ARCHIVED: How can I use SharePoint on OS X?

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Note:

The SharePoint on-premises service is being replaced by SharePoint Online, available since July 2016. For more, see ARCHIVED: About the SharePoint retirement.

  • If you are a SharePoint site owner whose site has been disabled, you can visit SharePoint Standard Farm Migration to request an extension/re-enable. SharePoint will be permanently disabled no later than June 2, 2017; most sites should have migrated to SharePoint Online by March 31, 2017. Sites scheduled to be disabled on March 31 were disabled on April 3, 2017.
  • ARCHIVED: SharePoint My Sites were permanently retired on April 3, 2017.

On this page:


Web browser support

Safari

Safari is the only browser that Microsoft officially supports for use with SharePoint on OS X clients, and offers the best experience. For limitations on Microsoft's support of SharePoint with Safari, see Plan browser support (SharePoint Server 2010). The Silverlight plug-in is required for advanced user interface controls.

Normally, Kerberos or NTLMv2 authentication is required to access SharePoint at IU. Safari supports both Kerberos and NTLMv2 with no additional configuration required. If Kerberos is available, it will be used; if it is not, NTLMv2 will be used.

Some additional features may not be supported with non-Windows browsers. For instance, Internet Explorer for Windows is the only browser that supports ActiveX, so any ActiveX control will generally not work with OS X browsers.

Other browsers

Chrome and Firefox for OS X are not officially supported by Microsoft for use with SharePoint. However, you can access SharePoint using one of these browsers if you take some additional steps.

Normally, Kerberos or NTLMv2 authentication is required to access SharePoint at IU. Chrome and Firefox for OS X currently support only Kerberos authentication, but by default, this setting is not enabled. To use Chrome or Firefox with SharePoint:

  • Authentication using Kerberos
    1. Obtain a Kerberos ticket-granting ticket (TGT) by doing one of the following:

      IU's Kerberos servers are only accessible to computers that are on the IU network. To use Kerberos authentication from off campus, you must first establish a VPN connection.

    2. Configure your browser.
      • Chrome: Be sure Chrome is not running, and then open the Terminal app and enter:
          defaults write com.google.Chrome AuthServerWhitelist *.iu.edu

        Chrome will now automatically authenticate to SharePoint (as long as you have a Kerberos TGT).

      • Firefox
        1. Open Firefox, and enter about:config in the address bar.
        2. Dismiss the warning that appears, and double-click network.negotiate-auth.trusted-uris.
        3. Enter the following:
            exchange.sharepoint.iu.edu,my.sharepoint.iu.edu,www.mysharepoint.iu.edu,www.sharepoint.iu.edu

        Firefox will now automatically authenticate to SharePoint (as long as you have a Kerberos TGT).

  • Access SharePoint using IUanyWare
    1. Log into IUanyWare.
    2. Click the Web & Mail icon, and then click the IU SharePoint icon.
    3. Enter the URL of your desired SharePoint site.

    For more about using IUanyWare, see:

WebDAV support

If you have Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later, you can use the Finder's Go > Connect to Server command to connect to SharePoint. In previous versions, you will only have read access to your site; write access is not available.

For the following main WebDAV URLs, replace sitename with the name of your departmental or group site. For personal (My Site) sites, replace username with your IU Network ID username.

  • Group site: https://www.sharepoint.iu.edu/sites/sitename
  • My Site: https://my.sharepoint.iu.edu/personal/username
Note:

Consider these limitations enforced by SharePoint:

Microsoft Document Connection

Note:
The Documentation Connection application is not included in Microsoft Office 2016.

You can use Microsoft Document Connection (included in Office 2011) to access files on a SharePoint site. This application is similar to SharePoint Workspace 2010 on Windows, and works as a middleman between the SharePoint site and the other Office applications on your Mac.

Using Microsoft Document Connection, you can:

  • Read files
  • Edit files
  • Upload files
  • Check files in and out

However, you cannot:

  • Create folders
  • Drag and drop folders from your local system to a SharePoint site
  • Delete files
  • Edit file metadata
  • Edit live; you must click Refresh to see your changes

When adding a new SharePoint site to Microsoft Document Connection, use the WebDAV URLs listed above for departmental (i.e., group) and personal (My Site) sites.

Microsoft Office 2016

It is possible to open and save documents directly to SharePoint from Office 2016 for Mac OS X. In Word, Excel, or PowerPoint:

  • In a Save window, click the Online Locations button, then click the +. In an Open window, click the + button.
  • Click SharePoint
  • Next to "URL:" for the following URLs, replace sitename with the name of your departmental or group site. For personal (My Site) sites, replace username with your IU Network ID username.
    • Group site: https://www.sharepoint.iu.edu/sites/sitename
    • My Site: https://my.sharepoint.iu.edu/personal/username
  • Click Next.
  • Enter your IU username and passphrase when prompted for a "User name:" and "Password", then click Sign In.
  • Your SharePoint site will be available under the SharePoint section of your open or save window.

This is document bccn in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2021-09-07 17:15:34.