Configuring Excel (and Word) Services On SharePoint 2013

So, you have successfully installed SharePoint Prerequisites, SharePoint 2013, and have created your first Web Application.

There are several ways to edit documents uploaded in your 'Documents' library. You could download the documents and open them in Microsoft Office, or you could use SharePoint Excel and Work Services to edit them in your browser.

Here is how you enable those services:First, add two users to your AD (or ask you administrator to do it for you)

Username: SHPT_Excel, Password never expires, User cannot change password
Username: SHPT_Work, Password never expires, User cannot change password

Now, open your SharePoint Central Management web application.

First, register the newly created accounts

Go to Security → Configure managed accounts
Click 'Register Managed Account'
Enter your username in the DOMAIN\user format: 'EXAMPLE\SHPT_Excel'. Enter password and click 'OK'.
Do the same for the 'SHPT_Word' account.

The accounts that you just registered needs to be granted access to the SharePoint content database. This is done through power shell. open SharePoint 2013 management Shell as an Administrator.

PS c:\> $w = Get-SPWebApplication -identity http://portaltest.example.com
PS c:\> $w.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity("EXAMPLE\SHPT_Excel")
PS c:\> $w.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity("EXAMPLE\SHPT_Word")

If you run multiple web applications, you need to run these commands for each application.

Now, you need to start the Excel and Word services.

Go to Application Management → Manage services on this server
Make sure to select the correct server (in the upper right corner), if you have multiple application servers.
Find 'Excel Calculation Services' and click 'Start'
Find 'Word Automation Services' and click 'Start'

Now that you have created the accounts and have started the services, you need to create an application pool.

For Excel services:

Go to Application Management → Manage service applications
Click 'New' and select 'Excel Services Application'
Give it a name (eg. Excel Services)
Select 'Create new application pool' and enter a name for it.
Select 'Configurable' account and select EXAMPLE\SHPT_Excel user
Tick 'Add this service application's proxy to the farm's default proxy list.'
Click 'OK'

For Word services:

Go to Application Management → Manage service applications
Click 'New' and select 'Word Automation Services'
Give it a name (eg. Word Services)
Select 'Create new application pool' and enter a nema for it
Select 'Configurable' and select EXAMPLE\SHPT_Word user
Tick 'Add this service application's proxy to the farm's default proxy list.'
Click 'Next'
Enter the DB alias we created in the beginning (SHPT_DB)
Enter new database name
Click 'Finish'

You're done!