Open synced Office files in native desktop editor via document server on double-click
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 3.9k
- Forks
- 1k
- Avg merge
- 1d 17h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 123
Description
### How to use GitHub
* Please use the 👍 [reaction](https://blog.github.com/2016-03-10-add-reactions-to-pull-requests-issues-and-comments/) to show that you are interested into the same feature.
* Please don't comment if you have no relevant information to add. It's just extra noise for everyone subscribed to this issue.
* Subscribe to receive notifications on status change and new comments.
---
## Feature request
Open synced Office files in native desktop editor via document server on double-click
When a user double-clicks a ".docx", ".xlsx" or ".pptx" file inside the local Nextcloud sync folder, the file is currently opened as a normal local file by the default desktop application.
## Desired behavior:
Double-clicking a supported Office file in the Nextcloud sync folder should open it in the configured native desktop office editor through the Nextcloud Office / document server session, not as a detached local copy.
## Expected flow:
"Windows Explorer / Finder / file manager → double-click synced Office file → Nextcloud Desktop detects cloud file → opens server-backed editing session → native desktop editor opens document with co-authoring, locking and versioning"
# This would provide Microsoft 365 / SharePoint-like behavior:
- users keep the normal file-manager workflow
- native desktop editor is used
- real-time co-authoring remains available
- document-server locking is respected
- sync conflicts are avoided
A context-menu action like “Open with Nextcloud Office” is useful, but it should not be the main workflow. The normal double-click should be cloud-aware for supported Office documents.
## Main goal:
Make synced Nextcloud Office documents behave like SharePoint/OneDrive + Microsoft 365: double-click from the local sync folder, edit in the desktop app, but still work through the server-backed collaborative document session.
Contributor guide
Research direction
No files, tests, or entry points are identified in the issue, so first map where the desktop client handles double-clicks and synced Office documents. Determine how a document-server session could be selected for supported .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx files without inventing a local-copy workflow. Done means double-clicking those files opens the native editor through the server-backed session while preserving co-authoring, locking, versioning, and conflict avoidance.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- desktop
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100