Hey everyone!
I’m working on an ASP.NET project and need to implement real-time document editing like in online office suites. My users should be able to edit Word and Excel files directly in the browser.
I’m curious if it’s possible to incorporate Google Docs features into my app. However, I want to save the modified documents on my server instead of Google’s cloud storage.
Has anyone done something similar? What options do I have for enabling collaborative document editing in ASP.NET while keeping control over file storage?
I appreciate any advice or alternative solutions you can provide! Thanks!
SignalR + a document conversion library like Aspose or GemBox works great for this. I built something similar - convert docs to HTML server-side, let users edit with a rich text editor, and use SignalR for real-time sync between clients. When they’re done editing, convert the HTML back to the original format and save it. The tricky part is handling concurrent edits and conflicts, but SignalR groups help a lot. Large documents can slow things down since you’re converting server-side, but you get full control over editing and storage without relying on external services.
u could check out OnlyOffice or Collabora Online for self-hosted collab editing. Google Docs won’t let u save to ur own server, but those tools integrate with ASP.NET decently. just know it might take some effort to set up!
I’ve done this with Office 365 and the Office JavaScript API. Basically, you embed Office Online into your web app using an iframe - users can edit docs right in the browser while you keep control of server-side storage. You’ll need to handle auth correctly and set up WOPI (Web Application Open Platform Interface) to let your ASP.NET app talk to Office Online. The setup means configuring endpoints for file operations and metadata exchange. It gives you real Office editing without third-party tools, but your users need Office 365 licenses.