Collabora Online #

With this app, users edit text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in the browser. The editing itself runs on a Collabora Online server; the app does not include any office software. owncloud.online hands the file to the Collabora server over the WOPI protocol and takes back the changed version.

Requirements #

Three connections must be open. The examples use https://cloud.example.com for owncloud.online and https://collabora.example.com:9980 for the Collabora server.

Both sides should use the same scheme, which in production means https on both. The Collabora server must allow owncloud.online as a WOPI host (in coolwsd.xml under storage → wopi → alias_groups). Otherwise Collabora refuses to load the file.

Installation #

Open Market from the app menu, go to the "Collabora Online" app, and install it. On the command line:

sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ market:install richdocuments

The command downloads the package and enables the app. If the app is already present but disabled:

sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ app:enable richdocuments

Without internet access, install the package from the file system, see Market: Without internet access.

Configuration #

The settings are under Settings → Admin → Additional in the "Collabora Online" section.

1. In "Collabora Online server", enter the address with scheme and port, for example https://collabora.example.com:9980.
2. Click "Save".

Without http:// or https://, the app rejects the address with "Invalid WOPI Url. Only http or https scheme is allowed." If the address uses a different scheme than owncloud.online, the app saves it with the message "Saved with error: Collabora Online should use the same protocol as the server installation."

More options #

You can also set and read every value with occ:

sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ config:app:set richdocuments wopi_url \
    --value https://collabora.example.com:9980
sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ config:app:get richdocuments wopi_url

# open documents in the same tab
sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ config:app:set richdocuments open_in_new_tab --value false

Separate groups in edit_groups and test_server_groups with |.

To show the app to one group only, set the system value collabora_group in config/config.php:

sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ config:system:set collabora_group --value office

If the group does not exist, nobody can use the app, and the server log records the error with the collabora tag.

Secure View #

Secure View is not available in this app for owncloud.online. The checkbox in the "Secure View for Collabora Online" section stays grayed out. For shares that recipients may only view with a watermark and cannot download, use the Office (Collabora Online) app with SecureView.

Usage #

• Clicking an office document in the file list opens it in the editor. In the file's menu, the action is called "Open in Collabora".
• To create a file, use the plus icon ("New"): "Document", "Spreadsheet", "Presentation", and, as long as ODF is the default format, "Drawing".
• The "Office" entry in the app menu lists the account's office files.
• On a public link page, "View/Edit in Collabora" opens the file in the editor.
• Zotero: once Zotero is enabled, each person enters their own key under Settings → Personal → Additional in the "Zotero for Collabora Online" section (field "Zotero Personal API Key:"). Create the key in Zotero under "Home > Settings > Feeds/API > Create new private key".

Limits and notes #

• Enable only one office app. While this app is enabled, SecureView in the Office (Collabora Online) app has no effect.
• With encryption enabled, the app works only with master key encryption. With per-user keys, the section shows a red notice.
• An access token is valid for 10 hours. The CleanupExpiredWopiTokens background job deletes expired tokens from the richdocuments_wopi table. Without cron, the table keeps growing.
• The discovery of the Collabora server is cached for one hour. A changed server address may only take effect after that time.

Troubleshooting #

The app writes its messages to the server log with the richdocuments tag.