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
Cindy Edwards

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:

Normal 0 false false false oNotPromoteQF /> EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

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?

Phil Mayor

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

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.