Can Microsoft Word document be checked-in & out from non-SharePoint Server?

Question

When documents are maintained in Microsoft SharePoint Server, one can check-in & check-out the word documents. And in MS Word 2010 or above, the File tab shows the version descriptions and also provides button to check-in the document directly to the SharePoint server.

Can the SharePoint server be replaced with a custom application or server? Can I create an application to store the documents? And can I provide a feature that would provide the users option to check-out the documents maintained and also check-in directly from Word?

Answer 1

Yes, all this can be done. Good luck figuring it out, though. You'd have to write code to create the document storage capabilities, the Office plugins that can communicate with your site to do the check in/check out of the document. Good luck with that :)