Summary

It's possible to integrate Confluence with MS Office. This integration allows us to easily edit files with your MS Office suite via the Edit in Office button. This article treats an issue with this integration.

Environment

This problem was identified in Confluence server and datacenter version 7.11.0 but, It could also affect other versions of Confluence.

Diagnosis

Using the Edit in Office functionality, it shows a blank file in the MS Office application instead of the actual file data. The following error appears in the atlassian-confluence.log file:

2021-03-24 16:03:46,381 WARN [http-nio-8090-exec-8] [atlassian.confluence.pages.DefaultAttachmentManager] getAttachmentData Could not find data for attachment: Attachment: test.docx v1 - java.io.FileNotFoundException: /data/confluence/sharedhome/attachments/ver003/111/111/11239111/111/11/120591111/140619111/1 (Permission denied)
 -- url: /plugins/servlet/confluence/editinword/120591694/attachments/ocauth/d7b47dfa-c27a-40c6-87a7-2005bddb56e0/

From this piece of log, here's the relevant part:

• (Permission denied) error
• The path to the file we're trying to open /data/confluence/sharedhome/attachments to apply the solution proposed here
• The Edit in Office in action – /plugins/servlet/confluence/editinword/120591694/attachments/ocauth/d7b47dfa-c27a-40c6-87a7-2005bddb56e0/

Cause

Uploading a file in Confluence will store it in its file system inside the attachments folder. This folder requires the correct file system permissions for Confluence. If the permissions aren't set, Confluence will be unable to open the file properly and it will show as a blank file in the Office application.

Solution

Follow the solution proposed in How to set file system permissions for Confluence