Integrating Additional Cloud Storage Services in Office 2013

Integrating additional cloud storage services in Office 2013

Learn how a cloud storage provider can register its service in Microsoft Office 2013 so that it will automatically appear in the Open and Save As user interface in Office 2013 client applications.

In this article:

Integration with Office 2013

Cloud storage service must sync to a local folder

Registering a cloud storage service on a user’s client machine

How the cloud storage service appears in the user interface

Integration with Office 2013

In Office 2013, the client applications make it easy for users to store Microsoft Office documents in the cloud. When a user signs in to Microsoft Office with either a Microsoft account or a Microsoft Office 365 account:

· Open and Save As user interface makes it easy to find and use cloud documents.

· The recent list of cloud documents that users open within Office 2013 roams with them to other Office 2013 installations and to the web on Office.com, if they sign in with the same account.

By default, Office 2013 clients support cloud documents stored on Windows Live SkyDrive, Microsoft SharePoint Online, or Microsoft SharePoint 2013; these cloud services appear in the Open and Save As user interface of client applications. The following sections describe how another cloud storage provider can register its service so that it will appear together with the defaults in the same user interface.

Cloud storage service must sync to a local folder

To integrate with Office 2013, the provider must have its own method for syncing cloud documents from its service to a local folder. This enables Office 2013 users to work on cloud documents even when they are offline or have poor network connections. It also enables users to open and save documents quickly, without the delay of network latency.

Registering a cloud storage service on a user’s client machine

The cloud storage service is responsible for registering itself on the user's client machine through its Setup program. The registration consists of setting some registry keys to provide Office 2013 with some details about the cloud storage service.

Office 2013 will look for registered cloud storage services here:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\Cloud Storage]

The cloud storage service should set or remove the registry keys:

· When the user installs or upgrades the cloud storage sync client.

· When the user uninstalls the cloud storage sync client.

The cloud storage service should create a registry key using a unique GUID:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\Cloud Storage\{UNIQUE_GUID}]

The service provider should be identified by the same GUID on all client installations. Within this unique key, the following values should be set in the registry; these values are required unless marked [Optional]:

Registry values

DisplayName (REG_SZ)

Display name for the service (Example: "A. Datum Cloud Storage").

Description (REG_SZ)[Optional]

Description string for the service provider. (Example: "Store documents on A. Datum Cloud Storage and access it from anywhere!")

Url48x48 (REG_SZ)

URL to icons for the cloud service. The Url48x48 is required, but additional icon URLs may be provided. Include the icon URLs under the Thumbnails registry sub-key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\Cloud Storage\{UNIQUE_GUID}\Thumbnails]

Optional thumbnail URLs are listed in the following table. If provided, they will be used according to the user’s DPI settings. The Open and Save As user interface will use the larger thumbnails (32x32 in 100DPI, 40x40 in 125DPI, and 48x48 in 150DPI). The Account user interface will use the smaller thumbnails (16x16 in 100DPI, 20x20 in 125DPI, and 24x24 in 150DPI). If not available, the next larger size is used. The Url48x48 value is the default.

Registry value name / Registry value /
Url16x16 (REG_SZ)[Optional] / URL to 16 x 16 thumbnail.
Url20x20 (REG_SZ)[Optional] / URL to 20 x 20 thumbnail.
Url24x24 (REG_SZ)[Optional] / URL to 24 x 24 thumbnail.
Url32x32 (REG_SZ)[Optional] / URL to 32 x 32 thumbnail.
Url40x40 (REG_SZ)[Optional] / URL to 40 x 40 thumbnail.
Url48x48 (REG_SZ) / URL to 48 x 48 thumbnail.

LearnMoreURL (REG_SZ)

URL to a web landing page where users can learn more and download the client installer.

ManageURL (REG_SZ)[Optional]

URL for a web management page where users can view details about their account.

LocalFolderRoot (REG_SZ)

Local path to the root folder for syncing of cloud content downloaded from this service. Once registered, the local folder root path must contain only single backslashes.

Example: "C:\Users\joesmith\A.Datum.Documents"

Note

The cloud service should update the LocalFolderRoot registry value if the physical location of the root folder is changed.

How the cloud storage service appears in the user interface

After the cloud storage service adds the appropriate values to the registry, it will appear in Office 2013 the next time that an application is started.

When a signed-in Microsoft Office user selects File in any client application, the Microsoft Office Backstage view appears; the cloud storage service appears in three tabs of that view. The service will be displayed using the registered Display Name and Url48x48 (or other thumbnail URL) in the following:

· "Add a place" user interface in the Open and Save As tabs.

· "Add a service" > "Storage" user interface in the Account tab.

In the following examples, a cloud service called "A. Datum Cloud Storage" has been installed on a client device. Here is how it would appear in "Add a place" on the Open tab of a client application, such as Word 2013:

The following shows how the same cloud service would appear in "Add a service" on the Account tab of the same application:

If the signed-in Microsoft Office user adds the cloud storage service to their account:

· Office 2013 will treat all documents within that local folder as "cloud documents" in the Open and Save As user interface.

· Documents opened from or saved to that local folder will roam with the user if they have Office 2013 on another machine.

· In the case in which a user has added a cloud storage service on one machine, but has not installed the cloud storage sync client on a second machine, the Microsoft Office user interface will help the user install the cloud storage sync client to access documents from that second machine.

The following shows how a prompt for "A. Datum Cloud Storage" would appear on the Account tab of a client that has not yet had the service installed: