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

Question

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:

• Is it possible to mount SharePoint as a volume in 10.6?

Reference

Drafted in May 2012 a table:

• File open/lock protection for multi-user use of Microsoft SharePoint

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 …

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

Use the file system integration provided by Apple

Tested with the following apps:

• LibreOffice
• NeoOffice.

Pros

File system integration is highly desirable.

Open source.

Supported by Apple.

Cons

Do not expect integration with Excel, PowerPoint or Word:

• Microsoft SharePoint disallows some characters
• Microsoft Office 2011 requires codes that are deprecated, proper representations of which are disallowed by SharePoint.

Do not expect all actions in Finder to work:

• Microsoft's disallowance of characters prevents the integrity that is required by Finder.

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I could have tested with other apps. However: since the defaults of SharePoint make file system integration impossible with Microsoft Office – and since it's reasonable to assume that organisations pushing SharePoint will also push Microsoft Office – I decided to focus on other approaches.

Understanding the role of Finder

To initiate this type of connection to a WebDAV server, there's an interface in Finder (the Go menu). However, Finder is not the integrator; Finder is simply an app.

File system integration is around the following bundle, open source for which is provided by Apple:

/System/Library/Filesystems/webdav.fs

Answer 3

Use Microsoft Document Connection

Tested with the following apps:

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

Pros

For multiple users of SharePoint, protection through Microsoft Document Connection seems good.

Cons

No file system integration.

Does not meet the basic requirements of some end users.