Setting Up Document Editing, Revision, and Viewing

You need to enable a document editing module before users can perform the following tasks in a Policy & Procedure Management document:

  • As a document owner, proxy author, or writer, directly (without leaving Policy & Procedure Management) add and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint content
  • As a reviewer or approver, directly revise Word, Excel, and PowerPoint content
  • As an assignee, directly view and read Word, Excel, and PowerPoint content

You can enable either of two modules for this purpose—Office Online Module or WordModulePlus.

Office Online Module—the newer technology—integrates Policy & Procedure Management with both the online and desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint available through your Microsoft 365 Business subscription.

WordModulePlus integrates Policy & Procedure Management with desktop Word and Excel only. This module is built on technology no longer supported by Microsoft and therefore has a limited lifespan. Enable this module only if your organization does not currently have a Microsoft 365 Business subscription.

Enabling Office Online Module

  1. Click Settings & Tools > IT Settings, and then click Module Manager.
  2. Select Use Office Online for document editing, and then select the Default View Published as PDF check box.
  3. Click Save.

    Important: Be sure to enable Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Microsoft 365 for all Policy & Procedure Management users assigned the Owner, Proxy Author, Writer, Reviewer, or Approver role. (With Office Online enabled, users with the Assignee role do not need Office applications enabled to view and read documents.)

Enabling WordModulePlus

  1. Click Settings & Tools > IT Settings, and then click Module Manager.
  2. Select Use WordModule+ for document editing, and then select the PDF Converter check box.
  3. Click Save.

WordModulePlus is an extension to Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge that enables the following Policy & Procedure Management functionality:

  • Create, edit, and view Word and Excel documents from within Policy & Procedure Management.
  • Launch Microsoft PowerPoint and Visio files from within Policy & Procedure Management, with the file opening in PowerPoint or Visio outside the browser. Saving the file in PowerPoint or Visio automatically updates the file in Policy & Procedure Management.
  • Launch any other file type from within Policy & Procedure Management, with the file opening in the operating system's default application for the file's extension. After editing and saving a file that is not a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Visio file, a user must upload that file into Policy & Procedure Management again to replace the previous version. This functionality is not enabled by default. You can enable Policy & Procedure Management to launch and sync the editing (automatically save changes back to the Policy & Procedure Management database) of any file with a file name extension for which Windows can assign a default application.

Installing WordModulePlus  On Demand

If Office Online is not enabled, users are prompted to download and install WordModulePlus the first time they attempt to create or open a Word or Excel document. They can follow the prompts to install the module and then continue working where they left off in Policy & Procedure Management.

Important: Users must have Local Administrator rights to successfully install WordModulePlus. Without Local Administrator rights, users still see the installation prompt and can click the Install button, but the result is that installation appears to start but never completes.