Local Edit

With Local Edit, you can open documents from Web Access directly in your favorite local editor or viewer.

This document is for end users on macOS and Windows. For the administration guide see Local Edit Administration.

Requirements

1. Local Edit is available only to accounts with an Advanced Web Access license.
   If you are unsure whether you have access to this feature, contact your IT Administrator.

2. You must be running Nasuni Edge Appliance version 10.2 or later.
   If you are unsure of your current version, contact your IT Administrator.

3. Local Edit also requires software to be installed on your macOS or Windows device.
   In some organizations, this software might be installed automatically by your IT team. In others, you might need to install it yourself, which requires administrative privileges.

   1. Follow our instructions to check if Local Edit is installed, or installing it.

   2. If you are unable to install software on your device, contact your IT Administrator for assistance.

4. The file you wish to edit must be 250MB or smaller in size.

Supported Document Types

Local Edit supports the following document types for viewing and editing.

• Microsoft Formats

  • Word (.docx)

  • Excel (.xlsx)

  • PowerPoint (.pptx)

• Text Formats

  • Plain text (.txt)

• Portable Document Formats

  • PDF (.pdf)

Files up to 250MB can be viewed and edited.

Supported Operating Systems

The two most recent major releases of macOS and Windows are supported. If you are not running a supported operating system, contact your IT Administrator.

Check if Local Edit is installed

To verify if Local Edit is installed, follow the instructions below.

Windows users

1. Open the Start Menu and type “Apps & features” (or “Installed apps” on Windows 11).

2. Press Enter to open the system settings.

3. In the search box, type Nasuni Local Edit.

4. If Nasuni Local Edit appears in the list, it is installed on your device.

macOS users

1. Open Finder.

2. In the left sidebar, click Applications.

3. If Nasuni Local Edit appears in the Applications folder, it is installed on your device.

Installing Local Edit

If you’ve confirmed that Local Edit is not installed on your device, you need to install it before you can use it.

Installing Local Edit requires administrative privileges. Depending on your organization’s IT policies, you might not have permission to install new software. If that is the case, contact your IT Administrator for assistance.

If you have permission to install software yourself, download the appropriate installer from the links below:

• Windows: https://nasunicdn.s3.amazonaws.com/webaccess/windows/Nasuni%20Local%20Edit%20-%20Latest.msi

• macOS: https://nasunicdn.s3.amazonaws.com/webaccess/macos/Nasuni%20Local%20Edit%20-%20Latest.pkg

After the installer has downloaded, launch it and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

When installation is complete, you can verify that Local Edit is installed by following the steps outlined in Check if Local Edit is installed above.

Opening a file locally

To begin editing files locally, log in to your Web Access instance and locate a supported document type (for example, a Word document).

Select the file you want to edit by single-clicking it, then choose Edit locally from the top toolbar. You can also access this option from the right-click context menu as shown.

If the selected document type is not supported, the Edit locally option appears greyed out.

If you already have Local Edit installed, when you select Edit locally the file is automatically downloaded and your editor/viewer application is launched with the file.

If Local Edit is not installed, you might be presented with a dialog box like below.

Viewing and Editing

When you open a document locally, you can choose to view it or make edits as needed.

If the folder containing the file has restricted permissions (for example, if you only have read access), the document opens in read-only mode, and you cannot save any changes.

To edit a document, simply make your changes as you normally would. When finished, save the file using your usual method.

After your changes are saved, you receive notifications from your operating system indicating when the upload of your file back to Web Access begins and when it completes.

If Local Edit encounters a problem while uploading your changes, you are notified. Local Edit automatically retries up to four times, with 30 seconds between each attempt.
If the issue persists, review the notification details to identify the cause. You might need to resolve the underlying problem before Local Edit can successfully upload the file.

If problems continue after you’ve addressed the issue, we recommend contacting your IT Administrator for assistance.

After issues are resolved, making a small change and re-saving the file restarts the upload process.

After you’ve finished viewing or editing, close the file as you normally would.

Note: You can edit a file for up to 36 hours after it is opened locally. To continue editing beyond this period, reopen the document from Web Access.

Handling File Conflicts

When using Local Edit, file conflicts can occur if more than one person edits the same document at the same time, or if a newer version of the file is uploaded to Web Access while you are still working on your local copy.

How Local Edit Handles Conflicts

If a conflict is detected when saving your changes, Local Edit automatically prevents your edits from overwriting another user’s updates. Instead, your version of the file is saved as a separate copy, ensuring that no data is lost.

The filename of your conflicted copy includes the word “conflict”, along with your username, the date, and the time.
For example:

Newsletter (conflict - john_doe - 2025-09-26 23-31-20 UTC).docx

When this occurs, you receive a desktop notification informing you that a conflict has been detected.

If you continue making changes to the same document, those edits are saved to the conflicted copy.

Note: The filename displayed in your editor might not immediately reflect the updated name of the conflicted file.

We recommend reviewing both the original file and your conflicted copy to determine which changes to keep. Local Edit does not automatically merge documents.

If you are unsure how to resolve a conflict, or if this issue occurs repeatedly, contact your IT Administrator for assistance.

Local Edit Application

The Local Edit application starts automatically when a file is opened from Web Access. It remains running after the file is closed.

When Local Edit is running it can be accessed from the Windows Notification Area / System Tray or Mac Menu Bar.

Click the icon (left-click on macOS or right-click on Windows) to view the version and license information, stop the application, or export logs for troubleshooting with Nasuni Support.

Uninstalling

To uninstall on Windows

1. Locate the application under “Installed Apps” (Windows 11) or “Apps & features” (Windows 10).

2. Uninstall the application. Administrator access is required.

To uninstall on Mac

1. Stop the application. If the application is running it appears in the Menu Bar from which you can click and select “Quit”.

2. Open the Finder window.

   1. Under “Favorites” choose “Applications”

   2. Select “Nasuni Local Edit.app”

   3. Drag to the Trash.

Troubleshooting

No option to Edit locally

If you do not see any “Edit locally” icon, even one that is disabled (light-grey) check with your IT administrator that your organization has access to the Local Edit feature.

If the icon is present for the supported formats but disabled,  check with your IT administrator.

Installation Problems

If the Local Edit helper application does not install reach out to your IT administrator. There may be security policies or anti-virus programs that are preventing installation. Administrator privileges are required to install and uninstall the application.

Local Edit Not Running

If the application starts successfully it will be seen in the Windows System Tray or Mac Menu Bar.

Windows:

When the application is running, you’ll see a notification icon with Nasuni’s ‘N’ logo in the Taskbar system tray. If you don’t see it, it may be hidden — click the small upward arrow (caret) in the Taskbar corner to show hidden icons.

If the icon is not there either, the application may not be currently running.

Mac:

If the application is running, a notification icon featuring Nasuni’s “N” logo should appear in the Menu Bar.

Local Edit Not Opening

If the Local Edit application fails to download the file and launch the local desktop application the user may see a prompt to download the Local Edit application again. They may also see an error that the localedit: protocol is not configured.

If the application is running this may indicate an installation problem. You could retry installing the application or contact your IT Administrator.

Desktop Notifications

Desktop notifications provide insight into what steps are successful and which are failing. Nasuni strongly recommends users do not disable notifications as users will not see upload errors.

Check Local Edit Logs

There are application logs on the desktop that can provide more information about problems Local Edit encounters on the desktop and with communication with the server. This may assist a technical user, your IT administrator or Nasuni support with resolution.

To export the logs to your desktop click the application icon from the Windows Notification Bar or Mac Menu Bar. Chose Export logs.

Files Not Uploaded

Files are uploaded when the Local Edit application is running and the desktop is connected to the network.

When files are saved they Local Edit schedules that version for upload within a few seconds. If an upload fails it will be retried up to 4 times. Check the desktop notifications for errors. If a file is saved again the upload process restarts.

Refresh the Web Access file browser to see updated modification time of uploaded files. If the original file was updated by another user or process the new update is saved as a conflict file.

Files will only be uploaded with 36 hours of opening from the web app. After this time the file needs to be reopened through Local Edit.

Recover Files that Didn’t Upload

Files are uploaded when the desktop is connected to the network. If an upload fails it is retried up to 4 times.

Files that fail to upload can be recovered via the Recent Files option of the application since they remain in the desktop cache for 14 days. (Files that are uploaded successfully remain for 5 days). Once the file is open save it in another location, such as the desktop, and upload to the target folder manually through the web application.

These recovered files can also be accessed from a user’s home folder under the hidden folder .localedit. (Enable view hidden files in order to see these hidden directories).

File and Data Locations

Windows

Files are downloaded to %UserProfile%\\.localedit (the folder is hidden)

Application data folder: %LocalAppData%\\Nasuni\\Local Edit

Database tracking files downloaded: %LocalAppData%\\Nasuni\\Local Edit\\trackedfiles.db

Logs: %LocalAppData%\\Nasuni\\Local Edit\\Logs

Temporary folder used to upload modified files: %LocalAppData%\\Nasuni\\Local Edit\\Temp