How to Open WOPI Documents as Read-Only with Tracked Changes
Question details
The user wants to understand the WOPI protocol options for opening Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents in a read-only review mode while still displaying tracked changes.
- Product
- WOPI Protocol / Office Online Server
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Configuring or integrating WOPI to display documents for user review without allowing edits, but preserving the visibility of document markup and tracked changes.
- Observed behavior
- While standard WOPI options support document editing and tracked changes, a specific read-only review mode with visible tracked changes appears to be unavailable or undocumented.
Ensure you have administrative access to your Office Online Server (OOS) host implementation and are familiar with the MS-WOPI protocol specifications before querying or altering configuration parameters.
Contact Microsoft Support for Protocol Guidance
Since WOPI is a Microsoft proprietary protocol, reaching out to official channels is the best way to verify if read-only tracked changes are supported in your specific host implementation.
While WOPI broadly supports editing and tracking changes, the specific combination of a strict read-only mode that still forces tracked changes to be visible might not be natively exposed in all Office Online Server versions.
Navigate to the Microsoft Q&A forum specifically for Office Online Server to post your technical query to Microsoft engineers.
Email dochelp@microsoft.com with your specific MS-WOPI implementation details and request clarification on the availability of read-only review modes.
Check the official MS-WOPI protocol documentation on Microsoft Docs for any updated host frame parameters regarding the 'View' mode.
Export Documents with Tracked Changes as PDF
If WOPI cannot display read-only tracked changes dynamically on the web, converting the document to PDF ensures the markup is visible and immutable.
Use WPS Office for Seamless Document Review
If configuring complex server protocols like WOPI becomes a bottleneck, WPS Office provides a robust, lightweight desktop and mobile alternative. It fully supports viewing and adding tracked changes in Microsoft Word formats, allowing you to easily share, restrict editing, and review documents without advanced server setups.
- 1. Download WPS Office: Visit the official WPS website and download the free desktop application for your operating system.
- 2. Open Your Document: Launch WPS Writer and open your .docx file that contains the tracked changes.
- 3. Review in Read-Only: Navigate to the Review tab to view all markup. You can use the 'Restrict Editing' feature to share the file in a read-only state while keeping markup visible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does WOPI natively support read-only mode?
Yes, WOPI supports a basic Read-Only mode for viewing documents. However, combining this strict view mode with visible tracked changes often defaults to a clean view, depending on the host parameters passed during initialization.
Can I force tracked changes to show in Office Online?
Forcing tracked changes to appear typically requires the user to have edit permissions or relies on specific WOPI host page actions that may not be fully supported in purely read-only configurations.
Where can I find the official WOPI protocol specification?
The MS-WOPI documentation is available on the Microsoft Open Specifications site, detailing the REST-based protocol used to integrate Office on the web with third-party servers.
