Office Web Apps Server is a standalone server product that provides browser-based viewing and editing of Office files to multiple on-premises hosts like SharePoint 2013, Lync Server 2013, and Exchange Server 2013. It supports scaling out to multiple servers and can be installed on virtual machines. Office Web Apps Server simplifies deployment by being separate from the host products and allows for separate updating and management.

1. Office Web Apps Server is an Office server product that provides
browser-based file viewing and editing services for Office files. Office
Web Apps Server works with products and services that support WOPI,
the Web app Open Platform Interface protocol. These products, known as
hosts, include SharePoint 2013, Lync Server 2013, and Exchange Server
2013.
An Office Web Apps Server farm can provide Office services to multiple
on-premises hosts, and you can scale out the farm from one server to
multiple servers as your organization’s needs grow. Although Office Web
Apps Server requires dedicated servers that run no other server
applications, you can install Office Web Apps Server on virtual machine
instances.
What is Office Web Apps Server?
Office Web App when opened from SharePoint 2013
Document preview in SharePoint 2013 library or search results
Office Web Apps Server
Supports ViewingSupports Editing & Viewing
Optimized for touch screens
PCs & Macs
Internet Explorer
Firefox
Chrome
Safari
Tablets & Slates
Windows
iOS
Smart Phones Phones
Any
browser-
enabled
phone
Windows
iOS
Android
Office Web Apps Server host capabilities and the user experience
Host CapabilitiesOffice
Web Apps
Users can view and, in some cases, edit Office documents in
SharePoint libraries by using a supported web browser on
computers and on many mobile devices, such as Windows Phones,
iPhones, iPads, and Windows 8 tablets.
The following illustration summarizes the viewing and editing
capabilities of Office Web Apps on different kinds of devices.
SharePoint
2013
Users of Outlook Web App can preview Office file attachments by
using Word Web App, Excel Web App, and PowerPoint Web App.
These previews provide rich, full-fidelity viewing of Office files and any
comments within them, without downloading the files before viewing
them.
Office Web Apps Server won’t be used to render any attachments in
IRM protected messages.
Office Web Apps Server integration for attachment previews is
available to all Exchange Online customers. Exchange on-premises
customers have to deploy Office Web Apps Server to enable the
functionality.
Exchange
Server
2013
Lync
Server
2013
Users can present and view PowerPoint presentations in Lync 2013 on
many different devices. Lync Server 2013 now uses standard DHTML
and JavaScript to broadcast PowerPoint presentations instead of
customized DHTML and Silverlight.
Also, users who have appropriate permissions can scroll through and
view any slide they wish during the presentation, without affecting the
presentation.
Outlook Web App preview of Excel document
Attached files in an email shown in Outlook Web App with
Exchange 2013 configured to use Office Web Apps Server
PowerPoint presentation broadcast in Lync 2013 configured to
use Office Web Apps Server
User Experience
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How Office Web Apps Server works
A key part of the new integration model is a new public
WOPI API that Office Web Apps Server uses to
communicate with hosts. Office Web Apps Server
fetches and manipulates files using the WOPI API. We
often refer to Office Web Apps Server as a WOPI App.
Hosts must recognize WOPI requests from WOPI apps.
Here’s an example of the data flow between the browser,
SharePoint Server 2013, and Office Web Apps Server.
It is easier to deploy and manage Office Web Apps within your
organization now that it is a stand-alone product. If you deploy
SharePoint 2013, for example, you no longer have to optimize the
SharePoint infrastructure to support Office Web Apps, which in
earlier versions was tightly integrated with SharePoint Server 2010.
You can also apply updates to the Office Web Apps Server farm
separately and at a different frequency than you update SharePoint
2013, Exchange Server 2013, or Lync Server 2013. Having a stand-
alone Office Web Apps Server farm also means that users can view
or edit Office files that are stored outside SharePoint 2013, such as
those in shared folders or other websites. This functionality is
provided by a feature known as Online Viewers.
SharePoint
WOPI
Browser
WordViewer
WOPIFrame
WOPI Source
AccessToken
Office Web
Apps Server
Office Web
Apps Server
//Contoso-My.SharePoint.com/personal/sanjay_contoso_com/_layout
Office Web Apps deployment simplified
Video demo: see how it’s done
1 2
Install prerequisite
features, Windows
roles, and services
On all servers that will run Office Web Apps Server
Install Office Web Apps
Server, updates, and
language packs
5a
5b
Create the farm on the
first server
Add other servers to the
farm
6
8
Connect SharePoint
2013 to the farm
Connect Lync 2013 to
the farm
7
9
Connect Exchange 2013
to the farm
Connect custom WOPI
host to the farm
KB
.exe
On each server to join the farm On separate servers
3
Configure a load
balancer
(for multiserver farms)
4
Obtain a certificate
(for HTTPS scenarios)
Prepare the environment Create the farm Connect the hosts
Deployment process
Office Web Apps Server usage scenarios
Corporate intranet
Internet
Dual homed
Hardware Load Balancer
Firewall
Office Web Apps Server farm
Exchange Server 2013
SharePoint 2013
Lync Server
2013
Katie clicks the preview link in a Word
email attachment in Outlook Web App
Sanjay opens an Excel workbook from a
SharePoint document library
Pilar attends an online Lync Meeting where a
PowerPoint presentation is being shared by the
meeting presenter
1
1
1
3
4
3
4
4
3
2
5
2
5
2
5
The host directs the browser to a special page that contains an IFRAME that connects to a page on
Office Web Apps Server.
The page initiates a request to Office Web Apps Server. The request includes the file name, access
token, and the URL of the file location on the host.
Office Web Apps Server responds to the request by getting the document from the host and then
rendering the document in the IFRAME. The user can then view or edit the document in the web
browser.
2
3
4 5
The user wants to view or open a document that is stored on a host that runs Exchange Server 2013,
SharePoint 2013, or Lync Server 2013.
1
How WOPI works:
View the content roadmap.
https://Contoso-My.SharePoint.com/personal/sanjay_contoso
To watch a demonstration of how to setup Office
Web Apps Server and configure SharePoint 2013
to use Office Web Apps for a test environment,
scan the QR code with your smart phone or tablet.
This video covers procedures that are performed
on two servers: the server that runs Office Web
Apps Server, and the server that runs SharePoint
2013. Remember that these must always be
separate servers as described in the software,
hardware, and configuration requirements for
Office Web Apps Server.
The high-level steps to follow along with this
video are described in the TechNet article
Overview of Office Web Apps and how they work
on-premises with SharePoint 2013.
Office Web Apps then and now
SharePoint
Office
Web
Apps
SharePoint
Office
Web
Apps
SharePoint
Office
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Apps
SharePoint
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Web
Apps SharePoint
Office
Web
Apps
SharePoint
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Web
Apps
Exchange
3rd
Party
Viewer
Lync
PowerPoint
2007
2010 2013
Office
Web Apps
Server
Office
Web Apps
Server
SharePoint
SharePoint
SharePoint
SharePoint
SharePoint
Exchange
Lync
Open from
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