One of my favorite new features in SharePoint 2013, and no doubt a favorite of our customers, is the drag and drop feature into document libraries. It alleviates the need for the multiple upload control that existed in SharePoint 2010 and reduces users reliance on the Windows Explorer option in a document library. In reality this feature is probably a few years behind the curve as most web systems have been able to do this for a while.
But there is a big gotcha with this feature – users on older browsers, specifically older versions of IE will find it does not work. I was surprised to learn of this myself, it’s not well published. But then again, how many customers out there are still on Windows XP and IE8? I hope not too many. 🙂
Here’s the breakdown of minimum requirements for drag and drop to work in SharePoint 2013:
- Internet Explorer 10
- Internet Explorer 9 with Office 2013 Installed
- Internet Explorer 8 with Office 2013 Installed
- FireFox latest version
- Chrome latest version
If you have Windows XP or Windows 7 with IE 8 or 9, you MUST have Office 2013. Office 2010 will work great if you are using IE 10, FireFox, or Chrome, but not with earlier versions of IE.
As much as I would like it if all of our customers were on Windows 8, IE 10, and Office 2013, the reality is many of you are still limited by older software (SAP has some limitations on IE), IT restrictions, or a slow adoption cycle. I hope this information will be helpful to those who are still using the older technologies.
Cheers!
If you don’t want to upgrade or install Office 2013, you can also use a component of SharePoint Designer 2013 to enable drag and drop: http://www.techoui.com/post/2012/12/Enable-SharePoint-2013-Drag-and-Drop-for-Users-with-No-or-Older-Office-Versions.aspx