Configure Co-Editing for Microsoft Office Desktop

Egnyte for Microsoft Office Desktop enables real-time co-editing on Office Online and Office Desktop applications. The integration allows the user to co-edit their Microsoft docs and collaborate with their colleagues across Desktop, Web & Mobile applications. All the changes in the process are saved automatically to the Egnyte account.

 

Benefits

• Co-Edit files in the same collaboration session while using either Microsoft Office Online or Office Desktop Apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
• Directly save Microsoft docs on Egnyte through the Office applications. No SharePoint setup is needed.
• Easy access to co-edit on desktop through your web interface or Egnyte Desktop app.
• The integration is an official Microsoft-supported program.
• Increased file size limits for Online and Desktop Co-Editing.

 

Integration Availability

Office Applications Supported

• Office Apps on Mac (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Office Apps on Windows (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Egnyte Platform Compatibility

• Egnyte Web App (Egnyte WebUI)
• Egnyte Desktop App for Windows
• Egnyte Desktop App for Mac
• Egnyte Desktop App for Mac Core
• Egnyte Android
• Egnyte iOS

 

Requirements

Office Subscriptions

• Users require a Microsoft 365 Business Standard license or above
  OR
  Enterprise Office 365 E3 subscription or above
• Microsoft license must allow for Office Desktop Apps and they should be downloaded onto a user's machine
• Perpetual licenses are not supported (Office 2016, Office 2019, etc.)
• Microsoft GCC licenses are not supported

 

Getting Started

Activation must be done on both Office Products (either one of Word, Excel or PowerPoint) and in the Egnyte App Store.

1. Navigate to Apps & Integrations -> Microsoft Office Desktop and Mobile tile under the Featured section. The user can also search for this integration using the filters search bar.
2. Click on Enable Integration.
    
3. Ensure that the pre-requisites listed in the pop-up are fulfilled and click on Continue to setup
   
   

4. Complete the app setup: 

   • Select the default behavior for each of the three Microsoft Apps from the respective dropdowns. By default, Start co-editing automatically is selected for all three apps. Alternatively, the user can select Ask the user or Open file without starting co-editing.
     
   • The user can Allow users to overwrite these defaults by clicking on the checkbox.
   • Click Next.
   
   

5. Complete the Collaborate setup: 

   • The user can make Microsoft Office Desktop as a default co-editing option in Egnyte Collaborate by turning the toggle on.
   • Click Next.
   
   
6. As an optional step, Egnyte can be added as a Trusted Place. Click ‘Learn more’ link in the pop-up for additional details. Click Next.
   
7. Ensure the requirements for individual device setup are met. Reference to the Mass Deployment – Egnyte Co-Edit Configuration guide can be accessed from the pop-up. Click on the Finish and Enable Integration button.
   

 

Update App Configuration

Admins can make changes to the app configuration if required.

1. 1. Navigate to Apps & Integrations -> Microsoft Office Desktop and Mobile tile under the Featured section. The user can also search for this integration using the filters search bar. Click on Settings.
   
2. Make changes to the app enablement settings, if needed and click on Save.
   
   • Not enabled for domain: Microsoft Office Desktop and Mobile will not be enabled for the domain users
   • Added for Groups: Makes it available to a specific group of users (who have Microsoft Licenses)  
   • Allowed for users: Makes it available to all users, but the users need to add the integration if they want to use it  
   • Added for all users: Makes it available to all users (recommended) 
3. Navigate to App defaults. Make the desired changes for co-editing defaults for Egnyte Desktop App and Egnyte Collaborate. Click Save.
   
4. On the next tab 'user setup', admins get links for instructions for
   
   • For individual device setups
   • Mass Deployment Egnyte co-edit configuration
   • Setting up Egnyte as a Trusted place
   
   Click Save to complete the configuration.
   
5. Admins also can set the default option for one-click coediting under the App Control Center tab on the Apps & Integrations page: This is a prioritized list of available co-editing applications whose order can be changed via drag-and-drop. The ranking order sets the one-click default coediting application for users on the Web UI and Egnyte Desktop Apps.
   

 

Enablement in Microsoft by Users

The users can open, edit, and co-edit the files stored in Egnyte using the Office Desktop applications. Every Egnyte User needs to follow the steps below for their first-time use

1.  Open a Microsoft Office application.
2. Go to File -> Account -> Add a Service -> Storage -> Egnyte.
   
3. Authenticate in the pop-up window with Egnyte domain.
   

Disclaimer: Users who are Allowed by the admin need to follow additional steps before they can start using the integration: 

1. Go to the Web version of Egnyte.
2. Go to Apps & Integrations.
3. Find Microsoft Office Desktop, and select Add.

View this link to learn more

 

Updating Microsoft Update Channel

Microsoft has multiple update channels for the integration. Currently, the Egnyte options is available on all channels (Current, Monthly Enterprise, and Semi-Annual Channels)

Overview of Microsoft Update Channels

There are multiple ways to update the Office Channels. Here is a comprehensive list provided by Microsoft - Change Update Channels

Here is one method to update Org Settings to the correct update Channel:

1. Log into Office 365 Admin.
2. Go to Settings -> Org Settings.
3. Click on Microsoft 365 app installation options.
   
4. Select Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel.
   
5. Click on Save.

 

Mass Deployment

Configuring co-editing can be done through mass deployment.  The script will automatically add Egnyte as a place on the Microsoft Applications. The end user will still need to click on it and authenticate their Microsoft App to their Egnyte domain.  Click here for more information.

 

Known Issues

Some users may see the following banners adding an extra step/blocking the user from editing the file. These banners can be removed by following the instructions in this article. 

 

Notifications for Co-Edit Session Availability

Desktop App will display specific alerts when co-editing sessions cannot be started. 

• No Office apps installed
• Storage not added or not authenticated
• No permissions to edit
• Extension not supported (old Office files)
• File locked (self-lock and locked by other users)
• No internet connection
• File removed
• File too large to co-edit
• File in upload
• Unknown error - 'retry later'

 

Limitations

File Size Limits for Office Online Co-Editing:

• Excel 100 MB
• Word 100 MB
• PowerPoint 2 GB

File Size Limits for Office Desktop Co-Editing:

• Excel 300 MB
• Word 300 MB
• PowerPoint 2 GB

Other Limitations

• File Types supported are docx, pptx, xlsx, and xlsm.
• Co-Authoring performance is targeted at group less than 15 users.
• Launching from the Egnyte Desktop Apps is limited to Power Users in Egnyte.
• @mentions feature is not available with this integration on the Microsoft document.
• Excel linked sheets will only be available to be linked to files from the same Egnyte domain.
• Excel linked cells will only be opened correctly for cells that are created in co-edit mode.
• For PowerPoint files, there is a limit of 5000 elements on a single PowerPoint file, which will cause the file to not open via co-edit.  An element is any object (Text field, graphic, etc.).
• Zero-byte files are not supported for co-edit.
• Files can’t be saved back to Egnyte as PDF files.
• Microsoft Purview Labels are not enabled for files opened in co-editing mode.
• Password encryption is not available on the document for co-editing.