MS Office integrated with Content Manager

When Microsoft Office applications are integrated with Content Manager, you can:

  • Open and save documents directly with Content Manager - see Open and Save through MS Office
  • View Content Manager record properties of the current document directly from the Office application - see below
  • Make Content Manager documents final - see below

When Microsoft Office applications are integrated with Content Manager, there is an additional tab called Content Manager in the Office application's ribbon.

It contains the commands:

  • New - click to select a document template from Content Manager and create a new record based on the selected template.
  • Open - to open a document from Content Manager.

NOTE: If a user attempts to open a record that has been made final or is checked out by another user using either the Open button on the Content Manager ribbon, or via the authoring application's File - Open - Content Manager - Browse or Tray options, a warning will be displayed and the document will be opened in Read-only mode.

  • Check In - to save a document to Content Manager.
  • Make Final - makes this document revision the final revision. See Finalising revisions.
  • Check In on Close - click to automatically check the document into Content Manager when it is closed.

NOTE: For Administrators - the Check In on Close button on the Content Manager ribbon can be removed from the UI, if required. The HideCheckInOnClose DWORD registry key within HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micro Focus\Content Manager\OfficeAddins controls the visibility of this button. Set the key to 1 to hide the button, or set to 0 (or delete the key) to enable the button on the ribbon. By default, the entry does not exist, if you wish to hide the button from the ribbon the key will need to be created.

  • Record Properties - displays the Content Manager record properties of the current document
  • Picture - to insert a picture from Content Manager in a Word, PowerPoint or Excel file. Content Manager searches for pictures using default criteria which you can change.
  • Text from File - to insert text from an electronic document in Content Manager. Content Manager searches for text documents using default criteria which you can change.
  • Object - to insert an object from an electronic document in Content Manager. Content Manager searches using default criteria which you can change.
  • Help - click to open the help file.
  • Login - enabled when Explicit, ADFS and Azure authentication methods are being used - if a user cancels the login prompt, they can connect to Content Manager using this option. If the user is authenticated successfully the Login button will be disabled.

NOTE: If an organisation has a requirement to disable the Check In, Make Final, Check In on Close and Record Properties options in the Content Manager ribbon, for example, they may be using a third party application addin that needs to interact with Content Manager records, it is possible to disable these options by setting a Custom Property on the Office document via the document's Info - Properties - Advanced Properties - Custom dialogue. This Custom Property must be called CM_Ignore, be a Yes or No Type property, and have a Value of Yes.

Integration Options

To access the Content Manager Integration options, in Office or Outlook, click File and then click Content Manager Options. The Content Manager Integrations Options dialogue will appear.

Users can update the default settings for the Office Integration:

  • Language - this option enables you to select the language that the integration is displayed in. It will be available if there is more than one language to select from. From the drop-down list, select the Language to display the Office integration in.

NOTE: More languages can be made available from the drop-down list by installing them from Thin Office “CM_ThinOfficeMultiLanguage_xXX.msi” and Office “CM_LanguageFiles_xXX.msi.

  • Use Web Client(enter Web Client URL) - if using the integration with the Web Client integration, this option will be selected by default. Type in the Web Client URL to link the Office integration with the Content Manager Web Client.
  • Use Default Record Type - select this option to set the default Record Type to be used when checking in documents. Click the KwikSelect and from the displayed list, select the required Record Type.

  • Diagnostic Logging - select this option to enable the integration to capture all logging messages. By default, only error messages are written to the log file. Enable this option for users experiencing issues with the integration, the generated log file will be required to troubleshoot the issue.
  • Use the record Properties dialogue when opening a record - select this option to display the record Properties dialogue rather than displaying the record in the Content Manager client or Web Client.

    NOTE: If the default record type property is set in the Options dialogue and you attempt to check in to Content Manager, you will be taken directly to the record entry form. To override the default record type, you can hold down the shift key when clicking the Check In button, you will then be prompted to select a record type. If no default is set, you will be prompted to select a record type every time you check in.

    This default applies to all the supported Office applications except for Outlook where this option is hidden. To use a default record type in Outlook, you simply set up a default check in style. See Check In Style feature.

  • For non mail Outlook items, e.g. Notes, create revisions for subsequent check-ins - select this option to create revisions when non mail Outlook items are checked into Content Manager again.
  • My Documents folder (blank to use default) - type, or copy and paste, the path to where documents from integrated Office applications will stage documents while they are in a Checked Out state. If the path does not exist, it will be created when a document is opened/checked out via the Office integration. If this option is left blank, the default path, C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Micro Focus\Content Manager\<DBID>\OfficeCheckouts, will be used.

    • NOTE: For Administrators - this option can also be set as a Registry Key, which is only applicable if using the Office integration, not the Thin Office integration. The registry key that needs to be created is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micro Focus\Content Manager\DataPaths with a new String Value of OfficeCheckouts added. The value data for the OfficeCheckouts value is the path that will be used as the staging path, with the database ID and the folder OfficeCheckouts appended to the folder name, e.g. C:\CM Staging Path\<DBID>\OfficeCheckouts.
    If a path is also set in the Content Manager Integrations Options dialogue box, this will override the registry key settings.

  • Hide Content Manager folder under Sent Items - select this option to remove the Content Manager folder from the Sent Items folder in Outlook. Outlook will need to be restarted when changes are made to this option.

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