Professional SharePoint 2013 Administration

Chapter 15

The Office Web Applications for SharePoint

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER

• Introduction to Office Web Apps
• New and improved features
• Compatibility with Lync and Exchange
• Desktop and mobile features
• Installing and configuring Office Web Apps
• Working with Office Web Apps

Office Web Apps (OWA) is a browser-based add-on to the SharePoint 2013 farm, delivering Office desktop functionality at the server level. With Office Web Apps, users can open and edit Microsoft’s desktop Office products by using Word Web App, Excel Web App, PowerPoint Web App, and OneNote Web App. The Office Web Apps add-on delivers the same rich Microsoft Office environment that exists in the SkyDrive environment to your private SharePoint farms, with on-premises security and control. The user experience has also been enhanced for desktop computers, mobile phones, tablets, and any device supporting browser functionality.

First released with Office 2010, the Web Apps are so cool this time around that they are no longer only for SharePoint. They actually install on their own server(s); and while the focus of this chapter is how they work with SharePoint, they can be used in conjunction with Exchange 2013 and Lync 2013 to provide the same Office document viewing and collaboration capabilities as SharePoint. Even better, they use a new API called WOPI (Web application Open Platform Interface) that enables developers to utilize Office Web Apps directly through their own code, which opens the door to some great solutions. ...