Companion App does not launch once it's installed

[Brendan Heussler]

I have a png file on a wiki page.  When I open it in Confluence, I'm given the option to Edit it.  When I click "Edit", I'm given the dialog box telling me to install the Atlassian Companion app.  I already have the companion app installed and I don't think it's communicating properly to Confluence.  Does anybody else have issues with the companion app?

[Alex K · Accepted solution]

Hi all, 

For anyone having issues with Companion on Confluence Server 6.11-7.2, the Companion integration on those Confluence versions will only work with Chrome and Firefox (if your instance is using SSL), see this KB article for more details. 

The resolution for this issue is to upgrade to Confluence 7.3+ (or use the companion.v2 dark feature on Confluence 7.2). For versions on Confluence 7.3+, the integration with Companion is completely different and is browser-independent. It will work in enterprise environment. See the Confluence 7.3 release notes here for details and the admin document if you are deploying Companion in your organisation.

For more details about how to use Companion, please see this document.  

Regards,
Alex (Developer at Atlassian)

[Brendan Heussler · Accepted solution]

Ok!  I have found the solution to the problem, thanks to one of the Atlassian support devs who was on a call with earler today.  I had an application installed on my machine called TeXShop, which is a LaTeX editor.  For some reason, this application was registered in Launch Services as a valid application for my image files.  It would also cause a segmentation fault in the file-associations module being using by the Companion App.  While it would be great for the Companion App to play nicely with this application, I uninstalled it because I haven't used it in several years.  I also had to rebuild the Launch Services database because TexShop was still being returned in the application list by `lsregister -dump`, even after being uninstalled.  I used a program called OnyX to rebuild the Launch Services database.  Now everything is working for me.

If you are still having trouble or you don't have TeXShop installed, it's possible Atlassian are working on a fix to handle more applications that cause issues with the Companion App's file association module.

[sreuter]

@Brendan Heussler @sattard Wow - Tricky one! I'm glad we we were able to figure that one out. We'll also work on making the Companion App more resilient to these kind of things.

Thanks for your patience and for working on this together! 🙏

[Mark Picker]

Hi,

Are you behind a firewall by any chance? The companion app installs fine for me but whenever I try to Edit a document the page keeps offering to download/install the Companion app.

I noticed just now that it is because it is trying to use a number of non standard SSL ports (31456 etc.) rather than the usual 443.

Opening these ports behind our corporate firewall isn't an option...pity as we had started to use the Atlassian tools a lot but document management is painful. Looks like back to SharePoint we go :(

[Brendan Heussler]

I am not behind a firewall.

[Lukas Rohrer]

Same Problem as Mark Picker

[Tuomas Saranen]

I have similar problems in Mac, what os are you using? In PC all worked like it should.

[Brendan Heussler]

I am using Mac Sierra 10.12.6.  I have seen the problem while using Chrome and Safari

[Tero Laitinen]

Hi, I still have this issue on my mac. If i click the .png file on our wiki page and choose "edit with" it tells me to download the app although I already did it. Have you already found a solution for this?

[sreuter]

@Brendan Heussler @Tuomas Saranen We'd love to have a look at this for you! Would it be possible for you to file a ticket here and attach your logfile? You can get access the logfile via the companion icon when running ("View logs"). Also, is there a vpn client, firewall or virus scanner installed by any chance? Apologies for the inconvenience!

[Brendan Heussler]

@sreuter thank you for reaching out.  The link you sent was for general feedback and didn't look like a support ticket.  I submitted feedback anyways with the log file.  I've also included a copy of the logfile here.

I open the companion app before openning Confluence.  Then I open an image on confluence that should have an "Edit" feature and the companion app crashes.

[Jenae Crain]

@sreuterI am also not able to open Companion App after I installed.  I am using Mac Sierra version 10.12.6.

[sreuter]

@Jenae Crain You should see a little "Atlassian" logo in your systray after you opened it. Can you please let me know if you can see this? If it's there but you still can't edit files in Confluence, it would be great if you open a case here and also attach your logfile to your feedback.

@Brendan Heussler Thanks providing us with your logfile, we're currently having a look at it. We also found some an issue that could cause the app to crash which will be fixed soon with the next update.

[Brendan Heussler]

@sreuter I've added a screencast showing the app crashing as soon as I open an image that the companion app should handle.  For reference, I just updated the app to 0.1.2

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jb6k5g7hi4k71ky/companionCrash.mov?dl=0

[Keea Raymond]

I need some help with the Companion App.  It has been working great for the last year, but today when I wanted to edit a Word Doc in Confluence, the download window opened suggesting I don’t have the companion app.  I went through the steps to download, but when I went to install, it says it can’t because the other companion app is in use.  I’m on a Mac, and do use companion app critically in my work flow so need to get this resolved.  Can anyone help me with this?  I tried to trash the companion app but it won’t because it says its in use.  Tried to force quit app, but does not appear on the in-use list of apps.  Thanks for your help...Keea

[Alex K]

Hi @Keea Raymond ,

Are you using Confluence Cloud or Server/DC? Which browser are you using? Could you please try editing with Chrome or Firefox. Some recent changes have stopped the Companion integration from working on IE, Edge & Safari, please see the following KB article for more information https://confluence.atlassian.com/confkb/cant-edit-files-in-confluence-server-using-atlassian-companion-app-in-internet-explorer-edge-firefox-or-safari-981152695.html

For Confluence Server/DC, this issue will be resolved in Confluence 7.3

Regards,
Alex

[Keea Raymond]

I am using Confluence Server.  I tried Chrome and that worked fine.  I use Safari primarily in my work flow.  So will they revive the use of Safari for the Companion App?

thanks for the help

[Alex K]

Hi @Keea Raymond ,

Glad that it worked! As mentioned, the Companion App will work on Safari in the upcoming version of Confluence (7.3). 

[Marisa]

Hi guys, I have the same problem where only ONE of the users cannot open the app. When he wants to edit a document it tells him to set Companion as a trusted app. We've looked at his browser setting (trying both Chrome and Firefox) and we've tried uninstalling, reinstalling the Companion app trying to open it to enable Trust, but it doesn't want to open at all. 

Is there anything else we can do. It works fine for everyone else in the company, same firewall, proxy settings, etc. 

[Damian Egli]

had the same problem, but when I added

127.0.0.1           atlassian-domain-for-localhost-connections-only.com

to my local hosts file it worked in all Browsers except Edge....

so why does companion app not connect from the start to localhost?

[Max]

I've got the same problem on my Win 7 machine. Atlassian Companion is installed, up and running. Although, when I open any document (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) in Confluence the "Edit with" menu doesn't work since it always suggests to download the app. It would seem like there is no communication between Confluence and the Companion app on a particular device.

[sreuter]

@Max This sounds more like a proxy/firewall issue. Did you try adding "atlassian-domain-for-localhost-connections-only.com" as an exception to your proxy configuration?

[Sou Chanhthirath]

I have the same issue as Maxim, however, I don't have any firewall issues. 

[Brendan Heussler]

Ok! I have found the solution to the problem, thanks to one of the Atlassian support devs who was on a call with earler today. I had an application installed on my machine called TeXShop, which is a LaTeX editor. For some reason, this application was registered in Launch Services as a valid application for my image files. It would also cause a segmentation fault in the file-associations module being using by the Companion App. While it would be great for the Companion App to play nicely with this application, I uninstalled it because I haven't used it in several years. I also had to rebuild the Launch Services database because TexShop was still being returned in the application list by `lsregister -dump`, even after being uninstalled. I used a program called OnyX to rebuild the Launch Services database. Now everything is working for me.

If you are still having trouble or you don't have TeXShop installed, it's possible Atlassian are working on a fix to handle more applications that cause issues with the Companion App's file association module.

[Brendan Heussler]

Ok!  I have found the solution to the problem, thanks to one of the Atlassian support devs who was on a call with earler today.  I had an application installed on my machine called TeXShop, which is a LaTeX editor.  For some reason, this application was registered in Launch Services as a valid application for my image files.  It would also cause a segmentation fault in the file-associations module being using by the Companion App.  While it would be great for the Companion App to play nicely with this application, I uninstalled it because I haven't used it in several years.  I also had to rebuild the Launch Services database because TexShop was still being returned in the application list by `lsregister -dump`, even after being uninstalled.  I used a program called OnyX to rebuild the Launch Services database.  Now everything is working for me.

If you are still having trouble or you don't have TeXShop installed, it's possible Atlassian are working on a fix to handle more applications that cause issues with the Companion App's file association module.

[xenmin]

I have a similar problem, and I uploaded the new companion (0.1.15)

See screenshot. Can somebody help?

[Paul Haines]

Me Too.

I am running Win 10 though and Companion v0.1.3  On install, just get "Atlassian Companion" and spinning circle.  Then nothing else.  

However no directory structure gets created, so when I try to Edit With (Powerpoint) I get a Windows Error message "cannot find file c:\users\myname\atlassian-companion\xxxxx"    Because that directory has not been created by the Companion.

I do have the icon in the systray, but companion functionality doesn't work from a page with documents embedded. 

Note: I have tried installing companion with "Run as Administrator" but didn't make any difference.

[sattard]

Hey @Paul Haines,

Can you confirm what the "xxxxx" is in your case, it sounds like that file is being deleted or something before windows can launch it.

If you can't share the filename here you can raise feedback through the "Give Feedback" link in the apps tray menu.

Cheers,

Sam

[Paul Haines]

Hi Sam

Actually I can now see that the folder is a hidden folder, and it is a long string of hex.   The .pptx file does in fact reside in there, but powerpoint won't open it.    Windows error - see pic attached

The filename does contain and ampersand (&) so I am not sure if that is relevant

[sattard]

Can you try files that don't have that ampersand in, it is probably something like that (a special character) that is messing with the launch logic.

[sattard]

@Paul Haines I'm still trying to reproduce this, if possible could you send me the file in question to my email address: sattard@atlassian.com, you can remove all the content, the issue seems to be due to the filename.  Thanks for working through this with us.

[Paul Haines]

Hi Samuel

Yes I think it is because the filename contains an ampersand.   I inserted another pptx file on the page with a different filename and it works fine.  So I don't think I need to send you the actual file, as that is the likely cause

[sattard]

@Paul Haines Thanks for that, I managed to reproduce the issue, looks like the ampersand's are the issue.  Looking to have this fixed in the next release for you :)

[sreuter]

@Paul Haines Thanks again for reporting this and helping us figuring out what's going wrong. As Sam mentioned, we believe to have found and fixed the issue. The latest release that went out yesterday should fix this particular error for you. Would you mind verifying that things work fine for you now?

[Paul Haines]

@sreuter @sattard

Yes - I just tested and those files with ampersands in filename now open!   Well done for fixing so quickly.

[Brendan Heussler]

This is fantastic news for!  I just want to make sure we don't lose progress on the OSX front.  I recently updated to v 0.1.4 and I am still having issues.  The file I am trying to open does not have any ampersands, it's "production.jpg".

[Tero Laitinen]

Me too.

[Lukas Rohrer]

Have the exact same problem.

[Christoph Roll]

Are you behind a proxy? The solution to the same problem in my case was to add "atlassian-domain-for-localhost-connections-only.com" (really that exact domain!) as an exception to the local proxy config.

Credits to Samuel Attard from the Companion dev team

[Brendan Heussler]

I am not behind a proxy

[sattard]

@Brendan What version of Companion are you running, if you aren't behind a proxy then this is a new issue.

Got a few questions :)

* What OS are you using?

* What version of your OS are you on?

* What browser are you using?

* When you launch the app does it remain open in your tray?

* When you click "Edit" on confluence does it remain open in your tray?

Hope we can get this sorted :)

[Brendan Heussler]

@Samuel, the answers to you questions are in previous comments.  I've also included a logfile and a screencast showing when it crashes.

[sattard]

@Brendan OK so it looks like that's a new issue that we haven't seen before, can you use the "Give feedback" button in the tray menu of Companion so we can track internally and I can reach out with some more debugging steps :).

[Brendan Heussler]

I have already submitted feedback after @sreuter asked for the same thing previously in this thread

[Remo Siegwart]

@sattardcould you or someone from the companion dev team please explain why you are using the domain "atlassian-domain-for-localhost-connections-only.com" for the connections instead of just "localhost"? I'm sure there is a reason for this, but I just don't get it...

[Alaa]

I also encounter the same issue at windows and mac ...  " 

[sreuter]

Hey @Alaa,

we found an issue that can cause this kind of error (dialog with an empty message) that occurs when the system is unable to resolve that said domain (atlassian-domain-for-localhost-connections-only.com) when starting the app.

We'll likely be able to release an update on Monday that should fix that particular problem we found.

We'll let you know as soon as the fix has been published and released!