Sitecore recently released Sitecore CMS v6.2, which came with an amazing list of new features (read about them on the sitecore.net):

• Native RSS Support
• Outlook based workflow integration
• Integration of Microsoft Word directly into the Sitecore backend
• Webforms for Marketers 2 with full OMS integration
• WebDAV integration

Whilst all of these features are really useful, the by far coolest feature in my opinion is the WebDAV integration. For most people WebDAV equals to “a newer version of FTP”, which may be somewhat true, but the integration of WebDAV into Sitecore means much more than just extra-convenient file upload. It means full integration of Sitecore Media Library content with your local file system, including file transfer and – more importantly – the ability to edit files in your local applications. Imagine editing images not in the Sitecore Image Editor, but in Photoshop or not having to download Word Documents, but editing them directly inside the Media Library and saving them back to the server, with full versioning and workflow support. Simply awesome!

Let’s have a look at two use cases:

1. Batch Image Upload
   Imagine you have a folder in the Sitecore Media Library which serves as the source for an image gallery on your website. Instead of having to upload your images one by one using a standard upload form, you can now drag and drop your images directly from your hard drive into the Media Library and they will appear in your image gallery. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
   
2. Document Management
   Imagine you have a policy Word document in your Sitecore Media Library, which is displayed on your website. Now a paragraph in the policy has changed. What you needed to do previously was download the document, edit the paragraph and re-upload the document to the Media Library.
   
   In Sitecore 6.2 this is now a lot easier, thanks to WebDAV. You can simply right click on the document and select “Edit”. Sitecore will open a WebDAV connection to the Media Library and open the Word document in your local Word installation. You can then make your changes and press save, just as if the document was stored on your hard drive. Sitecore will create a new version of the document on the server and thus maintain a full version history. If necessary this can be hooked into a workflow as well, meaning the new version has to be approved before it goes live.

Overall the WebDAV integration will make it a lot easier for content authors to work with media items.

I made a video about the WebDAV integration, which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eM84RM2Evs (watch it in HD and fullscreen).

Note for Windows 7 users
Should you experience performance issues in Windows 7 when using WebDAV, try deactivating “Automatically detect settings” under the LAN Settings in IE. That will fix it.

WebDAV installation note
WebDAV has to be disabled in IIS for this to work. Sitecore is not using Microsoft’s WebDAV implementation.