MacOS – With WebDAV provided by Microsoft SharePoint, how can users of OS X minimise risks of corruption and multiuser overwrites

macosmicrosoft-sharepointms officewebdav

There are various OS X approaches to using the WebDAV service provided by Microsoft SharePoint.

Integrity of data

Answers to this question focus on integrity:

  • when a file is used by a single user
  • when a file is used by multiple users.

Whilst some parts of an answer may be generalised to WebDAV servers in general, this question focuses on SharePoint – where Microsoft's server and client restrictions cause people to seek alternatives to Microsoft Document Connection.

Some overlap with an earlier question:

Reference

Drafted in May 2012 a table:

Key points from that draft:

  • restrictions in SharePoint make Microsoft Office 2011 incompatible with file system integration
  • Microsoft Document Connection lacks file system integration.

If any reader can draw a conclusion that differs from what's tabled: I'll welcome discussion in Ask Different Chat, or add your answer below.

Some parts of that table will become answers to this question …

Best Answer

Use the web interface provided by SharePoint

Tested with the following apps:

  • LibreOffice
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • NeoOffice.

Pros

For multiple users of SharePoint, protection through the web interface seems good.

Cons

No file system integration.