OnlyOffice lets you edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in the browser, several people at once. It's the editing engine behind a file app such as Nextcloud, rather than somewhere you keep documents on its own.
On this page
At a glance#
- What it is
- Collaborative Office Suite Storage
- Where it opens
- Web Interface
On its own port at
http://your-server:port, oronlyoffice.your-domainonce you have a domain - Updates
- Automatic A backup is taken first, and it rolls back if the update fails
- Backups
- Included Part of the daily backup when that's switched on
- Copies
- As many as you like Run several copies, each with its own data
What it's good for#
What LibrePortal installs is ONLYOFFICE Docs, sometimes called the Document Server. It's the part that opens a document, spreadsheet or presentation in a browser tab and lets several people type in it at the same time, in the familiar Microsoft Office file formats.
What it doesn't have is anywhere to keep files, or accounts of its own. It's meant to be plugged into an app that does, most often Nextcloud. You open a .docx in Nextcloud, Nextcloud hands it to OnlyOffice, and OnlyOffice saves your changes back.
OnlyOffice or CryptPad?
If you want a self-contained office suite you can use straight away, with its own accounts and its own drive, look at CryptPad. It also encrypts everything in your browser so the server never sees your documents. Choose OnlyOffice when you already keep your files in Nextcloud or ownCloud and want to edit them where they are.
Signing in#
There's nothing to sign in to. OnlyOffice has no users; it trusts the file app that sends it a document, and the two prove who they are to each other with a shared secret (a "JWT secret").
LibrePortal makes that secret at install, and it stays the same through restarts and updates. It's in the Login Details shown when the install finishes, on the Jwt Secret card, with Show and Copy. Press Welcome on the app's page to see it again. A file app's ONLYOFFICE connector calls it the Secret key.
Pressing Web Interface on its page shows ONLYOFFICE's welcome page, which just tells you it's running. That's normal. The first start takes a minute or two before even that appears.
Using it with Nextcloud#
LibrePortal connects the two for you. Install OnlyOffice first, then tick Office among Nextcloud's extras, either while installing Nextcloud or later with Add or Remove Extras on Nextcloud's Tools tab. LibrePortal installs Nextcloud's ONLYOFFICE connector, gives it OnlyOffice's addresses and the secret, and runs the connector's own check that each app can reach the other. After that, clicking a .docx, .xlsx or .pptx in Nextcloud's Files opens it in the editor. Both apps' Works with lists say whether they're connected.
If you reinstall OnlyOffice, or its address changes, LibrePortal points Nextcloud at it again by itself.
Your browser has to reach OnlyOffice too
The editor loads in your browser straight from OnlyOffice, while OnlyOffice fetches the file from Nextcloud over LibrePortal's own network. So wherever you use Nextcloud from, OnlyOffice's address has to work there as well. With a domain, that's onlyoffice.<your domain>. Without one, it's your server's address and OnlyOffice's port. Browsers also refuse to mix secure and plain pages: if you open Nextcloud over https://, OnlyOffice has to be on HTTPS too. LibrePortal already sends OnlyOffice the extra headers it needs to work behind Traefik.
Installed OnlyOffice before 0.4.7?
Before 0.4.7, OnlyOffice made up its own secret, and a new one each time it was recreated, which is what an automatic update does. Documents in Nextcloud then stopped opening until the new secret was pasted in again. An update gives an older install the fixed secret on its card, but the running OnlyOffice keeps making up its own until you reinstall it (pressing Update Configuration on its Config tab does that too). So reinstall OnlyOffice before you turn on Nextcloud's Office extra, or the two won't agree on the secret.
The same connector exists for ownCloud, but LibrePortal doesn't set that one up. In ownCloud, install the ONLYOFFICE app, and in its settings enter OnlyOffice's address, the one its Web Interface button opens, and the secret from the card. The rules about addresses above apply there too.
To check: walk through ownCloud's ONLYOFFICE connector settings on a real install (field names, whether the internal-address fields are needed on LibrePortal's network)
Good to know#
- It's hungry. ONLYOFFICE asks for at least 4 GB of memory and a dual-core processor for the Document Server alone. On a small server, check you have room before you install it next to Nextcloud.
- It's public to start with, so that phones and laptops editing through Nextcloud away from home can reach it. It has no login, but it will only accept documents from an app that knows the secret. If everyone uses Nextcloud from home or over the LibrePortal VPN, you can make it private.
- Updates are automatic. LibrePortal follows ONLYOFFICE's latest release and takes a backup first.
- Backups hold its logs and its own data folder, not your documents. Those live in Nextcloud and are backed up with it.
- Several copies are possible (instances), though one OnlyOffice can serve more than one file app. Nextcloud's Office extra always connects to the first OnlyOffice, not to a copy.
Addresses and ports#
OnlyOffice has one port. LibrePortal picks a free port number for each when you install, so yours will differ from anyone else's. The Config tab's Network section shows them, and the app's Open button uses the right one. "Anyone" means it's reachable from wherever your server is reachable; you can make it private later.
| What it is | Who can reach it | With a domain |
|---|---|---|
| Web Interface | Anyone | onlyoffice.your-domain |
Settings#
In its config file#
OnlyOffice's own settings aren't on the Config tab yet. They live in the app's config file, described here so you know they exist. How to change them.
| Setting | What it does | Starts as |
|---|---|---|
NameCFG_ONLYOFFICE_DISPLAY_NAME |
What this app is called on your dashboards. Leave empty to use its usual name | Empty |
Show on the LibrePortal DashboardCFG_ONLYOFFICE_SHOW_ON_DASHBOARD |
Whether this app gets a shortcut on the front page of the LibrePortal WebUI, separate from any Dashy dashboard Choices: true, false |
false |
Works with#
These are the other apps OnlyOffice knows how to work with. Once it's installed, its page shows the same list with whether each one is connected. How this works.
- Grafana: Shows dashboards for the apps that have one. works with every app
- Nextcloud: Open and edit documents in Nextcloud with OnlyOffice.
- Prometheus: Collects metrics from the apps that can export them. works with every app
- Uptime Kuma: Watches your apps and shows when one goes down. works with every app
Privacy and security#
Worth knowing ONLYOFFICE edits documents on your server. We have not yet confirmed whether it contacts the company's servers, so this stays flagged until it is tested.
What leaves this server#
- Not yet confirmed whether the editors or plugin marketplace fetch from onlyoffice.com
What LibrePortal turns off#
Nothing needed switching off.
Licence: AGPL-3.0. Audited: 21 October 2026. See the privacy of every app and the Promise.
Sources#
Under the hood#
- It runs this image:
onlyoffice/documentserver:10.0.0.1@sha256:ca17889f10b11141cc6441836aebdd2835cf3e1b49681b2fd6e155c94b7850b3. - It can sit behind Authelia's sign-in once Authelia is installed.
- Its own project and documentation: github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DocumentServer
Ports, settings, tools and connections on this page are read from LibrePortal v0.10.97's app catalogue each time the guide is built.
