Microsoft Document Editor

This page describes Microsoft Document Editor, which is an Advanced Plug-in developed, managed, and maintained by Appian.

What is Microsoft Document Editor?

Microsoft Document Editor offers a seamless experience for viewing and editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents stored within an Appian Knowledge Center. This robust plug-in allows users to directly edit files stored within Appian, eliminating the need for download/reupload workflows or separate document storage solutions. This component enables viewing, editing, concurrent multi-user editing, among other actions, on Microsoft Office documents.

Features

1. Online Office Document Editing: Edit Office documents directly within an Appian environment without needing to download them.
2. Comprehensive Microsoft Office Features: Access a wide array of Microsoft Office features for a versatile document editing experience.
3. Multi-User Editing: Collaborate in real-time with multiple users concurrently editing the same document.
4. Create New Office Documents: Easily create new Office documents through a function plugin, streamlining document creation.
5. Access Control: Manage permissions to ensure secure and controlled access to documents.

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Requirements

• Available for Appian Cloud and for Appian Government Cloud regions at the FedRAMP Moderate and FedRAMP High impact levels. Not supported for Appian Defense Cloud or self-managed deployments.
• Not supported for Firefox and Safari browsers.
• Not configured for mobile usage or portals.
• Supported in environments with public access and Inbound over Dual Access. Not supported in environments with Inbound over PrivateLink-only, Inbound over VPN-only, and trusted IP addresses.
• Requires Appian version 25.2+.
• If your company has network security restrictions for which domains can be accessed for inbound requests, make sure to add api.appiancloud.com to your network allowlist.
• A valid Microsoft 365 license is required for all document editing users functionality. Customers should have the ability to track which users have Microsoft licenses within Appian and should configure document editing only for those users. Use of the Microsoft Office Component plug-in to edit documents without a valid Office license is cause for removal from the program.

Environment compatibility

Installation

To install Microsoft Document Editor:

1. Review the requirements.
2. Submit a support case to gain access to this plug-in.
3. After installing the plug-in, select the Microsoft Office Servlet Plug-in and click Enable Encryption Service. This is necessary to generate the tokens required by Microsoft for Web.

Components

microsoftDocumentEditorField()

Example:

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microsoftDocumentEditorField(
  tokenInfo: generatemicrosoftdocumenteditortoken(
    viewMode: "EDIT",
    document: cons!DOCUMENT
  )
)

microsoftDocumentValidationField()

See Using the Microsoft Document Validator Component for more information.

Example:

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microsoftDocumentValidationField(
  tokenInfo: generatemicrosoftdocumenteditortoken(
    viewMode: "EDIT",
    document: cons!DOCUMENT
  )
)

Auxiliary configuration functions

These are helper functions that are commonly utilized in the component configuration. These are all imported as a part of the Microsoft Document Editor Helper Servlets and Functions Plug-in.

generatemicrosoftdocumenteditortoken()

Example

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generatemicrosoftdocumenteditortoken(
    viewMode: "EDIT",
    document: cons!DOCUMENT
  )

createMicrosoftDocument()

Example

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createMicrosoftDocument(
  folderId: 9009,
  documentName: "NEW_DOCX_DOC",
  documentType: "WORD"
)

Usage considerations

Architecture

Appian is part of Microsoft's Cloud Storage Partner Program (CSPP) to allow joint customers to access Microsoft document editing within an Appian environment. Refer to Microsoft's CSPP documentation for more details, including security information.

As Appian users view, edit, and interact with Microsoft documents, Microsoft will relay these operations back to the Appian server. This allows Microsoft to handle comparing and merging each document, enabling seamless multi-user collaboration. Note that as edits are made to the document in the document editor, it may take 30 seconds to 2 minutes for the changes to be written back to Appian.

Editing session

When a user opens an editing session by clicking Edit in the Microsoft Document Viewer, a new tab will open allowing the user to edit the document.

To allow Microsoft to properly extend the Appian sessions while the user is editing, this tab is tied to the viewer tab. If a user closes, refreshes, or navigates away from the viewer tab, the editing session will end and the user will be forced to close out of the editing tab.

If both tabs are open, Microsoft will alert Appian every 5 minutes that the user is actively editing the document and the component will continue to extend the Appian session.

Changes made in the document editor are not reflected in the viewer tab until the tab is manually refreshed. While the most recent updates are immediately visible to all users in the editor, it may take up to three minutes for those changes to propagate to Appian's Knowledge Center.

When multiple users edit a document simultaneously, changes saved to Appian may be recorded under either user. Learn more co-authoring scenarios.

Internationalization

All languages supported by Appian are available in the Microsoft Document Editor Component. Select the appropriate language in the Internationalization section of the Admin Console and the component will automatically reflect that selection.

Security

To edit a document, users must have either "Editor" or "Administrator" permissions on the Knowledge Center that the document is stored in. Learn more about Knowledge Center Security.

If a user has Viewer permission on a document and the component is set to viewMode: "EDIT", the user won't see the EDIT button, nor will they be able to open the full screen editor.

If the user's edit permissions are revoked while they are editing a document, their edits won't be saved and they will see an error when they refresh the screen.

If the user has the Deny permission, they will neither be able to view or edit the document.

FedRAMP compliance

Microsoft Document Editor is available in Appian Government Cloud regions at both the FedRAMP Moderate and FedRAMP High impact levels, following completion of the FedRAMP Significant Change Request (SCR) process.

FedRAMP authorization documentation that reflects this change is maintained in the Appian Government Cloud FedRAMP Document Repository.

Federal agencies that want access to the complete Appian Government Cloud security authorization package can request it through the FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO). To request the package, go to the applicable Appian Government Cloud listing on the FedRAMP Marketplace and follow the PMO package request process:

• Appian Government Cloud Moderate on the FedRAMP Marketplace
• Appian Government Cloud High on the FedRAMP Marketplace

File size limits

Using the Microsoft Document Validator Component

The Microsoft Document Validation component (microsoftDocumentValidationField()) can be used to verify that Microsoft 365 for the web can establish secure communication with Appian. Configure the component and click Run All. If the component shows that 50 tests are passing, then Microsoft is able to properly communicate with Appian and the Microsoft Document Editor Component will function properly. Submit a support case if there are less than 50 tests passing or if there are any failures.

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Microsoft 365 for the Web Token

This component must be configured with generatemicrosoftdocumenteditortoken(). This function is used to generate an authentication token along with configuration metadata that enables Microsoft 365 for the web to establish secure communication with Appian.

This token is generated when the component is first loaded and will expire after 10 hours as per Microsoft’s recommendation.

• If the user is logged in and the token expires, a modal will appear asking the user to refresh the token. Clicking the refresh button will refresh the editor and allow the user to continue editing the document.
• If the user’s Appian session expires, they will be redirected to the Appian login page within approximately one minute. Although Microsoft tokens have a 10-hour time-to-live, the token issued for the viewer is bound to the user’s Appian session and will expire when the Appian session ends.

Known limitations

• This component is not supported for use in incognito or private browsing mode.

• Legacy record types are not supported for this component.

• If a user opens and closes a document multiple times within a short period, their profile icon may appear multiple times in the document session. These duplicate icons are temporary and may take up to 30 minutes to clear automatically.

• Although the document object's lastModifiedBy property is updated correctly in the designer objects UI, retrieving it with document(docId, "lastModifiedBy") returns the createdBy value instead of the actual lastModifiedBy value. If your application depends on this information, use the Document Record Type, where this value can be retrieved through a!queryRecordType().

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