# Proposal: Seamless Document Creation and Editing with OnlyOffice

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/proposal-seamless-document-creation-and-editing-with-onlyoffice/376992
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [August 2, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/proposal-seamless-document-creation-and-editing-with-onlyoffice/376992 "2025-08-02T11:57:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Ralf\_Stockmann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ralf_stockmann/32/505867_2.png) [@Ralf\_Stockmann](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ralf_Stockmann)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/proposal-seamless-document-creation-and-editing-with-onlyoffice/376992/1 "2025-08-02T11:57:56Z")

</div>

**Proposal: Seamless Document Creation and Editing with OnlyOffice in Discourse (via Nextcloud Integration)**

As part of our ongoing efforts to establish Discourse as a true enterprise-ready intranet solution, we are working towards a seamless document workflow within Discourse—enabling users to create and edit Office documents (e.g., .docx, .xlsx, .pptx) directly inside the platform.

### **Vision:**

Our long-term goal is to allow users to collaboratively edit documents in OnlyOffice, without ever having to leave Discourse or interact with backend storage layers like Nextcloud. From a user perspective, document creation and editing should feel native to Discourse, making powerful collaborative content possible within discussions, wikis, or knowledge bases.

### **Technical Approach (Phase 1):**

- **Composer Extension:**

- **Automatic Document Provisioning:**

- **OnlyOffice Editing:**

- **Transparent Storage:**

**Security & Scope:**

- Documents reside in a shared Nextcloud folder with public edit links (security by obscurity, trading fine-grained control for ease of use).
- No per-user accounts or uploads—just one backend service account and standardized templates.

**Next Steps:**

We are currently developing a proof-of-concept for this workflow and will share our progress and source code in the coming weeks.

Feedback, ideas, and collaborators are very welcome!

**We see this as an important step towards making Discourse a first-class, open source enterprise intranet — including modern document workflows and real-time collaborative editing — without additional barriers for end users.**