WebDAV Access

To connect to AEM via WebDAV with KDE:

AEM offers WebDAV support that lets you display and edit repository content. Connecting via WebDAV gives you direct access to the content repository through your desktop. Text and PDF files that are added to the repository through the WebDAV connection are automatically full-text indexed and can be searched with the standard search interfaces and through the standard Java APIs.

Detailed instructions per operating system are included in this document, but the essentially to connect to your repository using the WebDAV protocol, you point your WebDAV client to the following location:

This URL, when connected from the operating system level, provides WebDAV access to the default workspace (crx.default). While being simpler for the user, it does not give them the additional flexibility of specifying workspace names, which can be accomplished using additional WebDAV URLs.

AEM displays the repository content as follows:  

• A node of the type nt:folder is displayed as a folder. Nodes below the nt:folder node are displayed as the folder content.
• A node of the type nt:file is displayed as a file. Nodes below the nt:file node are not displayed, but form the content of the file.

When you use WebDAV to create and edit folders and files, AEM creates and edits the necessary nt:folder and nt:file nodes. If you plan to use WebDAV to import and export content, try to work with nt:file and nt:folder node types as much as possible.

The URL for the WebDAV server has the following structure:

By changing the workspace element in the path, you can map workspaces other than the default (crx.default). For example, to map a workspace named staging, use the following URL:

As mentioned above, to connect to your repository using the WebDAV protocol, you point your WebDAV client to your repository location. However depending on your OS, the steps involved to connect your client differ and there may be configuration of the OS required.

Instructions on how to connect the following opererating systems are provided:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

To successfully connect a Microsoft Windows 7 (and greater) system to an AEM instance that is not secured with SSL, the option to establish basic authentication over an unsecured network must be explicitly enabled in Windows. This requires a change in the Windows Registry of the WebClient.

Once the registry is updated, then the AEM instance can be mapped as a drive.

To update the registry to allow basic authentication over an unsecured network:

See Microsoft Support KB 841215 for more information on this registry change.

See Microsoft Support KB 2445570 for information about improving the responsivness of the WebDav Client under Windows.

For Windows 8 you also need to change the registry entry as described for Windows 7 and greater. However, before you can do this, the Desktop Experience must be enabled in order to see the registry entry.

To enable the Desktop Experience, open Server Manager, then Features, then Add Features, then Desktop Experience.

After rebooting the registry entry described for Windows 7 and greater is available. Modify it as described for Windows 7 and greater.

To connect to AEM via WebDAV in a Windows environment:

Windows has now mapped AEM as a drive via WebDAV and you can use it as any other drive.

There are no configuration steps required to connect via WebDAV on macOS. You simply need to connect to the WebDAV server.

macOS has now connected to AEM via WebDAV and you can use it as any other folder on your Mac.

Connecting via WebDAV on Linux doesn't require any configuration, but does involve a few steps to make the connection which vary depending on your desktop environment.

To connect to AEM via WebDAV with GNOME:

GNOME has now mounted AEM as a volume and you can use it like any other volume.

KDE has now mounted AEM as a volume and you can use it like any other volume.