1 Introduction

1.1 About Desktop Integration Suite

Desktop Integration Suite (DIS) provides a set of embedded applications that help you seamlessly integrate your desktop experience with Oracle Content Server, Oracle Content Database (Content DB), or other WebDAV-based content repositories. More specifically, it provides convenient access to these content servers directly from Microsoft Windows Explorer, Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), and supported e-mail clients (Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes).

Integrating content repositories such as Oracle Content Server with your desktop applications improves your ability to work with files on the content server. You can easily manage files on the server and share files with other users directly from your desktop in addition to logging in to the content server and using the web browser interface. Desktop Integration Suite provides a simplified interface for managing files in a unified way from all of your familiar desktop applications.

1.2 What's New

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 is a major new release that offers many new features and enhancements compared to version 10gR3.

Integration With Oracle Content Server 11gR1

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 fully supports Oracle Content Server 11gR1. The client software can communicate with Oracle Content Server 11gR1, 10gR3, and 7.5.2 (with the DesktopIntegrationSuite component installed and enabled). Other Content Server versions are not supported.

Integration with Oracle Content Server provides the broadest content management capabilities directly in the supported desktop applications. You can search for files on the server (using queries or by browsing), open files from the server (check out), save files (check in), and perform a number of other advanced content management tasks (such as comparing Word files on the content server or inserting files from the server into Office documents).

Please note that not all features of Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 may be available when you are connecting to a pre-11g Oracle Content Server instance.

Integration With Oracle Content Database Servers

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 can communicate with Oracle Content Database (Content DB) servers. The client software can communicate with Oracle Content DB 10gR1 (10.2).

Integration with Oracle Content Database provides basic content management capabilities directly in the supported desktop applications. You can browse to files on the server, open files from the server (check out), and save files (check in).

Improved Integration With Other WebDAV Servers

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 provides improved integration with WebDAV servers that are not Oracle Content Server or Oracle Content Database instances. It now provides more content management capabilities, such as checking items in and out, undoing check-outs, and making items available offline.

Integration With Microsoft Windows 7

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 provides integration with Windows Explorer in Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit only).

No more ODMA for Microsoft Office Integration

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 no longer uses ODMA for Microsoft Office integration. Dedicated integration menus and ribbons are now used in the Microsoft Office applications to interact with content servers.

Oracle Content Server Profiles

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 supports selection of Oracle Content Server profiles on search and check-in pages. Content profiles allow content server administrators to set default metadata for files depending on their application type and to control what metadata fields are shown on the page. Please note that this feature is available only if you are connecting to an Oracle Content Server 11g instance, not earlier versions.

Oracle Content Server Productivity Nodes

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 supports the Oracle Content Server productivity nodes, which means that My Workflow Assignments, My Checked-Out Content, and My Saved Queries are displayed as special server folders under Oracle Content Servers in Windows Explorer and supported e-mail applications (Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes). Please note that this feature is available only if you are connecting to an Oracle Content Server 11gR1 instance, not earlier versions. See Chapter 6, "Understanding the Integration Hierarchy" for more information.

Metadata Prompts for New Files in Contribution Folders

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 may prompt for metadata when you drag and drop, copy and paste, or save new files to a contribution folder on an Oracle Content Server instance, if that feature has been enabled for that folder or if required metadata is missing. Please note that this feature is available only if you are connecting to an Oracle Content Server 11gR1 instance, not earlier versions. See "Copying Content Folders and Files" for more information.

Inserting Links, File Contents, and Images into Microsoft Office Documents

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 enables you to insert links to files, content of files, and images on an Oracle Content Server instance into supported Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). See Chapter 10, "Inserting Managed Content Into Microsoft Office Files" for more information.

User Interface for Comparing Word Documents on Content Server

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 now provides a user interface in Microsoft Word (menu items, selection dialog) that enables you to compare Word documents managed on an Oracle Content Server instance. You can compare a document with an earlier revision of the same document or with a different file on the content server. For Chapter 11, "Comparing Managed Microsoft Word Documents" for more information.

Expanded Localization

The client software for Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 has been localized into more languages than previous releases (see "Localized User Interface").

Improved User Assistance

The user documentation and online help for Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 have been completely rewritten and have significantly been expanded.

1.3 Supported Content Servers

The client software of Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 can connect to the following content servers:

• Oracle Content Server 11gR1, 10gR3, and 7.5.2

  For the Desktop Integration Suite client software to be able to work with content on Oracle Content Server instances, the DesktopIntegrationSuite component must be installed and enabled on the server.

  Integration with Oracle Content Server provides the broadest content management capabilities directly in the supported desktop applications. You can search for files on the server (using queries or by browsing), open files from the server (check out), save files (check in), and perform a number of other advanced content management tasks (such as comparing Word files on the content server or inserting files from the server into Office documents).

  For the Desktop Integration Suite client to be able to interact with an Oracle Content Server instance, that server must have the DesktopIntegrationSuite component installed and enabled. Also, content folders are available only if the folders component is installed and enabled on the content server.

  Please note that not all features of Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 may be available when you are connecting to a pre-11g Oracle Content Server instance.

• Oracle Content Database 10gR1 (10.2)

  Integration with Oracle Content Database provides basic content management capabilities directly in the supported desktop applications. You can browse to files on the server, open files from the server (check out), and save files (check in).

• Other content repositories that support the standard WebDAV protocol

  Integration with WebDAV servers provides basic content management capabilities directly in the supported desktop applications. You can browse to files on the server, open files from the server (check out), and save files (check in). Please note that the WebDAV DeltaV extension is not supported.

1.4 Supported E-mail Backend Systems

The client software of Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 can work with the following e-mail backend systems:

• Microsoft Exchange 2000 through 2007

• Lotus Domino 6 through 8 (with mail databases based on release 6 or 7 mail templates; release 8 mail templates are currently not supported)

1.5 Supported Client Applications

The client software of Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 can integrate each of the following client applications with the supported content servers. The installer automatically detects the supported applications on your computer and installs the appropriate integration features to provide these applications direct access to content management functionality.

Windows Explorer

• Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or higher, 32-bit or 64-bit version)

• Microsoft Windows Vista (SP1 or higher, 32-bit or 64-bit version)

• Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit version only)

Desktop Applications

• Microsoft Word 2002 (XP) through 2007

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 (XP) through 2007

• Microsoft Excel 2002 (XP) through 2007

E-Mail Client Applications

• Microsoft Outlook 2002 (XP) through 2007

• Lotus Notes Email Client 6.5.2 through 8.5 (with Lotus Domino mail databases based on release 6 or 7 mail templates; release 8 mail templates are currently not supported)

See Chapter 2, "Setting Up Desktop Integration on Client Computers" for more information on setting up client computers for use with Desktop Integration Suite.

1.6 Localized User Interface

Desktop Integration Suite 11gR1 offers localized user interfaces for the client software. The following user interface languages are supported: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (both Brazil and Portugal), Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian, Greek, Turkish, Hebrew, Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Arabic.

The user interface language is automatically set to match the locale of the operating system; for example, if you are running a German version of Microsoft Windows, then the Desktop Integration Suite user interface will also be German.

1.7 Accessibility Features

Desktop Integration Suite complies with Oracle's accessibility guidelines. It provides accessibility features in a number of areas:

• Menu Access

• Context Menus

• Standard Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

• Additional Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Access

The Desktop Integration Suite client software adds a number of menus and toolbars to some of the applications it integrates with. As is customary in Windows applications, each menu item has its own keyboard shortcut (Alt key plus a letter).

Context Menus

The Desktop Integration Suite client software provides context menus to provide options that are relevant to the current context of the application. For example, with a contribution folder selected, it shows options that are applicable to that folder in that particular context. To show a context menu, right-click an object in the integration hierarchy or the content pane, or press the menu key on your keyboard.

See "Context Menus" for more information.

Standard Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

The Desktop Integration Suite client software supports many standard Windows keyboard shortcuts, including:

• Ctrl+C: copy

• Ctrl+X: cut

• Ctrl+V: paste

• Delete: delete

• F2: rename

• Shift+F10: open the context menu for the selected item (this is the same as right-clicking the item)

• Tab: move to the next user interface element

• Shift+Tab: move to the previous user interface element

Additional Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use the following additional keyboard shortcuts in the Search panel of the Select Content dialog:

• F5: refresh the web browser form

• F6: move out of the web browser form