Issues with editing Excel documents with Office Connector

[Dan]

We have the macro placing the Excel document on a confluence page, it has the edit button where it can open with the Atlassian companion. However when it begins to open up MS Excel it get hit with a "because the file format or file extension is not vald" it could not open.

I am using the SAML SSO for Confluence not sure if SSO might be causing the issues. I remember using SSO in another instance of on-prem confluence but didn't have this issue. 

Any thoughts would be awesome!

[Shannon S]

Hello Dan,

Thanks for bringing this to us. Happy to help figure out what's going on here. I just have a few questions for you!

1. Does this occur with any Excel document on any page in Confluence?
2. Do you have the same issue with Word and Powerpoint documents too?
3. Are all users able to replicate the problem across different computers?
4. What version of Office are you using?
5. What is your Confluence version?

The error you are encountering is usually a Microsoft issue, and not related to the Companion app. For example:

• Fix Excel Cannot Open the File Because The Extension Is Not Valid
• Error message when you try to open a workbook that you receive in an e-mail message for review in Excel 2007: "Excel cannot open the file"

Based on the information in those articles, can you give the fixes a try and see if it solves your issue?

Thank you!

Regards,

Shannon

[Dan]

@Shannon S Hi there! 

1.  Correct any, I have tried multiple excel docs, not just the one my customer made
2. I have not tried yet
3. I tried as well, instances are the same level across the board
4. I have tried Office 365 and Officer 2019

5. Confluence 6.15.7

Thanks for any help!

[Dan]

@Shannon S I figured it out, we had an F5 blocking it. It is causing issues with the companion app and excel.

[Shannon S]

Hi Dan,

Thank you for letting me know you were able to solve it! Glad to hear. :) 

Take care, and have a pleasant rest of your week.

Shannon

[Yves Martin]

Hello @Dan

May you please provide details what was wrong in F5 BigIP settings to trigger this "extension" or "mime type" issue with Office files and the way you have fixed it?

Thank you in advance for your help. Yves

[Dan]

I believe it has to do with the encryption and decryption when downloading the file through the F5 - We haven't fixed it yet

[Dan]

@Shannon S Hi Shannon, have you heard any other similar issues to this? We still have this issue - I know without the F5 as mentioned this issue doesn't exist. 

[Shannon S]

Hi @Dan,

Thank you for following-up. I haven't seen any other cases about this personally, but I have consulted the rest of the Confluence team. It appears it may have been caused by this bug:

• CONFSERVER-57593 Edit in App does not work when Confluence is integrated transparent SSO (and 2FA)

This has been fixed as of Confluence 7.2.0. If you're not ready to upgrade, be advised that the workaround in the ticket is only confirmed to work up to version 6.12. In version 6.15, there's a dark feature that can do the same:

• Enable Edit in Office as a Dark Feature 

Please have a look at that, and let me know if it helps, or if you have any trouble.

Shannon