ENABLING MICROSOFT OFFICE FOR THE WEB

SERVICES FOR M-FILES

VERSION 3.8 | LAST UPDATED 7 MAY 2024

This document explains how to enable Microsoft Office for the web features for M-Files.

DEPLOYMENT INSTRUCTIONS

M-Files Cloud Vault Enabling Office in M-Files Cloud Vault

An on-premises installation Enabling Office in an On-Premises Environment

Self-hosted cloud environment Instructions for this deployment option are not available in this document. Your
organization must be part of Office Cloud Storage Partner Program. When you are
part of the program and have set up your Microsoft Office for the web integration,
set M-Files to use it (section 3.4).

Contents
1. Prerequisites ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Enabling Office for the Web in M-Files Cloud Vault ...................................................................................................... 2

3. Setting Up Office Online Server in an On-Premises Environment .............................................................................. 2

4. Setting M-Files Clients to Use Office for the Web ......................................................................................................... 4

5. Known Limitations ............................................................................................................................................................ 6

6. Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................................................................... 6

7. Change History ................................................................................................................................................................. 9

Appendix A: Setting the New M-Files Web and Add-Ins to Use Office for the Web ........................................................ 10

Appendix B: Setting the Classic M-Files Web to Use Office for the Web .......................................................................... 12

1. Prerequisites

• The end users must be able to log on to the Office Online Server and use the respective apps (such as Word
Online, Excel Online).
o In M-Files cloud environments, you must have a valid Microsoft 365 subscription to edit documents
with Office for the web. See the Microsoft documentation on license plans. Note that this is a third-party
product and service, so its content and terms are subject to change and are outside of our control.

Page 1 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

 o In on-premises environments, the Microsoft 365 subscription may not be required, but an Office Online
Server environment must be set up, instead. For instructions, see section 3. The licensing and login
requirements for it are outside of the scope of this document, discuss them with the local OOS admins.
• You must use M-Files May '22 Update or later.
o You can set up the feature with M-Files December '20 Update and later, but we recommend that you use
M-Files May '22 Update or later. The steps in sections 3.4 and 4 are different in the different versions.

2. Enabling Office for the Web in M-Files Cloud Vault

If you use M-Files Cloud, please request our customer support at support.m-files.com to enable Office features in
your vault. Please tell in which client or clients you want the feature to be supported.

3. Setting Up Office Online Server in an On-Premises Environment

If you use an on-premises server or servers, follow the instructions in this section to install Office Online Server.

3.1 Preparing the Server Environment

Before going forward, refer to the environment requirements in this Microsoft article. Image 1 offers an overview
of the typical server environment for the Office Online Server setup.

Image 1: Example server setup with Active Directory Domain Services, Office Online Server, and M-Files Server.

Note that all the servers in the server farm need to be part of a domain. Alternatively, they can be in domains that
are part of the same domain forest.

For M-Files Server to work properly with Office Online Server, the two need to be able to communicate over HTTP.
Ensure that the firewall of the server computer is not blocking the communication between them.

Office Online Server has the same minimum hardware requirements as SharePoint Server 2016. The minimum
recommended RAM for the Office Online Server machine is 12 GB.

Page 2 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

3.2 Installing Office Online Server

For instructions on how to set up Office Online Server, refer to this Microsoft article.

3.3 Verifying the Installation of Office Online Server

3.3.1 Verifying Sites in Internet Informati on Services Manager

Open Internet Information Services Manager and expand Sites. Make sure that you have these sites added to it.

3.3.2 Verifying the WOPI Discovery URL

Enter the following discovery URL in a browser of your choice and ensure the XML is shown without any
issues:

http://<address of the Office Online Server installation>/hosting/discovery

Image 2: Sample discovery XML.

WOPI means Web Application Open Platform Interface Protocol.

Page 3 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

3.3.3 Confirming clients can access the servers

The clients that will be using co-authoring need to have access to both servers in this setup:

• The IIS server hosting the M-Files Web

• The Office Online Server that provides the actual co-authoring functionality

The clients connect to the M-Files web to get information and to also open the co-authoring page, which, in turn,
uses an iframe element to open the Office Online Server editor (such as Word Online, Excel Online, etc.).

Thus, all clients (desktop, web and mobile), must be able to resolve and access the web sites on both of these
servers. For example, on internal networks, sometimes the DNS name of those servers is only available when the
client is connected to a VPN and so otherwise co-authoring will fail even if the rest of the setup is correct.

The easiest way to check that access is to open the discovery URL from the previous section on a few client
machines that are representative of the user situation that you have. Make sure to use the same protocol that you
use in the settings below (http or https).

3.4 Setting M-Files to Use the Features

When you have set up Office Online Server, set M-Files to use Office. The setup is different for different M-Files
versions.

3.4.1 M-Files May '22 Update and Later

See section 4.

3.4.2 M-Files April '22 Update and Earlier

If you want to enable the Office for the web features for the new M-Files Web and add-ins like M-Files for Teams
and SharePoint Online, see Appendix A: Setting the New M-Files Web and Add-Ins to Use Office for the Web.

If you use the classic M-Files Web see Appendix B: Setting the Classic M-Files Web to Use Office for the Web.

Skip section 4.

4. Setting M-Files Clients to Use Office for the Web

Follow these instructions to set the new M-Files Web, the classic M-Files Web, and M-Files Desktop to use the
Office for the web features. This also enables co-authoring and makes the Office for the web features usable in the
M-Files add-ins, such as M-Files for Teams and SharePoint Online.

Prerequisites
Before you go forward, make sure you have these prerequisites in place:
• Your login account has the System administrator server role.
• The backend service for Office for the web has been set up.

Page 4 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

 o If you enabled M-Files Web with M-Files Admin, the backend service for Office for the web is
already set up. This option is available in M-Files October '22 Update and later.

o If you enabled M-Files Web manually with Internet Information Services, refer to Setting Up
the Office for the Web Backend Service for the New M-Files Web.

o Refer to Setting Up the Office for the Web Backend Service for the New M-Files Web.

• You use M-Files May '22 Update or later.

o If you have an earlier version, see section 3.4.2.

On the M-Files server machine:

1. Open Advanced Vault Settings in M-Files Admin.
2. Expand Client > Manage Client Settings Centrally and set it to Yes.

Important: Read the setting description carefully before you set the value to Yes and save your
changes.

3. Click Save.
4. Expand Client > Common > Office for the Web.
5. Set Enabled to Yes.
Result: The Office for the web configuration values are displayed. Your login account must have the System
administrator server role.

If you use M-Files Cloud, please tell customer support ([email protected]) to enable Office for the web
services for you.

6. Enter the values for the configuration. Use the information in the table for help.

SETTING NAME DESCRIPTION

Discovery URL The WOPI discovery URL in this format:

http(s)://<address of the Office server>/hosting/discovery

If your organization has its own cloud server, you can use this discovery URL:
https://onenote.officeapps.live.com/hosting/discovery

Use Internal This setting is for on-premises setups only.

URL
Yes: Use this value if you use an "internal-http" or "internal-https" configuration for your
Office server.
No: Use this value if you use an "external-http" or "external-https" configuration for your
Office server.

Application This setting is required for M-Files Desktop to use the co-authoring feature.
Server
Specifies the application server URL. If a custom port is used, the URL must contain the port
number.

For example:
https://exampleserver.cloudvault.m-files.com/
or
http://exampleserver.cloudvault.m-files.com/
or
https://exampleserver.cloudvault.m-files.com:800/

Page 5 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

 Source Domain This setting is required for cloud-based setups. If you have an on-premises setup, ignore
this setting.

The domain name of the WOPI server in the following format:

http(s)://<domain URL>/wopi

For example:
http(s)://wopi.exampledomain.com/wopi

Note: When this value is specified, the domain name must first be added to the WOPI
domain allow list by Microsoft. For this, your organization needs to be part of Office Cloud
Storage Partner Program.

Operation This is an optional setting. The maximum number of milliseconds to wait for an operation
Timeout to complete.
The default value is 10,000 milliseconds (10 seconds).

7. Open a DOCX, PPTX, or XLSX document with an M-Files Web based add-in or the new M-Files Web to make
sure that the configuration works correctly.

5. Known Limitations

5.1 General Limitations

• In the classic M-Files Web, when a document is opened in the read-only mode, the Edit and Edit in Browser
commands are not shown.

5.2 Limitations in On-Premises Environments

• If you refresh the page in the Office for the web editor, the same user is added to the editing session again.

5.3 Limitations in Mobile Applications

• Co-authoring is not supported in the iOS mobile application.

6. Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting topics:

• "The server must be joined to a domain" Error

• Discovery XML Cannot Be Displayed
• Online Editor Loads Indefinitely
• Online Editor Not Loading in the Desktop Client
• Changes Made in Office for the Web Not Always Saved to M-Files
• Co-Authoring Option Not Visible in Context Menu
• Saving Delayed on the On-Premises Office Server
• Online Editor Not loading in Classic Web

Page 6 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

6.1 "The server must be joined to a domain" Error

Issue: While creating the Office Online server farm (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeonlineserver/deploy-

office-online-server#step-1-create-the-office-online-server-farm), you get the following error when executing the
PowerShell script command New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalURL "http://<address of the Office
Online Server installation>" -AllowHttp –EditingEnabled:

New-OfficeWebAppsFarm : The operation failed. The server did not meet the following prerequisites:

- The server must be joined to a domain.

At line:1 char:1

+ New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalURL " http:// <address of the Office Online Server installation>" -AllowHttp
-EditingEnabled

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

+ CategoryInfo : NotInstalled: (:) [New-OfficeWebAppsFarm], InvalidOperationException

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PrerequisiteFailure,Microsoft.Office.Web.Apps.Administration.NewFarmCommand

Possible fix: Add the system to a domain and use that domain as the value of the InternalURL parameter.

6.2 Discovery XML Cannot Be Displayed

Issue: While attempting to display the discovery XML (section 3.3.2), you get the "This page can't be displayed"
error.

Fix: Make sure that Internet Information Services are running via IIS Manager and start the services if they are
stopped.

6.3 Online Editor Loads Indefinitely

Issue: When you open a document for editing with the classic M-Files Web, the online editor loads indefinitely.

Possible fix: Do the following steps on the server computer:

1. Open Windows Registry Editor.
2. Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Motive\M-Files\<Build
Number>\Server\MFWA\Sites\<Site ID>.
For instructions on how to get the site ID, refer to this support article:
https://m-files.my.site.com/s/article/IIS-Getting-Site-ID.
3. Empty the value data of the WOPISrcDomain value.

6.4 Online Editor Not Loading in the Desktop Client

Symptom: M-Files Desktop does not load the web editor.

Issue: Office Online Server discovery action links use HTTP, whereas the website uses HTTPS.

Possible fix: Set up your Office Online Server instance to use HTTPS. To get HTTPS to work, you must use the -
CertificateName argument in the PowerShell command:

New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalUrl "https://abc.domain.com" -CertificateName "Certificate"

-AllowHttp -EditingEnabled

Page 7 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

6.5 Changes Made in Office for the Web Not Always Saved to M -Files

Issue: In the classic M-Files Web and M-Files Desktop, changes made in Office for the web are not always saved to
M-Files.

Possible fix: Office for the web uses a different auto-save frequency for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Refer to Co-
authoring using Office Online in the Office for the web Integration Documentation for detailed information. The
safest way for an end user to make sure that the changes are saved is to wait 30 seconds (Word), 60 seconds
(PowerPoint), or 120 seconds (Excel) before they close the Office for the web tab.

For more information on the auto-save behavior, refer to these FAQ articles by Microsoft:
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/cloud-storage-partner-program/faq/edit-save
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/cloud-storage-partner-program/faq/disable-autosave

6.6 Co-Authoring Option Not Visible in Context Menu

If you use a proxy setup for your web client, make sure that port 7768 is open between the IIS proxy server and
the M-Files application server.

If it is not, the context menu can take approximately 10 seconds to be shown and does not contain the co-
authoring command. IIS logs show a request to the /wopi/wopi/discoveryurl?discoveryurl=<your
discovery url> with a status code of 502. Additionally, the Windows Event Log of the IIS computer has
Information entries from the M-Files gRPC HTTP Server. The entries contain details about a refused
connection to the M-Files application server address on that port. This can mean that there is a firewall that blocks
the traffic between the computers.

If this does not help, please collect the logs with the instructions in this article and send them to M-Files support:
How to collect client-side WOPI logs when Check Out for Co-authoring is not available.

6.7 Saving Delayed on the On-Premises Office Server

Issue: When an on-premises Office server is used, and the document is checked in immediately after the Office
editor is closed, changes are not always saved.

Possible fix: Install the latest Office server software and make sure that you have installed the latest Security
Update for Microsoft Office Online Server farm-deployment. You can download the installation from
Microsoft Update Catalog.

For more details, please refer to this Microsoft Q&A page:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/195823/wopi-unlock-call-putfile-call-delay-never-gets-tri

If the updates do not solve the issue, please collect the logs with the instructions in this article and send them to
the M-Files customer support: How to collect client-side WOPI logs when Check Out for Co-authoring is not
available.

Page 8 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

6.8 Office for the Web Editor Not Opened in the Classic M-Files Web

Issue: When the user opens a document with the classic M-Files Web, Office for the web editor is not opened as
expected.

Possible fix: If the URL contains wopihost.html but the editor is not opened, it is likely that the new M-Files Web
is not set up. For setup instructions, refer to Setting Up Web and Mobile Access to M-Files in the M-Files user guide.

7. Change History

This table describes the changes by document version.

VERSION DATE ESSENTIAL CHANGES

3.6 2023/11/22 Change history logging started with this version. Added a link to instructions on how to get
the site ID in section 6.3.

3.7 2024/04/19 The automatic check-in flow was removed from M-Files Web. Content related to this change
was updated in many parts of the document. Mainly, sections 5.1, 5.2, 6, and 6.7.

3.8 2024/05/07 Added a new troubleshooting section about Office for the web not opening correctly.

Page 9 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

Appendix A: Setting the New M-Files Web and Add-Ins to Use Office for
the Web

Follow these instructions to set the new M-Files Web to use the Office for the web features. This setup allows the
M-Files add-ins, such as M-Files for Teams and SharePoint Online, to also use the web-based editing features. The
instructions in this section are for M-Files December '20 Update or later. If you have M-Files May '22 Update or
later, see section 4 instead.

Prerequisites
Before you go forward, make sure you have these prerequisites in place:

• Your MFiles Server is of the version M-Files December '20 Update or later if you want to use the
Office for the web features in the new M-Files Web and in the add-ins.
• Your MFiles Server is of the version M-Files August '20 Update or later if you want to use the Office
for the web features in the add-ins only.
• The backend service Office for the web has been set up.
o See these instructions: Setting Up the Office for the Web Backend Service for the New M-Files
Web.

On the M-Files server machine:

1. Open M-Files Admin.

2. In the left-side tree view, expand the desired connection to M-Files Server.
3. In the left-side tree view, expand Document Vaults, and then expand the document vault of your choice.
4. Still in the left-side tree view, select Configurations.
5. In the navigation area on the right, expand the Advanced Vault Settings section.
6. Open Configuration > Client > Web > Office for the Web.
7. Set the value for Enabled to Yes.
This setting is only visible when your user account has the Full control of vault administrative rights or your
login account has the System administrator server role.
Result: The Office for the web configuration values are displayed.
8. Enter the configuration values according to the descriptions below. These settings are only visible when
your login account has the System administrator server role.

SETTING NAME DESCRIPTION

Use Internal This setting is for on-premises setups only.

URL
Yes: Use this value if you use an "internal-http" or "internal-https" configuration for your
Office server.
No: Use this value if you use an "external-http" or "external-https" configuration for your
Office server.

Source This setting is required for cloud-based setups. If you have an on-premises setup, ignore
Domain this setting.

The domain name of the WOPI server in the following format:

http(s)://<domain URL>/wopi

For example:

Page 10 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

 http(s)://wopi.exampledomain.com/wopi

Note: When this value is specified, the domain name must first be added to the WOPI
domain allow list by Microsoft. For this, your organization needs to be part of Office Cloud
Storage Partner Program.

Discovery URL The WOPI discovery URL in the following format:

http(s)://<address of the Office server>/hosting/discovery

If your organization has its own cloud server, you can use the following discovery URL:
https://onenote.officeapps.live.com/hosting/discovery

9. Open a DOCX, PPTX, or XLSX document with an M-Files Web based add-in or the new M-Files Web to make
sure that the configuration works correctly.

Page 11 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]

Appendix B: Setting the Classic M-Files Web to Use Office for the Web

If you use M-Files December '20 Update or later, follow these instructions to set the classic M-Files Web to use the
Office for the web features. If you have M-Files May '22 Update or later, see section 4.

On the M-Files server machine:

1. Open Advanced Vault Settings in M-Files Admin.

2. Expand the Client node and set Manage Client Settings Centrally to Yes to enable the client settings.
We recommend you read the setting description on the Info tab before you save your changes.
3. Expand Classic Web > Office for the Web.
4. Set WOPI Enabled to Yes.
5. Enter the configuration values according to the descriptions in the table.

SETTING NAME DESCRIPTION

Use Internal WOPI Yes: Use this value if you use an "internal-http" or "internal-https" configuration for your
URI Office server.
No: Use this value if you use an "external-http" or "external-https" configuration for your
Office server.

This setting is for on-premises setups only.

WOPI Discovery The content of the discovery XML in the WOPI discovery URL.

1. Open the discovery URL in your browser.

For example: https://onenote.officeapps.live.com/hosting/discovery
2. Save the page as an XML file (Ctrl+S).
3. Open the XML file in a text editor and select all content.
4. Copy the content to your clipboard.
5. Paste the clipboard content to the value field.

You can leave this setting empty if WOPI discovery is configured with the WOPI Discovery
URL setting (see below).

WOPI Discovery You can leave this setting empty if WOPI discovery is configured with the WOPI Discovery
URL setting.

The WOPI discovery URL in the following format:

http(s)://<address of the Office server>/hosting/discovery

If your organization has its own cloud server, you can use the following discovery URL:
https://onenote.officeapps.live.com/hosting/discovery

6. Open a DOCX, PPTX, or XLSX document via the classic M-Files Web to make sure that the configuration
works correctly.

Page 12 of 12 M-Files Corporation | www.m-files.com | [email protected]