabled, it is necessary to specify a custom header name since the SharePoint security policy blocks external Authorization headers. This header should be specified in the ONLYOFFICE Docs signature settings as well. Further information about signature can be found here.

Compiling ONLYOFFICE SharePoint integration solution

There are two ways to compile ONLYOFFICE SharePoint integration solution:

  1. Using MS Visual Studio:
    1. Enter the SharePoint server and open this project in Visual Studio.
    2. In Solution Explorer, open the shortcut menu for the project and then choose Publish.
    3. In the Publish dialog box, choose the Publish to File System option button.
    4. Click the Publish button. When the publishing process is finished, the solution .wsp file will be created.
    5. Copy the resulting file to the folder with the Install.ps1 file (BuildAndInstall folder by default).
  2. With the help of the build.bat file provided:
    1. Go to the BuildAndInstall folder.
    2. Run the build.bat file.
    3. The resulting solution .wsp file will be created and placed to the BuildAndInstall folder.

How it works

The ONLYOFFICE integration follows the API documented here.

  1. User navigates to a document within SharePoint and selects the Edit in ONLYOFFICE action on context menu or ribbon.
  2. SharePoint makes a request to the editor page (URL of the form: /_layouts/15/Onlyoffice/editorPage.aspx?SPListItemId={ItemId}&SPListURLDir={ListUrlDir}&action=track).

  3. SharePoint prepares a JSON object with the following properties:

    • url - the URL that ONLYOFFICE Docs uses to download the document;
    • callbackUrl - the URL that ONLYOFFICE Docs informs about status of the document editing;
    • DocumentSeverHost - the URL that the client needs to reply to ONLYOFFICE Document Server (can be set at the settings page);
    • Key - the file identifier from SharePoint;
    • FileName - the document title (name);
    • CurrentUserId - the user identifier;
    • CurrentUserName - the user name.
  4. SharePoint constructs a page, filling in all of those values so that the client browser can load up the editor.
  5. The client browser makes a request to the JavaScript library from ONLYOFFICE Docs and sends ONLYOFFICE Docs the DocEditor configuration with the above properties.
  6. Then ONLYOFFICE Docs downloads the document from SharePoint and the user begins editing.
  7. When all users and client browsers are done with editing, they close the editing window.
  8. After 10 seconds of inactivity, ONLYOFFICE Docs sends a POST to callbackUrl letting SharePoint ONLYOFFICE solution know that the clients have finished editing the document and closed it.
  9. SharePoint downloads a new version of the document, replacing the old one.

Download the ONLYOFFICE SharePoint integration solution here.