Opening and saving a file on a Web server

Can I open the file from a browser?

[rcshield]

Is there a way to use a Web browser to open a file at [domain.com...] make changes to the file and save it back on the Web site? I am trying to o this but I can only save the file locally. The file only opens in [Read Only] (Compatibilty Mode).

[StoutFiles]

Use FTP to download and reupload the file. Otherwise, everyone could edit documents on other people's websites and there would be mass chaos.

[Ocean10000]

Yes there is a way. WebDAV [en.wikipedia.org] which has features to do secure file editing and version tracking via http(s).

There are a lot of different implementations of WebDAV for different Operating systems. Most implementations have been plagued with a number of vulnerabilities and open up new area's where hackers can try and gain server access. So I would be very careful before thinking of using.

[rcshield]

Hmmm... WebDAV sounds like a good option. I do have it enabled on the Web server. I must be missing something in the implementation - I can still only open the file in Read Only mode and save locally. Do you know of a particular setting that I may be missing?

[rcshield]

Also, what is the best way to set up WebDAV for remote, non-technical users?

[Ocean10000]

How to create a secure WebDAV publishing directory for IIS 5 & 6 [support.microsoft.com]. I would would be very careful on using WebDAV implementation in IIS 5 and 6 see IIS6.0 WebDav Remote Auth Bypass [isc.sans.org] for more details.

More information on IIS 7 [iis.net] implementation which is completely rewrote from scratch for IIS 7.

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I would not try to setup WebDAV as a non-Technical user to be honest too many ways to leave yourself open to attack. I would use FTP to transfer the edited files back to the server.