Documentation

Microsoft Office for Web

Files.com integrates with Office 365 so you and your colleagues can collaborate on Microsoft Office spreadsheets, documents, and presentations directly in your Files.com folders in real time.

How the Integration Works

Files.com integrates with Microsoft Office using the Web Application Open Platform Interface (WOPI) protocol. WOPI is the protocol Microsoft 365 applications use to view and edit files stored in a cloud service. Files.com uses encrypted connections to transfer files to and from Microsoft's secure infrastructure. When you close the editor, your content is removed from Microsoft 365 for the web's servers, though frequently edited documents may be retained within an encrypted, hashed cache to speed up subsequent edits.

Working With Documents

Microsoft Office Online opens your document in a new browser tab, where you can work with the same Microsoft Office tools and menus you already use.

To open a document as read-only in the Office editor, you need read permission on the file. To open it in edit mode, you need Full Permission on the folder containing the document. Without Full Permission, the document opens but cannot be edited.

If a site administrator has enabled the setting to Use Office Integration for Full Access Share Links, visitors can use Office for the Web to make changes to Office documents stored within the Share Link. Your site's Online Editor Integration must be configured to use this editor, and the share link must allow Full access, including download, upload, modify, and delete.

Saving Your Work

You do not need to save the document while you are editing. Microsoft Office for Web saves your work automatically and displays the document status as Saved to Files.com in the search bar above the application menu. That same bar shows the application name, the document name, and, at the right edge, the user name under which you are currently logged in.

Collaborating Online

When multiple Files.com users have access to the same document, you can see who else is editing it alongside you, and their changes appear in real time as you make yours. For multi-page documents, Microsoft Office for Web indicates which page each collaborator is on so you can avoid stepping on each other's changes. When a collaborator moves between pages, their icon moves with them.

Everyone co-authoring a document must edit it through the same system. For example, if a document is stored in a remote mount of a SharePoint server, you cannot simultaneously edit it through Microsoft Office for the Web and through SharePoint online. Each service works off its own cached copy of the data, with unpredictable results.

Coauthoring Logging

When more than one person edits a file at the same time, Files.com history logs attribute every change in the session to the first person who opened it, even when other users made edits during the session. Once the session is over, there is no way to see in Files.com which user made which specific edits.

Enable Track Changes to attribute specific edits to specific collaborators. When you turn on Track Changes in Microsoft Office for the web, your changes are recorded as suggestions so others can see exactly what was edited. Teams review and discuss those changes before accepting them into the final version. Each edit is labeled with the editor's name and a timestamp.

File Size Limitations

A Files.com site can handle files up to 5TB in size, but this integration is subject to the file size limits set by Microsoft. See Microsoft's documentation for their current limits on file sizes and sessions with Microsoft Office for the Web.