Egnyte for Microsoft Office Desktop (Preview) enables real-time co-editing on Office Online and Office Desktop applications. The integration allows you to co-edit your Microsoft docs and collaborate with your colleagues across Desktop, Web & Mobile applications with all changes saved automatically to your 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 your 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 (Coming Soon)
- Egnyte iOS (Coming Soon)
Requirements
Office Applications
- Office Desktop Applications (PowerPoint, Excel, Word) must be on the Microsoft Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel
Office Subscriptions
- Users require an Office 365 Business license
- 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.)
Getting Started
Activation must be done on both Office Products (either one of Word, Excel or PowerPoint) and in the Egnyte App Store.
Enablement in Egnyte App Store by Admins
1. Find the integration on the Apps & Integrations page: On the Apps & Integrations page, find the Microsoft Office (Preview) tile under the Featured section. You can also search for this integration using the filters search bar.
2. Click on Enable Integration: You can enable the integration in multiple ways:
- Added for all users: Makes it available to all users
- Allowed for all users: Makes it available to all users, but the users need to add the integration if they want to use it
- Added for Groups: Makes it available to specific group of users (who have Microsoft Licenses)
- Allowed for Groups: Makes it available to a selected group of users, but the users need to add the integration if they want to use it
We recommend enabling using the "Added for all" users option.
Set the integration as default app for editing and hit Save.
3. 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.
The Admin setup is complete on the Egnyte side.
Updating Microsoft Update Channel
Microsoft has multiple update channels for the integration. Currently, the Egnyte options appears only in the Current Chanel and the Monthly Enterprise Channel. We expect this feature to be available in the Semi-Annual channel on the next Microsoft release in July 2023.
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 your Org Settings to the correct update Channel:
1. Log into O365 Admin
2. "Settings" -> "Org Settings"
3. Click "Microsoft 365 app installation options"
4. Select "Current Channel" or “Monthly Enterprise Channel”
5. Click "Save"
Enablement in Microsoft by Users
To enable opening, editing, and co-authoring files stored in Egnyte using the Office Desktop applications, before first use, every Egnyte User needs to follow the below steps:
- Open a Microsoft Office application
- Go to "File" -> "Account" -> "Add a Service" -> "Storage" -> "Egnyte (Preview)"
- Authenticate in window pop-up with Egnyte domain
Disclaimer: Users who are “Allowed” by the admin need to follow some extra 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 (Preview), and select "Add"
View this link to learn more
Important Specifications
File Size Limits for Office Online Co-Editing:
- Excel 50 MB
- Word 100 MB
- PowerPoint 2 GB
File Size Limits for Office Desktop Co-Editing:
- Excel 300 MB
- Word 300 MB
- PowerPoint 2 GB
File Types supported are docx, pptx, xlsx, and xlsm
Co-Authoring performance is targeted at “classroom size” less than 50 users
Only one Egnyte Domain can be connected to the Microsoft Office Apps at a time
Desktop Apps integration is limited to Power Users in Egnyte