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AaronHamilton's avatar
AaronHamilton
Copper Contributor
Jan 30, 2020

Cannot open SharePoint document in Word for Mac (stuck on ADFS authentication)

When we select 'Edit in Word' from Word Web App, Word tries to authenticate the user by launching a small browser window and navigating to the ADFS 3.0 login page. This works OK on Windows (apart from an annoying JS exception) but fails miserably on Mac. Word of Mac cannot seem to reach the ADFS login page. Instead, it navigates to the extranet (where the user is already authenticated). Word for Mac can go no further. I have to Force Quit the application.

 

What's interesting is that when we bypass our Fortinet Application Firewall, authentication in Word for Mac starts working! Unfortunately, my network administrator is not keen to bypass the application firewall, so we're stuck trying to tweak browser settings hoping to find a solution. We had a little success disabling the popup blocker, but that seemed to only help for a day, then the old behavior returned.

 

Can anyone help with this?

 

Thanks

Aaron

 

Rukma_Srip 

 

 

2013
Office Apps

3 Replies

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  • Damien_Rosario's avatar
    Damien_Rosario
    Silver Contributor
    Feb 10, 2020

    Hi AaronHamilton 

     

    It may be worth finding out if your pop up blocker has an exception list.

     

    If you were able to allow the particular domain to be an exception (it's a legitimate domain so your IT admin shouldn't stress), then this may present a solution beyond killing the blocker for a day (which I assume reboots on next system or browser startup).

     

    I'd suggest going back to your IT admin and asking if they can assist you with an exception to the blocker for this particular domain (may involve trial and error to get the right setting in place). This way it doesn't bypass the firewall as you really only need the pop up window to show so you can login from the sound of things.

     

    Hope that gives you some ideas?

     

    Best wishes

    Damien

    • AaronHamilton's avatar
      AaronHamilton
      Copper Contributor
      Feb 11, 2020

      Hi Damien_Rosario 

       

      Thanks for you response. Eliminating the popup blocker (in the browser) worked for a day, and then suddenly had no effect. And then a few days later I re-tested and ADFS authentication starting behaving properly again in Word for Mac, regardless of the state of the popup blocker!  I just tested again after a week has passed and it's still working properly, with or without popup blocker enabled. I have no idea what has changed. I don't think my network admin has changed anything on his end. I will follow up with him just to make sure.

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