Table of contents
What is Microsoft Office Link?
Microsoft Office Link (powered by LinkrUI) is a native add-in for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It enables direct searching, opening, and placing of assets stored in Frontify from within Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Access Frontify's DAM directly from Word, PowerPoint, and Excel from a built-in panel, leveraging existing assets and uploading new assets.
Microsoft Office Link is a 2-way integration. You can use assets from Frontify as well as push new Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files to Frontify.
Access to all of your Frontify Icon, Media, and Document Libraries.
Supports digital assets only (no fonts, colors, etc.).
Open and update existing Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files stored in Frontify from within the corresponding Microsoft app.
Navigation
Following the Microsoft Office Link dashboard, let’s examine each section.
Search
You can search by:
Title
Description
Name
Tags
Metadata
Microsoft Office Link search results will be the same search results as from the backend of the Frontify libraries.
Collections
You can access all of the Collections available in your Frontify libraries.
Note: You cannot search inside a Collection.
Filter
You can filter by:
File type
Metadata (called Smart Filters in the extension)
Change Brand
Change which brand you are working out of.
Upload New Asset
Using this icon, you can upload your Microsoft file to Frontify.
Note: This option will always upload a new asset, not a revision to an existing asset.
To upload a revision of a new asset, visit Create a revision (update) of an existing file below.
Folder Structure
You will see the same folder structure in Microsoft Office Link as you would in the backend of your Frontify libraries, including nested folders.
Library Select
This is where you can select which library of assets you would like to view and use.
Detail View
Displays an additional view section with the details of an asset.
Grid View
View assets and folders in a grid with an asset preview.
List View
View assets and folders in a list.
Settings
Preferences and settings can be found here.
Uploading Microsoft files to Frontify
Users can upload new Microsoft files to Frontify, as well as create a revision (update) of an existing asset.
Upload new file
To upload a new file to Frontify from Microsoft Office Link:
Click the upload button on the bottom left of the Microsoft Office Link panel.
Give your file a name. The current name of the file will be displayed but can be edited.
[optional] Add a description for the file.
Choose what folder to save the file to.
You can only upload to folders within the library you are viewing. If you would like to upload to a folder in a different library, switch the view to the desired library using the library select drop-down.
If no folder is chosen, the file will be uploaded to the top level of the folder structure.
Click 'Upload'.
Create a revision (update) of an existing file
To create a revision of an existing file in Frontify:
Find the asset in Microsoft Office Link
Hover the mouse over the file
Click the ellipsis (3 dots) icon.
Select 'New Version'
Confirm the update.
Using existing Microsoft files stored in Frontify
Users have two options when working with an existing asset from Frontify:
Open:
This action allows you to fully open the asset within Microsoft. When you choose this option, the selected asset from Frontify will be opened in a new window.
Place:
This option offers more flexibility by enabling you to insert the content of the Frontify asset directly at your current cursor location within the currently open file. Selecting 'Place' will place the content of the asset where the cursor is, maintaining your current workflow without needing to navigate away from your current file.
Placing assets in Microsoft files
To place an asset into an Excel, Word, or PowerPoint, you can either
Drag and drop the asset
Use the 'Place' button
Troubleshooting
Error Opening Asset
Problem:
You receive the error with code 'AccessDenied' as shown below.
Error Opening Asset
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <Error><Code>AccessDenied</Code><Message>Access Denied</Message><RequestId>...</RequestId><HostId>...</HostId></Error>
Solution:
This is caused by an asset having download protection applied in Frontify. An admin will need to remove download protection on the asset or you need to request access to the asset in Frontify itself and download it from there (rather than through the integration):
Find the asset in the corresponding Frontify library in the browser.
Click on the asset.
Click 'Request Download' and complete the request form.