Documentation for Confluence 4.1.x. Documentation for earlier versions of Confluence is available too.

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The page describes the software and setup you need to use the Office Connector.

(info) Your System Administrator can enable or disable the Office Connector or parts of it. The Office Connector options can appear in different places on your Confluence page, depending on the themes and configuration of your Confluence site. Please refer to Configuring the Office Connector in the Confluence Administration Guide and discuss any configuration problems with your administrator.

 

On this page:

(warning) The information on this page does not apply to Confluence OnDemand.

Overall Prerequisites

  • Ensure that Java 5 (JDK 1.5) or higher is installed on your Confluence server.
  • The WebDAV plugin must be enabled, because the Office Connector uses WebDAV to transfer information to and from Office documents. Note that the WebDAV plugin is bundled with Confluence, and can be enabled or disabled by the System Administrator. If necessary, refer to the instructions on enabling plugins and configuring the WebDAV options.
  • Ensure that your Confluence server's base URL is set correctly. (Check it by going to the 'General Configuration' screen in the Confluence Administration Console, as described in Configuring the Server Base URL.) When a user edits a wiki page in Word and then uploads the page back to the Confluence server, the base URL determines where the document will be saved. If the base URL is incorrect, the documents may be saved to a different Confluence server.

Prerequisites for Viewing Office and PDF Files in Confluence

If you want to use the View File macro, or to view Office files attached to a Confluence page, you need the setup described below.

Browsers and Flash Player

You can use any browser to view an Office file on a wiki page or attachment view, provided that you have installed Adobe Flash Player version 9 or later. You do not need to have an Office desktop application installed on your computer in order to view Office files in Confluence.

File Types

Confluence can display files compatible with Microsoft Office 97-2007, and PDF files, of the following types:

  • .doc and .docx
  • .xls and .xlsx
  • .ppt and .pptx
  • .pdf

Prerequisites for Importing Office Documents into Confluence

  • Document import can import Microsoft Word documents of the file types .doc and .docx. These must be valid Word 97-2007 format documents.

Prerequisites for Editing Office Files Directly From Confluence

The Office Connector allows you to edit Office files embedded in a wiki page or from the page's attachments view.

To make use of these editing capabilities, you will need the setup described below.

Browsers
Office File Editors

To edit Office files, you will need to have Microsoft Office or OpenOffice installed. (See the configuration matrix below.)

  • If you are using Firefox, you can choose which of the above editors you want to use. The Firefox add-on allows you to configure this option for each file type. See Installing the Firefox Add-On for the Office Connector.
  • If you are using Internet Explorer, you will need Microsoft Office. You cannot edit Office files in OpenOffice when using Internet Explorer.
Configuration Matrix

 Chrome does not have  WEBDAV pluging/support so this feature will not work. Please refer to CONF-23322 for information on the progress of the issue.

 

You need one of the following software combinations to edit Office files from your wiki page:

Operating System

Office Version

Browser

  • Windows 7,
  • Windows Vista, or
  • Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or 3
  • OpenOffice 2.x – 3.x, or
  • Microsoft Office XP, 2003, 2007 or 2010
  • Internet Explorer 8.x – 9.x, or
  • Firefox 4.x – 5.x
  • Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6
  • Firefox 4.x – 5.x
  • Linux
  • OpenOffice 2.x – 3.x
    The only known supported Office editor for Linux is OpenOffice. But in theory it should work with any WebDAV-aware application.
  • Firefox 4.x – 5.x

Related Topics

Working with the Office Connector

Configuring the Office Connector in the Confluence Administration Guide

Take me back to Confluence User's Guide

20 Comments

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  1. Jun 06, 2009

    Christian Kuehn

    Why is there no option for OpenOffice on Mac OSX ?

    1. Jun 07, 2009

      Anonymous

      The brief explaination is that NeoOffice is what OpenOffice is called on Mac OS X.

      So the only option for Mac OS X is OpenOffice.

      1. Jun 07, 2009

        Christian Kuehn

        We are working on OpenOffice 3.0 native on OSX. I think OpenOffice is the standard right now. NeoOffice is Java OpenOffice is Aqua. Is there any way to change the Application that should launch after clicking.

        1. Jun 15, 2009

          Azwandi Mohd Aris [Atlassian]

          Hi, Christian. If you would like to give that a try, you can modify the settings for the WebDAV Launcher add-on in Firefox. Go to Tools->Add-ons->WebDAV Launcher->Preferences and define your the application and file type association there.

  2. Jun 15, 2009

    Anonymous

    That´s not working. What application will be opened after the click is hardcoded. It overrides the Launcher prefs.

  3. Aug 05, 2009

    Anonymous

    In Mac OS X can one use Office 2008? with documents in 97-2004.

    Thanks.

  4. Sep 11, 2009

    John Kung

    when would Office 2007 formats (docx, xlsx, pptx) be supported?  Thanks..

    1. Sep 11, 2009

      Zed Yap [Atlassian]

      Hi John,

      We have no specific date on this. However, I found an improvement request in JIRA:

      Please add your comments to the discussion, vote on it and add yourself as a watcher for future updates. Also, please bear in mind the following document on how we schedule features for inclusion in our products: Implementation of New Features and Improvements.

      Hope that helps.
      Best rgds
      Zed

  5. Feb 01, 2010

    Anonymous

    Will the Office Connector (i.e. Edit in Office functions) ever work with Safari? When I tried to edit my embedded spreadsheet it said that I need firefox or IE.

    1. Feb 02, 2010

      Jack Low [Atlassian]

      Hi,
      Unfortunately, the Edit function in Office Connector does not work with Safari. You need these software combinations to edit the office documents.

      Hope my explanations clear your doubts.

      Regards,
      Jack

  6. Mar 03, 2010

    Mark

    What about Windows 7, I see no reference to it here.
    When I do Edit Wiki Page in Word with Office 2007, Conf 3.11 and webdav installed, I cannot save document back to wiki, it always asks me to save locally.

    1. Mar 04, 2010

      Zed Yap [Atlassian]

      Hi Mark,

      I found a bug report on this issue in JIRA:

      Please add your comments to the discussion and add yourself as a watcher for future updates. Also, please bare in mind the following document on how we schedule features for inclusion in our products: Atlassian Bug Fixing Policy.

      Hope that helps.
      Best rgds,
      Zed

  7. Aug 20, 2010

    Anonymous

    Hi,

    I am trying to get the 'Edit in Office' button to work for our users. I can get it running using Firefox however it refuses to work in IE (the majority of our users will only be able to have IE). Versions used are:

    - Microsoft Windows XP

    - Microsoft Office 2003

    - Microsoft Internet Explorer 7

    Please can you advise how to resolve this?

    Many thanks

    Andy

  8. Feb 18, 2011

    Michael Rieger

    Hi!

    I am very puzzled: This page is clearly stating that the WebDAV plugin is needed to use every feature of the Office Connector. However I am able to import Word documents into Confluence without having that WebDAV plugin installed (using Firefox 3.6 on Win 7, IE8 on Win 7, IE6 on XP, and Firefox 3.5 on XP).

    Is this some kind of magic?

    Please help me out on this: I'd love to use this feature (i.e. the Doc Import). But I am also very interested in understanding how it works.

    We are using Confluence 3.0.1, and thus Office Connector 1.5.

    Thanks for any hint...
    Michael

  9. Feb 25, 2011

    Anonymous

    I have WebDav enabled..

    But I am using Office 2010... Confluence tries to run, but no document makes it to word.

    Suggestions?

    1. Apr 07, 2011

      Anonymous

      Elsewhere it mentions - see http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFKB/Edit+in+Office+Opens+Blank+in+Office+2010 as a workaround because annoyingly Word 2010 is not supported, the ffg. However, it doesnt work for me - whether I use FF 3.6 with the Webdav plugin is offers to dl, FF4 with the Webdav plugin released on 27 March, IE8 x32 or x64 from Win 7 x64 and Office 2010 x86. I can see Word opens but the document to be edited never loads.

      Also tried FF3.6 and Office 2011 on OSX - no go either. Kinda running out of options here. Do we really need to downgrade all our office versions to get this to work?!

      In short my side I experience the same issue you are. Any more ideas, ... Atlassian?

      Workaround

      Add Confluence url as a trusted site:

      1. Go to Internet Explorer > Tools > Internet Options > Security tab > Trusted sites.
      2. Click on Sites button.
      3. Add Confluence url as a trusted site.

      Note that you still need to configure the BasicAuthLevel (at [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WebClient\Parameters]) registry setting to 2 for the read only issue. See also Troubleshooting Read-Only problems in the Office Connector.

      1. Apr 07, 2011

        Anonymous

        Above experience refers to Confluence 3.5 FWIW.

        1. Apr 07, 2011

          Anonymous

          Windows 7 Open Office support isnt mentioned, but tried it anyway just in case. Also experiencing the above 2 users issues with Word 2010, so tried something else and changed the Webdav plugin link to point to OpenOffice 3.3 writer. Using March 27 2011 Webdav with FF4. Unlike with Word, this time our proxy server login prompt appears, I fill that in and then get 'general network' error dialog. I have the confluence site as a local site thereby its address is set to bypass the proxy. Tried the read only and registry workaround too. Confluence 3.5 and Office connector 1.15 with default settings.

          Please resolve Office 2010 support, Atlassian.

  10. Sep 13, 2011

    Anonymous

    In our company we want to use Firefox 6.x. Is it possible that Confluence 4.0 support also this Firefox Version?

    Many thanks in advance,

    Julia

     

  11. Sep 20, 2011

    Qian Zhao

    I'm testing 4.0-rc7 within our organization. The office connector coming with this version has the following issues:

    • For attachment: The "edit in office" doesn't not work in IE8/Windows XP/Office2003. In Firefox4/Windows XP/Office2003 "edit in office" works for excel/word/ppt files but not for pptx.
    • For wiki page: I understand in 4.0 editing confluence page in word isn't available. Will this be added back in in future release?

    Thanks!