Microsoft Office Integration enables co-editing by connecting Egnyte to Office 365 to allow multiple users to edit a document simultaneously using the Office desktop software on your laptop/PC. For mobile, it enables collaboration if you have installed Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Note. only users with edit and download permissions can edit a document with collaborative authoring. In addition, these users need to be a user in the Microsoft Tenant which we have used for setup as well so, collaboration would be limited to it. It is supported for Microsoft Word™ (*.docx), Excel™ (*.xlsx & *.xlsm), and PowerPoint™ (*.pptx) documents.
Configuring Microsoft Office Integration
Requirements
Before you can use collaborative authoring with Microsoft Office, it needs to be set up.
For the setup you need:
- Microsoft Office 365 Tenant and Office Business license.
- Users of Egnyte must have an Office 365 account that incorporates Office customer licenses (Business, Business Premium, ProPlus, E3, E4, or E5) to change or edit their files.
- Global admin and Cloud Application Admin Access on Microsoft Tenant. Please go to Azure Directory here and click users and check if these permissions are applied with the account.
Example Screen-shot for Assigned Roles
We do have a manual option where we won't be able to automate things for you if you want to restrict roles & assignments, and in that scenario, you do NOT need "Global admin" privileges. See below for more details and steps 5-8 to see the difference.
Steps:
1. Go to Apps & Integrations on Egnyte Domain
2. Search for "Microsoft Office" integration by clicking on the tile or opening from "App Control Center."
3. Click on the link "Settings" next to Microsoft Office Desktop to start the configuration wizard. Please check the requirements section above and do the configuration as an admin with the right access and permissions in Microsoft Tenant before getting started.
4. This is the first screen. Click "Start Configuration"
5. Manage Site Setup: There are 2 options.
a) Automatic SharePoint site creation (recommended)
b) If you chose to select "create manually," - then at a later point, you will need to insert the complete URL of the existing SharePoint site. We recommend it to make it private for purposes of integration only.
For b) case, we require fewer permissions, and a global admin role is not required, but it can impact further scaling so, we do strongly recommend the "automatic" option.
6. Microsoft Authentication: Global Admin will need to sign in with the email address they have access to as stated in the requirements if you choose the 1st option (automatic) in "Site setup." If you choose the 2nd option (manual), only the "Cloud Application Admin" role will suffice.
Example Screen-shot for permissions needed if you choose "Automatic"
7. App-level consent: Screen shows what's it is used for following by permissions screen. Press continue
You will be prompt to sign in again with the same email address. Once sign-in is done, you will see the below screen to get App-level consent.
Automatic Site setup completion with auto-created "SharePoint site" example.
8. Site Setup: If you chose the manual option (Option b at step # 5), you would need to type the complete URL of the existing SharePoint site, which you would use for the integration. Please make it private.
9. User Mapping: If you have Azure Active Directory setup, please choose the first option (preferred).
If you have users who have access to this Microsoft Tenant but are not in the active directory, it would suggest you choose the 2nd option, as you can see in the example below.
In this scenario, each user accessing Microsoft Office Editing needs to map Egnyte - MSFT emails one time by authorizing it as mentioned here in the user guide.
10. Sharing: The options here give you a choice if you want your users to allow and use "Native Microsoft Sharing" options, or you want to restrict that and keep only Egnyte Sharing.
If you choose option # 1, please make changes by going to the SharePoint site you created in the 1st step by looking for it in the SharePoint Active Sites -> choose Sharing Options -> Select "Only people in your organization" and SAVE. Then return to configuration wizard and continue.
If you don't want to change the SharePoint Sharing Permissions, please choose the 2nd option, which means you will NOT restrict Microsoft Native Sharing Options. Click Next.
11. Once you click "Next," you are at the end of the configuration, and you will see a summary screen. Should you want to "Change" settings, you can do it from here. For now, click "Close."
Enabling & Adding Microsoft Office Desktop Integration
"Microsoft Office" Integration is NOT turned on in your Egnyte domain by default.
After the Configuration is completed, as Egnyte admin user, go back to the "Microsoft Office" Application in App Control Center and choose appropriate settings from the Status field.
We do recommend "Added for all users".
Ensure after selecting an option; you press "Save" at this time to save the configuration.
You can confirm with users; they should see this Integration as "Added" in their workspace.
Default Option for co-editing Apps from App Control Center
Go to Apps & Integrations. Admins will see "App Control Center" for quick access to editing apps.
Clicking on "Settings" will enable you to choose or change your defaults as well as other settings. If you want any editing application here to be marked as default, then control/change it from here. Details - please see this article - Introducing "App Control Center" for Admins.
This step is optional - if you don't do this part, the impact is only that users ability see the "Co-Edit" blue button in Web UI and on Egnyte Desktop Products highlighted for quick user's access. However, they will still access all editing applications if enabled and added via the context menu.
Checklist
- Complete Microsoft Office Integration Configuration Wizard & Setup is completed "Successfully."
- Enable "Microsoft Office" Integration via Status Field, E.g. "Add for all users" in your organization.
Limitations
- 60MB Document size is supported.
- Microsoft Word™ (*.docx), Excel™ (*.xlsx,*.xlsm), and PowerPoint™ (*.pptx) - newer formats are supported. Older formats of Office documents, co-edit would not show, but you can "SAVE as" these documents in newer office formats to enable this.
"Microsoft Office Desktop" App in Apps & Integrations is available to all Egnyte customers starting May.
Related links:
Co-editing with Microsoft Office Integration on WeB UI and Desktop
Co-editing with Microsoft Office Integration on Egnyte Mobile
MS Office (Desktop) FAQ here