Mac Attachments solution help
Oct 18, 2011
I've seen a few threads regarding Mac attachments, have tried a couple of solutions to no avail, and my beta testers are having a fit.
Issue: Attachments in the attachments panel won't open for the users who are on Mac. I have confirmed that one of the three is using OS X 10.5.8, if it matters.
Attempted solution: In addition to including attachments linked to the attachments panel and published with the file, I copied the attachments to a web page and inserted hyperlinks to the web page. The idea was that If the attachment links won't work, the user could click the hyperlink in the content to pull the attachment from an alternative storage site.
One of the other threads suggested providing instructions for the Mac users to find the attachments in the course file structure. I do not think this is a wise or safe alternative. Any other ideas?
5 Replies
Hi Cindy, I have never had a problem with attachments in published courses that are hosted online, the only problem is normally when you publish to CD or web and run the content locally, this is because of a security issue with browsers,
Hi Cindy,
Unless you are planning on hosting your content locally, which is not recommended, you should be testing your content online in the same conditions that the live version of the content will be hosted in. See this article for more details:
http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/kb/?p=2244
Phil and Justin,
Thanks for your replies. This particular project is published to CD for use by both PC and Mac users. Since the target audience includes entrepreneurs and business professionals of all types all over the USA, the conditions for testing can only be approximated. We have to make a lot of assumptions, and that includes that when I am talking to users to diagnose the issues, they are, in fact, following my instructions to turn off pop-up blockers and other security features that could cause problems.
I have confirmed that the only thing in common with the people who are having issues is that they are Mac users. However, it's important to note that the Mac users are having issues with hyperlinks in general -- not just the attachments.
PC users are not experiencing any problems with hyperlinks or attachments.
To make sure users could get to the attachments and had some control over their experience, I took two approaches throughout the course. Users can download the attachments via:
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1. Attachments tab. Documents (.doc files) are published within the file structure (i.e., the data/downloads folder), so this accommodates anyone who may be working offline.
2. Hyperlinks on the content pages. I copied the attachment files to an unsecured folder (http://www.ellen4branding.com/mpba/) on the Web, and added simple hyperlinks to text on the content pages to the .doc files. This avoids the annoying need to open the attachments tab if the user is working online.
Only our Mac users are having issues. I am not a Mac user, so I'm not even sure where to look next.
Any other ideas?
I would personally provide an online version for Mac users, though they can workaround the issue by allowing the content in their Flash security settings. Not ideal:
http://www.articulate.com/support/kb/000699.php
Cindy, autorun does not work on macs, so to open the course the mac user will have to open up the CD directory and double click the player.html file, so why not just add a folder called documents in the root of the CD directory and point mac users in that direction. They will already have the CD open, its not an elegant solution, but most Mac users would understand why its necessary
The .exe file that runs for circumvents the flash security and allows you to access the attachments and the web but this will only work for PC users
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