Symptoms

When attempting to edit in Word, the attachment downloads and cannot be saved back into Confluence

Causes and Resolutions

There are multiple causes for this problem, in no particular order:

1. A bug in the WebDav Plugin. Make sure you have a supported version of the WebDav Plugin - version 2.0 or higher. Check in Administration >> Plugins for your version.
2. Firefox needs an updated WebDAV launcher. Try downloading the latest version of the WebDAV launcher here.
3. An incorrect web.xml file from Weblogic. Check the weblogic installation instructions.
4. Single Sign On (SSO) solutions like CAS or Siteminder or custom authenticators. Try a test environment without these authenticators to determine if this is your problem. SSO solutions are outside the scope of Confluence Support and will require custom development if they are interfering. Track the improvement request.
5. Proxy/firewall servers. Check your Web Proxy configuration for outbound traffic, and your Apache or IIS configuration for inbound traffic. Try disabling these technologies for diagnosis.
6. Custom Decorators eg. sidebar navigation after an upgrade to Confluence 3.x. See CONF-16055 for a resolution.
7. Windows Vista and Office 2007
   
   1. Install SP2 if you haven't already. If this doesn't just fix the problem proceed to the next step.
   2. Download the web folders update, and Install it
      Then follow these steps:
   3. Navigate to your Office installation directory. (Default is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12.)
   4. Right click on 'WinWord.exe' and select 'Properties' in the dropdown menu.
   5. Select the 'Compatibility' tab in the Properties dialog.
   6. Select the option titled 'Run this Program in Compatibility Mode'.
   7. Choose Windows XP from the dropdown menu.
   8. Repeat the steps for 'EXCEL.EXE' and 'POWERPNT.EXE'.
8. Windows 7
   
   1. Navigate to your Office installation directory. (Default is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12.)
   2. Right click on 'WinWord.exe' and select 'Properties' in the dropdown menu.
   3. Select the 'Compatibility' tab in the Properties dialog.
   4. Select the option titled 'Run this Program in Compatibility Mode'.
   5. Choose Windows Vista SP2 from the dropdown menu.
   6. Repeat the steps for 'EXCEL.EXE' and 'POWERPNT.EXE'.
9. Edit-in-Word in Windows 7 is affected by this bug. To work around this issue, please follow these steps:
   
   1. Upgrade to Office Connector 1.14 (compatible with Confluence 3.4.x), or above.
   2. Change the BasicAuthLevel (at [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WebClient\Parameters]) registry setting to 2.
   3. Restart Windows.
10. If you're getting an error like, 'Error! Filename not specified', then you may be running into a long file path limitation.
    
    1. WBDV-52 describes a limitation: If your file path is too long (Possibly due to heavy nesting in space hierarchy, then you may get an error while saving. Currently, there is no workaround save for reducing the nesting depth.
11. If using Office 2010, please see Edit in Office Opens Blank in Office 2010
12. Either your SSL certificate has expired or you are using a self-signed certificate. Make sure your SSL certificate is up-to-date and do not use a self-signed certificate.
13. Enable 'Allow authentication tokens in the URL path' from Confluence Admin > Office Connector setting.

Next Steps

If none of the solutions above apply, check Office Connector Limitations and Known Issues for the information to include in your Support Request.