SharePoint 2010 on a Mac with Office for Mac 2011

It’s quite interesting that we have talked so much on the improved browser support in SharePoint 2010. But if you are a Mac user, you can rarely see a comprehensive list of what you can do and what you cannot with clear explanation.  If you search on the internet, you can find Dux has a very good video here: https://www.vimeo.com/10709658. He went through nearly all the features with Office for Mac 2008. If you are a Mac user/admin and need to use SharePoint, it’s worth watching. Virtualization would be another way to get around of the limitations. The official documentation for browser support is here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263526.aspx. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can find the limitations for Safari and Firefox on a non-Windows system (most of the time that means Mac).

However, some of the information there may not be accurate…or just confusing. So I will try to make it clear in this post…

Here’re some questions I collected during the past months, and the answers to them are based on my experience, not official support statement:

Can Mac users use SharePoint 2010?

Of course yes. Both Safari and Firefox are supported browsers of SharePoint 2010 because of the introduce of XHTML 1.0 in the product. The limitations can be found in https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263526.aspx. However, there’re some mistakes in the language used in the article so please read on.

Can SharePoint Admins manage SharePoint 2010 with Safari?

Central Admin web site can be accessed by Safari and Firefox without any problem. If you do have issues with OOTB Central Admin site, please check settings on your Mac and network – something is wrong there, not SharePoint. There’s no ActiveX controls to block you from doing any admin tasks. Of course, there’s no Windows PowerShell on a Mac so you cannot do the Windows PowerShell Remoting tasks, but that cannot stop you from using Remote Desktop for Mac to connect to those SharePoint Servers.

Can I directly open Office file from SharePoint and save it back?

Yes, although you will not have Read Only/Edit option to choose from before you open it in Office for Mac. The file will be opened as Read Only by default, and you can modify the file by click Edit. Then you can also save it back to the original location.

Can I upload file to SharePoint using Mac?

Certainly you can. In the TechNet article there’s an item like this:

File upload and copy: Requires an ActiveX control that is not support on this platform.

But this is invalid. File upload does not require an ActiveX control. What you cannot achieve is to use the Upload Multiple Documents options, see below.

Can I upload multiple files to SharePoint using Mac?

On the browser, no. Unless you use virtualization solutions with Internet Explorer, the Upload Multiple Documents menu item is disabled. The reason behind this is the feature requires STS Upld ActiveX control. However, you can use Microsoft Document Connection to upload multiple files without any problem.

Microsoft Document Connection, which was introduced in Office for Mac 2008 SP2, now is also a part of the Office for Mac 2011 installation. It can connect to both SharePoint sites and SkyDrive. Multiple file upload is simple with this application – just drag and drop them into the application then everything is done. The application itself can be seen as a very lite version of SharePoint Workspace, although it doesn’t do much beyond upload, read, edit, check in/check out. You cannot delete a file, create a new folder, or edit its metadata properties in this app, and to get the latest update you need to hit Refresh button.

Can I have Explorer View in Mac?

No. Since how Windows/Mac plus all the browsers has different ways to handle this protocol, it is nearly impossible to have a standard way to implement it to work across different platform with native Explorer/Finder support.  Microsoft Document Connection is a good client to replace this feature.

How do I use Infopath/Onenote/Access/Visio, etc…on SharePoint with Mac?

Since these applications are not existing in current Office for Mac 2011 release, the only way to use them on Mac is to use virtualization. Alternatively, you can use Infopath Service, Onenote, Access Service and Visio Service on SharePoint with Safari/Firefox on Mac. Office Web Apps also allows you to directly view/edit Office files without even install Office for Mac on the machine. (You need to have a Office client license to use Office Web Apps on SharePoint)

Does Media Web Part work on Mac?

Yes. You need to install SilverLight on Mac before it’s functional.

 

Can I insert HTML5 video content to SharePoint so it can work with Mac?

Yes. Upload the video to any document library and reference it in your video tag. Please note H.264 content will not work with Firefox since they didn’t implement the support. See https://blogs.msdn.com/b/opal/archive/2010/06/14/what-s-the-story-for-html5-with-sharepoint-2010.aspx

Here’s an example: The upper right video is from Media Web Part, while the lower left one is built with Content Editor Web Part with HTML5 <video> tag.

Since I have already installed Office for Mac 2011, can I use the features on the Ribbon such as Connect to Outlook, Excel, SharePoint Workspace, etc?

Unfortunately no. These features uses ActiveX controls except Export to Excel. And for Export to Excel feature, since Excel for Mac does not have a good support for Web Query(.iqy), it is really hard to make it to work. I may need to dig into the details, but it seems like when you run saved query Excel failed to authenticate with SharePoint.  Outlook for Mac does not have the ability to connect to SharePoint.

Can I edit SharePoint pages using Safari? I cannot do it with iPad or iPhone!

Yes you can – This is fully supported. The mobile version of Safari is a trimmed down version of Safari -- it does not support contentEditable property so it cannot be used with any rich text editing application. For details see https://blogs.msdn.com/b/opal/archive/2010/09/01/can-i-use-ipad-iphone-with-sharepoint-2010.aspx

Is there presence support if I installed Communicator for Mac?

No. The presence information (green/yellow/red) is shown through an ActiveX control installed by Communicator(Lync) if you use Windows. But you can have presence indicator when you use Office clients such as Outlook for Mac.

 

I’ll try to update this post when I have more information…

Jie

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 15, 2010
  Except on Snow Leopard/Safari 5 every SP 2010 site collection I open crashes instantly. I have no problems in Firefox. Maybe an extension, but Safari extensions are all made with client-side technologies.

• Anonymous
  November 15, 2010
  @Chris I'm running Safari 5.0.2 on my Macbook and does not have a problem. SharePoint will not install any extension to Safari. Since that's just a standard web page, if a browser crashes when visit it, that means it maybe a bug in the browser itself or an extension/plugin it called.

• Anonymous
  November 16, 2010
  HI, Jie - Do you have a comprehensive list of what SP2010 features doesn't work on non-IE browsers? (ie Datasheet view) Thanks!

• Anonymous
  November 19, 2010
  @Dux, The list on TechNet should be the comprehensive one.

• Anonymous
  November 22, 2010
  MIcrosoft document connect works ok with Mac, but I can't connect to my sharepoint with excel, word, pwerpoint..etc. This began after the 14.0.1 update...any idea how to fix? LZ

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2010
  @LZ I'm using 14.0.1 (101012) too and I don't have your problem. What exactly are the reproduce steps? Just click on a docx file in a doc lib won't download and open using Word 2011?

• Anonymous
  January 24, 2011
  Too bad Microsoft Document Connection for Mac no longer escapes spaces or special characters in the URL with the HTML equivalents when you "Copy URL". Seems like a bug to me.

• Anonymous
  January 26, 2011
  I've searched and searched to hints on how to setup SP2010 to allow my new Microsoft Document Connect 2011 to work properly. All I get is a The Connection Failed error. I get to the site and enter username and password. I Enabled Basic Connection in Preferences. I can access via browser, but not Microsoft Document Connect. I'll keep looking, but any tips will be appreciated. Thanks, DR

• Anonymous
  January 30, 2011
  I want to be able to use sharepoint designer on my mac. It seems the only way to use it is for pc version is there any way it can be done con a mac?

• Anonymous
  February 09, 2011
  I have installed office for mac 2011 and can sharepoint portal be added as you can do it in outlook ?

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2011
  I can't login to SP 2010 from a Firefox on a MAC. Do you have ideas on how to solve this? please contact me at mgunkel@indiana.edu

• Anonymous
  March 17, 2011
  I am unable to open any document or spreadsheet directly from sharepoint using office 2011 business version. it only opens the program but not the file itself. If its a word file, i just get document 1 opened, not the file i have on SP2010. Open and edit in browser is not an issue. Edting in word 2010 is also not an issue. Using document connection, i can do multiple file transfers but also cannot open files in skydrive or sharepoint. office 2011 version 14.0.2

• Anonymous
  April 05, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 25, 2011
  Jie:  Many thanks for this discussion.  I appreciate you taking the time to write it down.  Jodi

• Anonymous
  August 01, 2011
  hey itguy08, what's a good alternative to sharepoint for a mac user??..something just as powerful or better? cross platform even better.

• Anonymous
  August 02, 2011
  Very helpful discussion, thanks for your detailed documentation of this area!!

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  How can I use the "export to spreadsheet" (on sharepoint) feature with Firefox on my Mac?  I recieve the following error every time I attempt to export a list to a spreadsheet: "to export a list, you must have a Windows SharePoint Services-compatible application" Thanks in advance

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  Thanks for compiling this information. Very helpful.

• Anonymous
  October 19, 2011
  is it possible to install sharepoint  in Mac?

• Anonymous
  October 28, 2011
  from where can i download share point for MAC??

• Anonymous
  May 07, 2012
  I am testing a sharepoint colaboration site from a mac with lion installed on it and office for mac. It doesnt seem possible to open earlyer versions of a document from the document library is there any information about this problem ? Is there some open a minor version of a document on a mac?

• Anonymous
  June 29, 2012
  On Sharepoint 2007 I was able to connect to a Sharepoint document library using go server in the finder, I can't seem to do this on sharepoint 2010 - does anyone know if I'm doing something wrong of this is a "new" feature on sharepoint 2010

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2012
  Interesting but none of it is true.  If I try to use any sharepoint features in Safari I just get a message telling me that sharepoint only works with IE6 or better.  

• Anonymous
  September 21, 2012
  Has anyone found a workaround for exporting from sharepoint to excel using a mac?  This is maddening that they don't support this kind of basic functionality.

• Anonymous
  October 29, 2012
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 02, 2012
  "Nearly impossible" (explorer view) seems to be very much doable for Dropbox(?). Too bad I can't use db (install own software) in my work-laptop.

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2013
  These no mention of using SharePoint lists.  Or Mac users are saying they cannot edit items in a custom list we are using to track projects.  Is this a know limitation?  Are there any work arounds?

• Anonymous
  April 02, 2013
  Is there any work around for connecting SharePoint to Oulook 2011? I use Outlook for Mac 2011 and SharePoint 2010 and I need to be able to sync them... is there any other way of doing this? Like could I export the SP calendar to excel and manually add the excel calendar to Outlook 2011? Or anything else?? Thanks, Angie

• Anonymous
  April 17, 2013
  Fantastic info but can I save emails from Outlook 2011 to SharePoint - I also need to be able to sync these- some help or info would be great.

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2013
  What I would like to know is how to get rid of SharePoint from my mac or, at least, prevent it from horning in and hogging the sharing function. Thanks

• Anonymous
  June 12, 2013
  I'm a new user with Sharepoint & Mac.  I have Office Mac 2011 Home & Student and trying to download a Sharepoint document.  It opens in excel but then asks me for a product key.  It won't accept my product key.  Someone said that I need to have Outlook for Sharepoint to work properly, is this correct?

• Anonymous
  September 08, 2013
  Cindy- I have the exact same issue when I try to download a word document and it asks for my product key. I'd love to know the answer as well!

• Anonymous
  September 18, 2013
  hey, getting "You do not have permission to complete the task" error while opening powerpoint file from SP2010 on MAC. edit in browser not an issue. Its working fine with VM. need help...

• Anonymous
  October 14, 2013
  Lauren and Cindy, Did you receive an answer?  I have the same issue.  I have Outlook 2011 installed on my MAC, connecting to SP 2010.  When trying to open Excel document on the SP site, I get the enter Product Key error.

• Anonymous
  November 03, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 02, 2014
  Dear Jie. Is communicator for mac support now with SharePoint Is there presence support if I installed Communicator for Mac? and can we integrate Sharepoint portal with communicator Waiting for your reply. Regards, Javid

• Anonymous
  June 18, 2014
  Can I upload a  submission folder that may contain several files?

• Anonymous
  July 29, 2014
  I have been using Sharepoint on a Mac for some years now for a very tight communication between myself and a PC colleague. We work extensively on Word documents sharing the writing of them and having both up at the same time on the two platforms with few issues. We use Word 2010 and Word 2011 under Windows 8 and OSX 10.8 and also recent versions of these OSs. It basically works great. But there are issues. . I can NEVER log off Document connection (DC) - always have to Quit with it telling me I have documents open for editing even if I have just booted up and just started DC. I have tried booting out various preference files and similar but it always does this. . I seem to have to log on far too often. Sometimes I will have to type my user name and password three or four times just to get a document. Again have tried deleting various files, rebooting the sharepoint server etc etc. To no avail. . It does not work with Excel. You can load and save files etc all good, but it breaks the linkages between Charts and Sheets, and between books where there are multiple books in a working environment. That is the way i work so I am forced to use DropBox for all excel applications. . The lack of file deletion and other features is a slight limitation but the Excel, password and lack of quit issues are a real pain Bob Jordan

• Anonymous
  October 13, 2014
  I Had facing a issue with mac osx safari 6.2 browser  menu bar of home landing page controls are not properly look as like in IE,Chrome,mozilla. Any suggestions for that :)

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2016
  This inability to connect to outlook creates massive inconsistencies in an office environment. This problem should be solved asap.