Managing Microsoft Office Assets

Before you begin working with Microsoft Office documents, note the following prerequisites.

• MS Office 2003 or higher (but see note below)
• Internet Explorer or Firefox to work with Office documents within Ektron

  NOTE: The ability to use Firefox to edit Office documents within Ektronis only available in Ektron version 8.5 SP2 and higher. Also, Office 2010 is required with the Sharepoint Foundation option.

• If your computer uses Windows XP, verify the following settings for every Office document type that you work with. (You do not need to do this for later versions of Windows.)
  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Click Tools > Folder Options > File Types.
  3. Click an Office file type you work with (for example, DOC Microsoft Word Document).
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Change the checkboxes at the bottom of the screen so they look like this.
     
     
  6. Click OK. The following Microsoft articles explain how to manage the window in which Office opens.
     • A new application window opens when you try to view a Microsoft Office 2010 document in Internet Explorer 7 or in Internet Explorer 8 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982995)
     • A new window opens when you try to view a Microsoft Office 2007 document in Windows Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927009)
• Problems can arise if you try to open a document created with Office 2007 or 2010, and your computer has an earlier version of Office. The best solution is to upgrade your computer to Office 2007/2010.

  If you cannot, install the Microsoft Windows Compatibility Pack. See https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en.

  When installed, you can work with Office 2007/2010 documents using an earlier version of Office.

• If you import an Excel spreadsheet then click it from its Ektron folder, you see Download this file name. Click the download link to view the file.

Editing an Office Document

See Also: Prerequisites

You can edit a Microsoft Office document in the following ways. When you begin to edit the document, its status changes to Checked Out (0).

• Select a document in an Ektron folder and choose Edit in Microsoft Office from the drop-down menu.
• Open a file in the mapped network drive location, using Microsoft Office. (You also can delete and move documents using the mapped network folder.)

If you want to edit the document’s Summary, Metadata, Schedule, Comment, Task, or taxonomy category information, click the asset from the Ektron folder, then select Edit Properties from the drop-down menu.

A history of every saved version is retained so you can restore previous ones if necessary. You cannot enter or change Ektron document information (Summary, Metadata, and so on) in the mapped network folder; you must use Ektron to do that.

Deleting an Office Document

NOTE: You must have delete permissions for the folder that contains the document. See Also: Managing Folder Permissions. Also , it is good practice to check for broken quicklinks before deleting documents. See Link Checking Before Deleting.

To delete an Office document:

1. Navigate to the Workarea’s Content folder.
2. Open the folder that contains the document.
3. Hover the cursor over the triangle () next to the document and click. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Click Delete and confirm the deletion with OK.

Like publishing, deleted content must be approved before it is removed. If you are the last approver in the approval chain, the content is deleted immediately. See Also: Approving or Declining Content

Checking Out, Saving, and Replacing an Office Document

If you check out and save an Office document to your computer, you would typically edit it using Office. While it is checked out, only you or a system administrator can check it back in. Other users cannot edit it. You may use this feature to work on the document on your computer, copy it to another computer, or even email it to someone who does not have access to Ektron.

You can also use the Check Out and Save As option to edit an Office document if you use the Firefox browser. Firefox does not let you edit Office documents within Ektron, as you can with Internet Explorer. To work around this limitation, check out the Office document, save it to your computer, and edit it.

When all edits have been entered, drag and drop the document back to Ektron.

Follow these steps to copy an Office document to your computer, edit it, then replace the version in Ektron.

WARNING! There are several ways to import a document into Ektron. Some methods retain the original file name while others let you assign a name. When you check out and save a document to your computer, it is saved under the original file name, which may be different from its Ektron name. The original file name is on the screen that appears after you select Check out and Save as. Make note of the original file name, because you use it to identify the file after it is saved to your computer.

1. In Ektron, open the folder that contains the Office document and hover the cursor over the triangle () on the right end of the document.
2. Select Check out and Save As. You are prompted to open or save the document.
3. Click Save.
4. Select a folder to which you want to save the document. The document’s status changes to checked out (O).
5. Edit the document in Office.

   NOTE: If you change your mind and do not change the document, but simply close Office, the document remains Checked Out (O). Use the Check In menu option to check it in.

6. Drag and drop the edited document.
7. You are asked to confirm the file replace. Click Yes. The document is submitted for approval. The revised document is saved in Ektron.

Saving an Office Document

You would typically save an Office document to your computer to distribute it to others, or if you want a personal copy. You should not save a document to your computer if you plan to edit it then replace the version in Ektron—doing this may overwrite edits made by other users.

If you want to edit a document, use the Edit in MS Office or Check out and Save As menu option. Both options set the content to checked out status, which prevents non-administrator users from editing it until you check it back in.

To save an Office document:

1. In Ektron, open the folder that contains the Office document.
2. Hover the cursor over the triangle () on the right end of the document and click Save As.
3. You are asked if you want to open or save the document. Choose Save.
4. Select a folder to which you want to save the document.

Saving an Office Document in HTML Format

This feature converts Office documents to HTML format, which means they are formatted to display within a browser. As a result, anyone visiting your site can view the document, whether or not Microsoft Office is installed on their computer.

WARNING! Only Microsoft Word and Excel documents can be published as HTML. Ektron does not support saving Powerpoint or Visio documents as HTML.

There are 2 ways to save an Office document in HTML format.

• Drag and drop an Office document into Ektron and use the Edit in MS Office option to save it in HTML format. You don’t need to know the path to your Web site’s root folder.
• Open an Office document on your computer and save it in HTML format to the ekdavroot folder in your Web root. You don’t need to drag and drop document to Ektron.

Regardless of how you save Office documents as HTML, be careful to set up procedures that prevent HTML content from being overwritten. For example:

1. You save a Word document as .html.
2. Someone edits the HTML version.
3. You save the original Office Document as .html again.

In this scenario, the edits made in step 2 are overwritten by step 3. You should establish procedures that avoid such problems.

Generating PDF Content

You can automatically convert Office documents stored in Ektron to the PDF format. As a result, when you access a page containing such a document, you see the PDF version. Because most computers have a PDF reader, you do not need additional software to view the file.

The PDF conversion of an Office document starts when it is published. At that point, a copy of the file is sent to an Ektron server for PDF generation. After the server generates the PDF, it is returned to your Document Management server.

The PDF file doesn’t appear in the Ektron Workarea -- only the originally-published Office document appears. Ektron stores the PDF file in a secure location. Subsequent editing is done in the original Office document. Each time it’s published, a new PDF is generated.

When the Office document is added to a Web page, the Web page shows the PDF version. This means site visitors only need a PDF viewer to view any Office document on your site.

The Ektron Windows Service runs the Office-to-PDF conversion process. See Also: Ektron Windows Service