Hi guys. I just wanted to know if it is possible for me to open a file (e.g. an excel file) from a shared drive on a networked server from open office or from adobe reader, or any application.

why can't I see the the network browser from open office.

Just like when you are using MS Excel and want to open a file from the server.

thank you.

I don't know for sure but I would expect that you have to mount the shared directory from the server on the local machine. I don't know if applications such as OOo can interface directly with Samba, or if Samba can dynamically mount shares from within the application's file browse function, which is what I understand your question to mean.

Of course you could get crazy and read the manual at samba.org.

Hi reycapoy,

stress is right.

Some programs - nautilus in gnome, konqueror in kde (like most kde-progrrams) and of course the network monitor you use, e.g. - support several network protocols by themselves.

But all programs can access the filesystem provided by your os. To include network shares into your filesystem, you use the whole mount-machinery. It understands a lot of network protocols if installed properly.
If you speak of NFS shares, you can do something like
Mount will chose the correct subcomponent. If you want to mount a samba (windows) share, use
something like smbmount {service} {mount-point} [-o options] or mount -t smbfs -o options what where.
To see concrete options and explanation, do man smbmount and man mount.
Of course, you can put this settings into your fstab.

More comfortable and flexible are programs like smb4k. This is a kde program, that works like the windows "network neighborhood" and does the mounting work for you. Usefull in changing environments.
Another program is linneighborhood. Gnome surely has such programs, too.

Hope, this one helps a little bit.
Clemente

First make a mount point

mkdir /mnt/sharename
chmod 775 /mnt/sharename (or whatever permissions you want)

then edit /etc/fstab and add a line like this, all on one line, and with no spaces after the comma

then do
mount -a

you should have an icon on your desktop now. From OOo, or any other app, when saving and opening, you need to go up until you see

/mnt

and in there you will find your windows server share mounted.

The fmask and dmask are important if you need write access to the share.

If you are concerned about the security of your windows password, then you need to replace those bits with a path to a samba credentials file. You can google for that if you need it.

thank you very much for all your help. i will try this one one my side.

have a nice day to all.