If you’ve ever sat down at a Mac at a firm that runs NetDocuments and found that half of what everyone else does doesn’t work the same way for you, you’re not alone. Nothing is broken, and your firm didn’t configure anything wrong. Windows and Mac use two different apps to connect to NetDocuments, and once you know that, using NetDocuments on a Mac no longer feels like a downgrade.
This is the page that ties it all together. Each section explains what’s different, then links to the walkthrough for that specific task.
Windows uses ndOffice. Mac uses ndClick.
That’s the whole thing, and every difference you’ve run into comes out of it.
On Windows, ndOffice puts NetDocuments inside Word, Excel, and Outlook. It’s why a Windows user can click Save in Word and land straight in a Workspace without ever opening a browser.
On a Mac, that job belongs to ndClick, and ndClick works differently. It doesn’t live inside Office. It sits in the menu bar, waits for you to click a document in the browser, and handles the file from there.
So Windows users drive NetDocuments from inside Office. Mac users drive it from the browser.
That’s the secret. Stop looking for a Save button in Word. Start in the browser instead.
What You Actually Need Installed
- ndClick – Required. It’s the Mac equivalent of ndOffice: it opens a document on your Mac when you click it in NetDocuments and sends your changes back when you’re done. Without it, nothing else works.
- NetDocuments M365 Outlook add-in – Optional, but you want it. It’s how you file email and attach documents from NetDocuments inside Outlook for Mac.
- ndSync – Optional. Two-way sync for the files you need available offline. Most attorneys don’t need it day-to-day.
Setting Up Your Mac
Do these in order the first time. It’s about fifteen minutes total.
- Logging in for the first time – Where to start before installing anything.
- Installing ndClick on a Mac – The required piece. If macOS blocks the installer with an “unidentified developer” warning, that’s Apple being cautious about anything that didn’t come from the App Store, not a bad download.
- Setting up NetDocuments on a Mac – Logging in to ndClick from the menu bar and pointing it at the right server.
- Configuring Mission Control – Worth doing. Mission Control’s default behavior is what makes documents seem to open into nowhere.
- Installing ndSync on a Mac – Only if you need offline access.
- Using NetDocuments without installing anything – For a borrowed machine or a Mac you can’t install on.
One setting that isn’t obvious: set Outlook as your Mac’s default mail app. When you use Email copy or send a link from NetDocuments, macOS hands the message to whatever app is set as the default, and out of the box that’s Apple Mail. Change it in Mail → Settings → General → Default email reader.
Working With Documents on a Mac
The workflow is check out, edit, check in — and the browser is where you start and finish.
Click a document name in NetDocuments and ndClick downloads it, checks it out to you, and opens it in whatever app your Mac uses for that file type. A green checkmark next to the document means it’s checked out to you. A grey checkmark means someone else has it and nobody can edit that version until they’re done. When you’ve saved and closed the file, go back to the website and click the green checkmark to check it in. Do this even if you changed nothing, or you’ll leave the document locked for everyone else.
- Creating a new document on a Mac – The habit worth changing on day one. Don’t start in Word and hunt for a way to save into NetDocuments. Use +Add → Blank Document and the file is filed and checked out to you before you type a word.
- Using versioning on a Mac – How versions get created when you check a document back in.
- Dragging files into NetDocuments – For documents that already exist on your Mac.
- Using NetDocuments with Word Online – The Microsoft 365 side of it.
Working With Email on a Mac
This is where most of the Windows-versus-Mac questions come from, and it’s the area where the M365 Outlook add-in does the heavy lifting.
- Setting up the NetDocuments M365 Outlook add-in – Start here. If your firm blocks the Outlook add-in store, ask your IT team to deploy it centrally.
- Using Outlook for Mac with NetDocuments – The day-to-day overview.
- Filing email with predictions in Outlook for Mac – Filing a message to the right matter in a couple of clicks.
- Mapping Outlook folders to NetDocuments – File a message by dragging it into a folder.
- Saving an email to NetDocuments from Outlook on a Mac
- Saving an email attachment to NetDocuments on a Mac
- Attaching a NetDocuments document to an email in Outlook for Mac
What Still Doesn’t Work With NetDocuments on a Mac
One thing worth knowing before it surprises you: .msg files won’t open. macOS has no native way to open an Outlook .msg file, so checking one out returns an Access Denied error. Preview it with SmartView, or use the View in browser option instead.
Everything else — search, Workspaces, Profile Attributes, versions, secured links, printing from Chrome, Firefox, or Safari — works the same as it does for the Windows users down the hall.
Need Help?
Is your firm rolling out Macs, or supporting a few attorneys who won’t give theirs up? We can get ndClick and the M365 Outlook add-in deployed and get your Mac users working the same way as everyone else — usually in a single call.
Schedule a free consultation at go.oncehub.com/optconsult.
Optiable has rolled out NetDocuments for over 600 law firms since 2010, specializing in firms with 10 to 150 users.